Thomas G. Shackelford (died December 19, 1877)"Death of Judge Thos. Shackelford", ''Vicksburg Weekly Commercial Herald'' (December 28, 1877), p. 1. was chief justice of the
Supreme Court of Mississippi
The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the ...
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...
and settled in Mississippi. He was appointed to the bench in 1868 by General
Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – M ...
, military commandant. On February 25, 1868, General
Alvan Cullem Gillem
Alvan Cullem Gillem (July 29, 1830 – December 2, 1875) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Southern-born, he remained loyal to the Federal government and fought in several battles in the Western Theater bef ...
, who had been given post-Civil War command over a region including Mississippi, named Shackelford to the state supreme court, along with Elza Jeffords and
Ephraim G. Peyton
Ephraim Geoffrey Peyton (October 29, 1802 – September 5, 1876) was an American jurist, lawyer, and politician. He was judge of the High Court of Errors and Appeals of Mississippi from 1868 to 1870 and a justice of its successor, the Mississippi ...
."Latest by Telegraph", ''Natchez Democrat'' (February 27, 1868), p. 2.
Elza Jeffords, of Issaquena County, also sat by appointment under military rule in 1868. The opinions of this tribunal are found in the forty-second volume of the Mississippi reports. Later justices criticized a case cited in that volume, ''Lusby v. Railroad Co.'', describing them "utterances of a tribunal appointed by a military
satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with cons ...
who then ruled in a prostrate commonwealth, and have no other binding authority upon us than that each case therein must be regarded as
res adjudicata
''Res judicata'' (RJ) or ''res iudicata'', also known as claim preclusion, is the Latin term for "a matter decided" and refers to either of two concepts in both civil law and common law legal systems: a case in which there has been a final judgm ...
!"Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., '' The Green Bag'', Vol. XI (1899), p. 511.
He was circuit judge for several years after his retirement from the supreme bench. He died at the
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
, home of his son-in-law, Colonel George Mooreman, and his body was returned by special train car to
Canton, Mississippi
Canton is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 13,189 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Madison County, and situated in the northern part of the metropolitan area surrounding the state capital, J ...