1992 Book on History of the Tenth Circuit
THE FEDERAL COURTS OF THE
TENTH CIRCUIT: A HISTORY
This volume is a history of the federal courts, and especially
of the now deceased judges who served, in the six states
(Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, and New Mexico)
comprising what is now the Tenth Circuit.
Funded under the auspices of the United States Judicial
Conference Committee on the Bicentennial of the Constitution
of the United States and published by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 1992, the book covers the
entire history of the federal law and its courts as applied
to the six state area from the founding of the nation through
1990.
There are individual chapters on the territorial and
federal district courts of each state, and on the Court
of Appeals. At the end of each chapter are photographs
of all of the territorial judges whose pictures could be
located, all of the district and circuit judges who died
before the end of 1990, and courthouses that served the
federal courts of the particular state or, in the chapter
on the circuit court, that appellate court. Photographs
and short biographical sketches of all of the judges living
in 1990 appear in the Appendices.
You will find the legal history of these six states to
be unique and interesting: from the stories of “Bleeding
Kansas” as a precipitating event for the Civil War, to the
gold rush in Colorado, to Wyoming’s wild “Cowboy” west,
to Utah’s Mormons and their long conflict with federal authority,
to Oklahoma’s history as Indian Territory with the relocation
to it of the Five Civilized Tribes, to New Mexico’s Spanish
territorial origins. There are many interesting stories
in every chapter.
For your convenience each chapter and section of the
book has been converted to PDF format. You can click
on the blue links below to browse each section or you may
download and print them. There is no copyright on
the material in the book.
We hope you enjoy perusing this material.
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Table of Contents
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Identifies the various chapters, subdivisions
thereof, appendices, tables and the pages where
they may be found.
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About This History
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A foreword by circuit judge James K. Logan who
edited the multi-author volume with the assistance
of the librarians and staff of the Tenth Circuit
Library, discussing the history of the writing project
itself and the work of those who contributed, and
relating why the work of still living judges was
left to later volumes.
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Chapter I: “The Early Days”
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Reviews the law as it existed and was applied
in practice to the territory now comprising the
states of the Tenth Circuit both before and after
the Louisiana Purchase, and in the pre-territorial
settlements; also discusses generally the territorial
judiciaries and the length of time they existed
before each territory became a state.
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Chapter II: “Kansas: The Territorial and District
Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; the turbulent history
of the territorial court and conflict between supporters
of slavery and free state supporters from the enactment
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 to statehood
in 1861; gives brief history of Brown v. Board of
Education case.
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Chapter III: “Colorado: The Territorial and
District Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; treats the court’s
contribution to mining and water law; contains special
discussion of extraordinary territorial and first
district judge Moses Hallett.
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Chapter IV: “Wyoming: The Territorial and
District Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; treats difficulties
of 22 years as a territory during “cowboy west”
days; contains discussion of territorial judge Willis
Van Devanter who was later elevated to the U. S.
Supreme Court; gives brief history of infamous Teapot
Dome case.
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Chapter V: “Utah: The Territorial and District
Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; encompasses the long
(46 year) period as a territory, Mormon War, polygamy
problems, and conflicting philosophies postponing
statehood.
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Chapter VI: “Oklahoma: The Territorial and
District Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; explains the unusual
split of territorial courts (Indian and Oklahoma),
three federal districts, Indian law and problems,
and various appointment controversies.
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Chapter VII: “New Mexico: The Territorial
and District Courts”
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Discusses each territorial and district judge’s
life and tenure on the court; gives background on
the state’s 62 years as a territory with 67 territorial
judges, Spanish tradition and church conflict, and
colorful judge Colin Neblett.
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Chapter VIII: “Appellate Review Before The
Tenth Circuit Was Formed”
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Discusses history of the courts of appeal, judges
and appeals handled by the Eighth Circuit involving
the six states which became the territory of the
Tenth Circuit.
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Chapter IX: “The Political and Administrative
History of United States Court of Appeals For the
Tenth Circuit"
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Discusses the social climate and legislation
creating the Tenth Circuit, its early years of operation,
administrative structure, court administration at
national level, judicial circuit councils, judicial
circuit conferences.
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Chapter X: “The Judges of the Court of Appeals”
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Discusses each circuit judge’s life and tenure
on the court; appointments; social, political and
historical context of the judges’ work; important
cases.
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Appendices—Tables I-IV
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Table I - U.S. Supreme Court Justices Appointed
from the Tenth Circuit States; tables of succession,
assignments, biographical sketches.
Table II—Judges of the Court of Appeals; tables
of succession, photographs, biographical sketches.
Table III—Judges of the District Courts; tables
of succession, photographs of living judges, biographical
sketches.
Table IV—Territorial Judges; tables of succession.
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Biographies
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Index
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Names, Cases, Laws identified by page where appears
in the volume.
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