There are no restrictions.
There are no restrictions.
Papers of James Keith, President, Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1843-1910 (bulk 1877-1910). Accession 31211, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Transferred by Allen L. Lucy, Clerk, Supreme Court of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. 26 September 1981.
James Keith was born 7 September 1839 in Fauquier County, Virginia. He studied law at the University of Virginia, as well as under John M. Forbes of Warrenton. Keith also served the Confederate States during the Civil War as part of the Black Horse Calvary. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1869, serving one session before being elected to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in 1870. This court oversaw cases from Alexandria, Fauquier and surrounding counties. Keith served as a circuit court judge until 1895 when he was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals in Richmond, later serving as the court's President (now known as Chief Justice). Judge Keith retired from the Supreme Court of Appeals in 1916 and died in 1918.
Contains a variety of items and documents belonging to Judge James Keith, President of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The material includes lists of appeals granted and refused, incoming and outgoing correspondence related to personal and court matters, court papers, and speeches. The correspondence includes letters to United States Secretary of War and Secretary of State, Elihu Root, fellow Supreme Court judges John Buchanan and John Harlan, as well as a folder of letters detailing events surrounding the election of 1896. Also included is a speech given by Judge Keith about General Eppa Hunton, and two sets of remarks regarding the installation of portraits in the court house. Additionally, the collection includes a set of Virginia Bar Examination questions from 1900, titled "Questions Propounded by the Court of Appeals to Applicants for License to Practice Law." The original order of the material was maintained as much as possible.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Contains five notebooks of appeals granted and refused. The notebooks contain lists of cases with varying amounts of information, such as the date, case number, names of platintiffs and defendents, whether the appeal was granted, which judge oversaw the case, and which session it was part of (Richmond, Staunton, Winchester, or Wytheville). The notebooks with overlapping dates contain different information.
Arranged chronologically.
Contains letters to and from Chief Justice James Keith. The content of the letters includes genealogical and family-related subjects, as well as discussion of court decisions, his Civil War service, and the 1896 presidential election. Also included are letters to Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as letters to Elihu Root who served as Secretary of War under McKinley and Secretary of State under Roosevelt. Some folders contain only letters to Justice Keith, others contain letters going both ways, and still others contain only copies of letters sent by Justice Keith.
Arranged in two sections: correspondents with multiple letters (each correspondent gets a separate folder) and correspondents with single letters (many correspondents in one folder). Each section is arranged alphabetically by last name. At the end of the list is one subject folder (1896 election) and two folders of unidentified letters. The original order of the letters varied, and as such, this arrangement was the best compromise.
Contains a variety of items including, but not limited to, financial documents, court papers, and speeches. Several of the documents are undated.
Arranged alphabetically by type of document.