James Butler Head (December 16, 1846 – June 26, 1902) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the

Supreme Court of Alabama The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the U.S. state, state of Alabama. The court consists of a Chief Justice, chief justice and eight Associate Justice, associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for stagge ...

from 1892 to 1898. Born in Clinton,

Greene County, Alabama Greene County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,730, the least populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Eutaw. It was named in honor of Revolutiona ...

,Thomas William Herringshaw, ed., ''Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography'' (1914), p. 114. Head served in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, in Company A, Sixteenth Alabama cavalry.Joel Campbell DuBose, ''Notable Men of Alabama: Personal and Genealogical'' (1904). p. 149-50. After the war he served for a time as Deputy in the office of the Circuit Clerk in

Eutaw, Alabama Eutaw ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 2,937. The city was named in honor of the Battle of Eutaw Springs, the last engagement of the American Revolutionary War ...

while 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 ...

to gain admission to the

Alabama State Bar The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1923, the association is governed by th1975 Alabama Code, Title 34, Chapter 3 It is the "licensing and regulatory agency for attor ...

. While copying lengthy pleadings, he "made mental notes as to how they could have been simplified and shortened", and employed those in practice.Alabama State Bar Association, ''Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Alabama State Bar Association'' (1918), p. 180-81. He married Virginia Pearce, a daughter of Judge William F. Pearce, of Eutaw. Head practiced law in Eutaw until 1888, when he moved to Birmingham. There, Head was appointed Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit. In 1892 he was elected to the Supreme Court of Alabama, and moved to Montgomery. He did not run for reelection in 1898, as he had begun to suffer from

blindness Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

in his older years, an experience which was personally devastating for him.

References

Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama 1846 births 1902 deaths U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from Greene County, Alabama 19th-century Alabama state court judges {{Alabama-state-judge-stub