The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.
407
THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA. BY S. S. P. PATTESON, of the Richmond, Уа., Bar. III.
JUDGE JOSEPH CHRISTIAN, now a distinguished member of the Bar of Richmond, served twelve years on the Supreme Bench, having taken his seat in 1870 and retired in 1883. Judge Waller R. Staples is the son of Col. Abram Staples, of Patrick County, and was born at Stuart in that county in the year 1826. His collegiate education was com menced at the University of North Carolina, where he spent two years, and was completed at the College of William and Mary, of which he is an alumnus. Having attained his major ity, he removed to the county of Montgomery, Va., where he commenced the practice of the law in the office of the Hon. William Ballard Preston, Secretary of the Navy under the administration of President Taylor. In 1853 and in 1854 Judge Staples was elected to the Legislature of Virginia from Mont gomery County. He was a Whig in poli tics, and was an elector on the ticket in 1856 and 1860. When the State of Virginia adopted the ordinance of secession in April, 1 86 1, the Convention appointed four Com missioners or Representatives to represent the State in the Provisional Congress at Montgomery, Ala., — Hon. William C. Rives, R. M. T. Hunter, Judge Brockenbrough, and the subject of this sketch. Judge Staples served in the Provisional Con gress until the termination of its existence, Feb. 22, 1862. On that day the new government went into effect; and Judge Staples, having been elected by the people by a large majority one of the members of its House of Representatives, was trium phantly re-elected in 1863, and served in that body till the close of the war. He then resumed the practice of his profession in Montgomery County, and so continued
until he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals in February, 1870, by the Legislature of Virginia. He received the highest voie given in that body, for any one of the candidates except the Hon. R. C. L. Moncure. When in 1882 the Re-adjuster Party obtained control of the State, Judge Staples and his associates on the bench were not re-elected, that party having a large majority in the Legislature. In 1884 the Hon. E. C. Burks, Maj. John W. Riely, and Judge Staples were appointed a committee of revisers to revise the civil and criminal laws of the State. The work was completed in three years, and is embodied in what is known as the Code of Virginia, 1887. Judge Staples has been, since the war, an ardent Democrat in politics; has several times canvassed the State, and has been twice a presidential elector. It is well known that during his term on the Supreme Bench he could have received the nomination as governor on two occa sions, and for attorney-general; but he has steadfastly adhered to the resolution of not being a candidate for any political office. For two years he was the counsel of the Richmond and Danville R. R. Co. in Vir ginia, but resigned the place. He is now engaged in the active practice of his profes sion in the city of Richmond, being the senior member of the firm of Staples & Munford, and one of the acknowledged lead ers of the bar. Judge Francis T. Anderson. In January, 1870, "the restored govern ment " of Virginia was inaugurated. Follow ing upon the disastrous period of war, revo lution, and reconstruction, every department of the new government was confronted with
