Home County: Ralls
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1933 – December 1942
Judge Charles Thomas Hays was born May 9, 1869, in New London, Missouri. He was educated at Bethany College in West Virginia, and obtained a law degree from the University of Missouri, then known as the Missouri State University. Hays was admitted to the Missouri Bar on March 3, 1893.
Hays practiced law in New London, Missouri and served as city attorney there. In 1907, he moved to Hannibal to continue his practice of law. He was also a member of the State Board of Law Examiners.
On April 14, 1919, then-Governor Frederick Dozier Gardner appointed Hays as a circuit judge in the 10th Judicial Circuit and ex-officio judge of the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas. Hays filled the circuit court vacancy created when Judge William T. Ragland was appointed as a commissioner with the Supreme Court of Missouri. In 1920, voters elected Hays to complete Ragland’s unexpired term, which ended December 31, 1922. Voters reelected Hays as a circuit judge in the 10th circuit in 1922 and 1928. When his judicial service on the circuit court ended, he had one of the longest terms of service for the 10th circuit.
On November 8, 1932, voters elected Hays to a 10-year term on the Supreme Court of Missouri beginning January 1, 1933. During his time at the Court, Hays struggled with ill health due to multiple heart attacks. Hays served as chief justice of the Court from March 15, 1937, to August 14, 1938. He retired from the Court at the end of his term, on December 31, 1942.
Judge Charles Thomas Hays died February 6, 1949, in Ralls County, Missouri. He was 79 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
“Celebrate Golden Wedding Anniversary,” The Palmyra Spectator, (Palmyra, Missouri), May 28, 1947, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Changes in Missouri Judicial Posts Announced,” The Marion Judicial Standard, (Palmyra, Missouri), March 24, 1937, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Charles Thomas Hays,” The Division of Health of Missouri, Certificate of Death, filed February 15, 1949, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed March 1, 2024.
Charles U. Becker, compiler, Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen-Twenty-one and Nineteen Twenty-two, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Co., 1922), 103.
Dwight H. Brown, compiler, Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1941-1942, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing Co., 1942), 137.
John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1919-1920, (Jefferson City, MO: State Printing Office, 1920), 127.
John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1917-1918, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Co., 1918), 105 and 111.
John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1919-1920, (Jefferson City, MO: State Printing Office, 1920), 127.
John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between December 14, 1936, and June 5, 1937, vol. 340, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1938), iii.
John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between December 17, 1937, and September 17, 1938, vol. 342, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1939), iii.
“Judge Hays Better,” Mexico Weekly Ledger, (Mexico, Missouri), October 21, 1937, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri’s website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Judge Hays Closes Term,” The Palmyra Spectator, (Palmyra, Missouri), November 30, 1932, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
Ralls County Record, (New London, Missouri), August 12, 1938, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Seeking a Place on Supreme Bench,” The Journal-Gazette, (West Plains, Missouri), June 23, 1932, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project database, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.