Leander John Monks (July 10, 1843 – April 19, 1919) was a justice of the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse. In Dec ...

from January 7, 1895 to January 7, 1913.

Early life and education

Monks was born in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Randolph County, Indiana Randolph County is a County (United States), county located in the central section of U.S. state of Indiana, on its eastern border with Ohio. As of 2020, the population was 24,502. The county seat is Winchester, Indiana, Winchester. History ...

, to George W. Monks and Mary A. Irvin. His father was twice elected county clerk, and served in the

Indiana General Assembly The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Sena ...

for the 1855 session. Men of progress, Indiana : a selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life, together with brief notes of the history and character of Indiana
(via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

) Monks was educated in the common schools,"The Supreme Court", ''Indiana Law Journal'', Vol. III, No. 2 (February 1899), pages 47-49. and attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

from 1861 to 1863, gaining

admission 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 ...

in Indiana in 1865,Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt,
Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices
, ''

Indiana Law Review Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is the law school of Indiana University Indianapolis, a public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana. The school has been based in Lawrence W. Inlow Hall in Indianapolis ...

'', Volume 30, Number 1 (1997), section reproduced i
Indiana Courts Justice Biographies page
and entering the practice of law in 1866.

Legal and political career

Monks practiced with various attorneys, and, developing a fondness for politics, was made county chairman of the Republican Party, serving in that capacity through the campaigns of 1870 and 1872. He became a member of the Republican State Committee and the Executive Committee in 1874. He served on these committees during the campaigns of 1874 and 1876, resigning from them to become a candidate for circuit judge in 1878. He was elected as a circuit judge, and was twice re-elected, in 1884 and 1890. He served his first two terms as judge of the Twenty-fifth Judicial Circuit, consisting of Randolph and Delaware counties. Before the beginning of his third term the circuit was divided, and in 1890 he was elected judge of a circuit consisting of Randolph county alone. In 1894, he was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court. Monks wrote a number of noted opinions. In ''Pomeroy v. Beach'', he wrote an opinion construing the garnishee law of 1897 to require the filing of an affidavit in attachment before a writ of garnishment could issue. In ''Board of Commissioners v. Allman'', he wrote an opinion overruling a large number of earlier decisions to the effect that counties are liable for injuries caused by detective bridges. In ''Baton v. Thomas'', he wrote an opinion holding that usurious interest may be recovered back. In ''Louisville, N. A. & C. Railway Co. v. Bates'',''Louisville, N. A. & C. Railway Co. v. Bates'', 146 Ind. 564, 45 N. E. 108 (1896). he wrote an opinion holding that a railroad company is bound to inspect foreign cars received from other roads in the ordinary course of business, before setting its own servants at work operating them. In 1899, the

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's ''

Indiana Law Journal The ''Indiana Law Journal'' is a general law review founded in 1925. It is published quarterly by students of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law at the flagship Bloomington campus. One of the ten most-cited law review articles of all ti ...

'' said of Monks: After leaving the bench, Monks returned to the practice of law in Indianapolis, and wrote the well-regarded book, ''Courts and Lawyers of Indiana''. Monks died in Indianapolis.

Personal life

In 1865, Monks married Lizzie W. White; they had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monks, Leander 1843 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Indiana state court judges Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Indiana Republicans People from Winchester, Indiana Indiana University Bloomington alumni