Stanley Elroy Qua (August 26, 1880 – November 8, 1965) was a justice of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

from 1934 to 1956, serving as chief justice from 1947 to 1956 He was appointed by Governor Joseph B. Ely, and elevated to Chief Justice by Governor

Robert F. Bradford Robert Fiske Bradford (December 15, 1902 – March 18, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as the 57th governor of Massachusetts, from 1947 to 1949. Early years Robert Fiske Bradford was born in Boston, Massachuse ...

. Born in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...

, Qua was the son of Francis W. Qua, a local lawyer who practiced in Lowell and served his community as City Solicitor for many years, and Alice Lelia Harder.Massachusetts Court System biography of Stanley Elroy Qua
Qua attended Lowell Public Schools, then graduated with honors from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1901, where he was accepted in

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

society, and received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1904. He began his legal career with his father's law firm, which is still in existence today as Qua, Hall, Harvey & Walsh in Chelmsford, MA, where he practiced for 17 years with his father and brother, and upon his death bequeathed his personal law library back to the firm. Qua served as an Alderman and a City Councillor in Lowell before eventually being selected for the Superior Court in 1921 and later elevated to the Supreme Court.

References

Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Law School alumni 1880 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Massachusetts state court judges Massachusetts Superior Court justices Lawyers from Lowell, Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-state-judge-stub