Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Adams Courthouse, home to the SJC
John Adams Courthouse, home to the SJC

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.

Contents

[edit] History

The court was established in 1692 as the "Superior Court of Judicature". Its name was changed to the Supreme Judicial Court after the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.

[edit] Functions

The seven Justices hear appeals on a broad range of criminal and civil cases between September and May.

Single Justice sessions are held each week throughout the year for certain motions pertaining to cases on trial or on appeal, bail reviews, bar discipline proceedings, petitions for admission to the bar, and a variety of other statutory proceedings. The Associate Justices sit as Single Justices each month on a rotation schedule.

The full bench renders approximately 200 written decisions each year; the single justices decide a total of approximately 600 cases annually.

In addition to its appellate functions, the SJC is responsible for the general superintendence of the judiciary and of the bar, the creation or approval of rules for the operations of all the state courts, and, in certain instances, providing advisory opinions, upon request, to the Governor and General Court on various legal issues.

The SJC also has oversight responsibility in varying degrees, according to statutes, with several affiliated agencies of the judicial branch, including the Board of Bar Overseers, the Office of Bar Counsel, the Board of Bar Examiners, the Clients' Security Board, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the Massachusetts Mental Health Legal Advisors’ Committee, and Correctional Legal Services, Inc.

The SJC is sits at the John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, which also houses the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Social Law Library.

[edit] Landmark cases

  • Rex v. Wemms, et al. (1770) - Six soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre were found not guilty, and two more — the only two proven to have fired — were found guilty of manslaughter.
  • Commonwealth v. Jennison (1783) - The Court declared slavery unconstitutional in the state of Massachusetts by allowing slaves to sue their masters for freedom. Boston lawyer, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1779, John Lowell, upon the adoption of Article I for inclusion in the Bill of Rights, exclaimed: "...I will render my services as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld from him..."[1] With this case, he fulfilled his promise. And Slavery in Massachusetts no longer had any legal standing.
  • Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) - The Court established that trade unions were not necessarily criminal or conspiring organizations if they did not advocate violence or illegal activities in their attempts to gain recognition through striking. This legalized the existence of non-socialist or non-violent trade organizations, though trade unions would continue to be harassed legally through anti-trust suits and injunctions.

[edit] Composition

The Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts with the consent of the Governor's Council. The Justices hold office until the mandatory retirement age of seventy, like all other Massachusetts judges.

[edit] Current composition

The currently serving justices are:

[edit] Notable members

[edit] List of Chief Justices

# Chief Justice Took office Left office
1 William Cushing 1782 1789
2 Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent 1790 1791
3 Francis Dana 1791 1806
4 Theophilus Parsons 1806 1813
5 Samuel Sewall 1814 1814
6 Isaac Parker August 24, 1814 July 25, 1830
7 Lemuel Shaw August 30, 1830 August 21, 1860
8 George Tyler Bigelow September 7, 1860 December 31, 1867
9 Reuben Atwater Chapman February 7, 1868 June 28, 1873
10 Horace Gray September 5, 1873 January 9, 1882
11 Marcus Morton January 16, 1882 August 27, 1890
12 Walbridge A. Field September 4, 1890 July 15, 1899
13 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. August 2, 1899 December 8, 1902
14 Marcus Perrin Knowlton December 17, 1902 September 7, 1911
15 Arthur Prentice Rugg September 20, 1911 June 12, 1938
16 Fred Tarbell Field June 30, 1938 July 24, 1947
17 Stanley Elroy Qua August 6, 1947 September 6, 1956
18 Raymond Sanger Wilkins September 13, 1956 September 1, 1970
19 G. Joseph Tauro 1970 1976
20 Edward F. Hennessey 1976 April 19, 1989
21 Paul J. Liacos June 20, 1989 September 30, 1996
22 Herbert P. Wilkins October 1, 1996 August 31, 1999
23 Margaret H. Marshall October 14, 1999 Incumbent
(faces mandatory retirement on September 1, 2014)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lowell, Delmar R., The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 (p 35); Rutland VT, The Tuttle Company, 1899; ISBN 9780788415678.

[edit] External links

[edit] Resources

Languages