Richard Morris (December 27, 1815 – August 19, 1844) was a justice of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

from 1841 to 1844. Morris was born in

Hanover County, Virginia Hanover County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover, Virginia, Hanover. Hanove ...

. His father, who shared the same name, was a prominent attorney and member of the

Virginia State Legislature The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

. Morris attended Burke High School in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, and then studied for two years at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He left to

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 his father's law office, and then returned to the University of Virginia for one semester of law study in 1835.Richard Morris (1815-1844)
Tarlton Law Library, Jamail Center for Legal Research, The University of Texas at Austin. After being

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 ...

in Virginia, Morris moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in the

in 1838, where he partnered with fellow Virginian native James H. Davis. Upon the death of Davis 1840, Morris moved again, establishing a solo practice in

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. In 1841 Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas, appointed Morris to the First Judicial District, automatically making him an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Despite his youth, Morris was praised for his judicial temperament, but after only three terms on the court, he died of yellow fever.

References

Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas 1815 births 1844 deaths 19th-century Texas state court judges University of Virginia alumni American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from Hanover County, Virginia Lawyers from Houston Lawyers from Galveston, Texas Deaths from yellow fever {{Texas-state-judge-stub