Benjamin Dudley Tarlton (October 18, 1849 – September 22, 1919) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, legislator, judge, and professor. Tarlton practiced law in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

from 1899 to 1904. He served in the seventeenth and nineteenth

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

s as member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

. Texas Governor Jim Hogg appointed him to the Commission of Appeals in 1891. In 1892, Tarlton was elected Chief Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals at Fort Worth. From 1904 to 1919, he was a distinguished Professor of Law at

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...

. The University of Texas School of Law Tarlton Law Library was named in his honor in 1951. His granddaughter, Frances Tarlton Farenthold, was a member of the Texas House of Representatives and twice ran for the Democratic nomination for

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

References

Additional sources

*Brian Hart, "TARLTON, BENJAMIN DUDLEY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fta09), accessed August 10, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarlton, Benjamin Dudley 1849 births 1919 deaths Texas lawyers University of Texas at Austin faculty Members of the Texas House of Representatives University of Texas School of Law faculty 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature