longest-serving judge on the high court. He was a modest man, as seen by his writings, consisting of one excellent ad- dress he gave in 1921 on the Vermont Con- stitution, and 410 published decisions while on the Court. He died in office, sharp and articulate to the last. You have to wonder how often he thought about that long July night in 1883.
Meet John H. Watson John H. Watson was born in Jamaica,
Vermont, on May 21, 1851, and studied law with Orin Gambell in Bradford, after a com- mon school and academy education. He did not attend college or law school. Admitted to the practice of law in 1877, at the age of twenty-six, he kept a law office in Brad- ford for the next twenty-one years before he was appointed to the vacancy on the Su- preme Court by Governor Edward Smith. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Chief Judge Jonathan Ross on January 19, 1899. In the years before he joined the Court, Watson had served in the Vermont National Guard, earning the rank of Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the First Regiment. From 1886 to 1888 he was Orange County State’s Attorney, and served a two-year term in the Vermont Senate beginning in 1892. On Jan- uary 18, 1917, he was elected chief justice, after the retirement of Loveland Munson, and served in that office until his death on
December 7, 1929.14 He took his official duties seriously. In
1906, Governor Allen Fletcher was con- cerned enough about the state of rural Vermont schools to appoint a nine-mem- ber Vermont Educational Commission, and asked Judge Watson to serve as chair. The Carnegie Foundation was hired to study the system and its findings, attached to the Commission’s 1914 official report, serious- ly criticized the schools, teachers, curricu- lum, school houses, and lack of a central administrative agency to oversee them.15 The Commission’s report, which included the Carnegie study, issued in 1914, formed the basis of comprehensive changes to the state’s education laws in 1915.16 Within the first six months of joining the court, Judge Watson participated in an ad- visory opinion of the Supreme Court, re- sponding to Governor Smith’s request to advise him on the status of the 1st
Regiment
of infantry—the same regiment Watson had served as lieutenant-colonel. The regiment had volunteered to join the army in April of 1898, in response to a call for a quota of enlistments established by congressio- nal joint resolution, after the outbreak of the war. Governor Smith had discharged all remaining members of the Guard who had not enlisted, and then in May of 1898 the legislature had authorized the members of the Guard to be reinstated upon their re- turn from United States service to their for-
mer rank, except those who had not volun- teered. Is that constitutional, the Governor inquired, and the Guard dead? In a per cu- riam decision, the Court unanimously ap- proved the legislation and the Governor’s actions, finding “no cogent reason” to dis- agree.17
The Supreme Court faced a similar prob-
lem in 1914. Justice William C. Hill wrote his master’s thesis, while sitting as a supe- rior judge, on the “judicial crisis” of 1914- 1915.18
He explained the seniority system. With very few exceptions, the legislature had for many years elected the same court year after year, replacing those who died or retired, and moving each remaining judge up the rank until it was his turn to serve as chief judge. In 1912, the Court consisted of Chief Judge John Rowell, Loveland Mun- son, John H. Watson, Seneca Haselton, and George M. Powers. Each was elected to the office he held in the previous two-year term. The constitutional amendments of 1913 changed the opening date of the leg- islature from October to January, and made provision for the holding over of terms that ended under the old system on the last day of November, 1914, until a new election could be held.19
The Supreme Court doubt-
ed the effectiveness of this transitional pro- vision. To avoid any question of the Court’s legitimacy, the entire court resigned effec- tive November 30, 1914. No one expect- ed Governor Allen Fletcher to change the
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THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2012
www.vtbar.org
Ruminations: A Hero Once, a Judge for Life
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