David Wagner (December 31, 1826 – August 4, 1902) was a justice of the

Supreme Court of Missouri The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constituti ...

from 1865 to 1877. Born in

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

, Wagner came to Missouri in 1842 and was admitted to the bar in 1848.L. C. Krauthoff, ''The Supreme Court of Missouri'', in

Horace Williams Fuller Horace Williams Fuller (June 15, 1844 – October 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and editor who served as the first editor of ''The Green Bag'', a late-19th- and early-20th century legal news and humor magazine. Life and career Born in Aug ...

, ed., '' The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 180-81. He practiced law until 1862, when he was elected to the

Missouri Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 181,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

,"Missouri Items", ''Henry County Democrat'' (August 14, 1902), p. 6. and during his short tenure there "became a leading member of that body". In 1864 he resigned his seat to accept the office of judge of the circuit court, and in 1865, in turn, resigned from that position to become a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He was re-elected in 1868, and without opposition in 1870, but was defeated for reelection in 1876. He then practiced law in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

until 1880, when he retired to a suburban home near

Canton, Missouri Canton is a city in Lewis County, Missouri, Lewis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,774 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Canton is the home of Culver-Stockton College, a small liberal arts college affiliated with ...

. He occasionally advised as consulting counsel, but no longer in active practice. In 1870, Wagner published a revision of the statutes of the State, and in 1872 a supplement thereto. These publications were "admirably and systematically arranged", and until the official revision of 1879, ''Wagner's Statutes'' were "almost universally cited". Wagner died in 1902,"Missouri State News: Recent Deaths", ''Ironton County Register'' (August 14, 1902), p. 6. after a long illness, survived by his wife and four sons.

References

Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri Missouri state senators 1826 births 1902 deaths 19th-century Missouri state court judges 19th-century members of the Missouri General Assembly {{Missouri-state-judge-stub