Charles Nelson Fox (March 9, 1829 – May 1, 1904) was an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...

from June 25, 1889, to January 7, 1891.

Early life

Born at Redford, Wayne County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

to Benjamin F. Fox, a farmer of English descent, Fox moved to

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

at the age of fifteen to earn his own living, and to attend the newly opened Ann Arbor University. Due to a bout of illness, and unable to afford tuition, he took a job at a

printing office In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. Origins of printing The history of printers in publishing in Western Europe dates back to the mid-15th century wit ...

, and soon became an editor. He was elected city recorder of Ann Arbor, and acted as mayor of the city a portion of the term. He

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

in the office of Kingsley & Morgan and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

by the

Supreme Court of Michigan The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the stat ...

in 1856.

Legal career

In August 1857, he moved to

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, was admitted to the California bar in July 1858, and shortly thereafter was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of the district attorney. He won successive elections to the office for five years, when he declined further election. He was retained by the Spring Valley Water Company to attend to their business in

, and succeeded in securing the legal rights and property without involvement in any lawsuits over a ten-year period. He then became a local attorney for the newly organized San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company, securing their right of way through San Mateo County, and thereafter became president and attorney of the Western Pacific Railroad Company. He then moved from Redwood City to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and was appointed general attorney of the Spring Valley Water Company, and continued to act as one of its legal advisers for nearly forty years. Fox declined several overtures to accept judicial and other positions, but ran for a seat as a Republican in the first session of the legislature held under the 1879 Constitution of California. He was made chairman of the judiciary committee and used his position to keep bad laws out of the statutes, reportedly causing the postponement of a thousand bills. Very few bills that he opposed ultimately passed, and every one that was passed against his opposition on the ground that it conflicted with the constitution, was eventually pronounced unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. In September 1880, he resigned from the Assembly to serve as an elector for presidential candidate

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot two months earlier. A preacher, lawyer, and Civi ...

at the Republican national convention. Fox remained active in civic activities in Oakland. In June 1877, he helped organize a free reading room in the city. In February 1878, he was a founder of the Oakland Law Library. In March 1879, he was elected to the Oakland Board of Education, and served as its president. In 1881, Fox was selected as general counsel for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. On June 25, 1889, Governor Robert Waterman appointed Fox as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, following the resignation of Justice Jackson Temple. Fox served on the court until January 7, 1891. He authored one of the most noted opinions of the term in ''Jessup's Case'', establishing a rule by which an

illegitimate child Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

can become legitimized. After leaving the court, he was a member of the law firm of Campbell, Fox & Campbell, then with the firm of Fox, Kellogg & King. This firm became Fox, Kellogg & Gray until 1895, when it became the firm of Fox & Gray. He was working up until the day before his final illness, leaving his office on April 26, 1904, at about 5 p.m., and being stricken with

paralysis Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...

at about 5 a.m. the following morning.

Clubs

Fox became a member of the

Odd Fellows Odd Fellows (or Oddfellows when referencing the Grand United Order of Oddfellows or some British-based fraternities; also Odd Fellowship or Oddfellowship) is an international fraternity consisting of lodges first documented in 1730 in 18th-cen ...

at the age of 21, and was active and influential in that organization throughout his life, serving as grand master for the state of California in 1867-68, grand patriarch in 1868-69, and representative to the grand lodge of the United States in 1869-70. He was the first president of the Odd Fellows' home founded under his administration, acting in that capacity from 1893 to 1898. In October 1869, he was elected an officer of the Sons and Daughters of Temperance.

Personal life

Fox had married Celestia M. Fox in Michigan, but she died in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

, on January 29, 1859. On January 1, 1860, he remarried to Lucy Taylor in San Mateo, California. In June 1864, after her death, he remarried to Mary Schwartz Rice, a native of France, who came to California in 1857 and lost her first husband soon after her arrival. He had eight children, but only two survived him: Mrs. Mary Gray and Miss Ida Frances Fox. His two brothers, Benjamin F. and George W. Fox, an attorney, and two sisters also lived in California.

References

External links