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American judge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solomon Heydenfeldt (1816 – September 15, 1890) was an American attorney who was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1852 to 1857.[1][2] He was the second Jewish justice of the court, after Henry A. Lyons, but was the first elected by direct vote of the people.[1]
Solomon Heydenfeldt | |
---|---|
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | |
In office January 1, 1852 – January 6, 1857 | |
Appointed by | Direct election |
Preceded by | Serranus Clinton Hastings |
Succeeded by | Peter H. Burnett |
Personal details | |
Born | 1816 Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
Died | San Francisco, California, U.S. | September 15, 1890 (age 73–74)
Spouse | Catherine Heydenfeldt (death 1887) Elisabeth A. Heydenfeldt |
In 1816, Heydenfeldt was born in Charleston, South Carolina.[3] He read law in the offices of William F. De Saussure, a son of the noted Chancellor Henry William de Saussure.[3] In 1837, at 21 years of age, Heydenfeldt moved to Russell County and Tallapoosa County, Alabama. There, he was admitted to the state bar, practiced law, and in 1841 served as a judge.[4][3]
In 1850, he moved to California and was admitted to the bar.[3] In 1851, his brother, Elcan Heydenfeldt, served as President pro tempore of the California State Senate, and Solomon unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination to the United States Senate.[3]
In October 1851, he ran against Whig Party candidate, Tod Robinson, to fill the seat of Serranus Clinton Hastings, and won a six year term.[3] Heydenfeldt's notable opinions include Irwin v. Phillips,[5] which established the doctrine of prior appropriation in western water law jurisprudence.[6] In March 1852, he returned to Alabama to visit his family, and his absence from the state led to a court opinion on whether his seat was "vacant".[7][8]
On January 6, 1857, he stepped down from the bench,[3] and joined Vermont-born brothers Oscar L. Shafter and James McMillan Shafter in forming the law firm of Shafter, Shafter, Park and Heydenfeldt, along with Trevor Park, in San Francisco.[9] While in private practice, Heydenfeldt argued before the California Supreme Court in Ex Parte Newman (1858),[10] where he successfully defended a Jewish man's right to work on Sunday.[11]
In 1862, during the Civil War, he refused on principle to take a test oath for lawyers of loyalty to the Union cause (as did Virginia-born James D. Thornton), which led to his semi-retirement from the Bar.[3]
Heydenfeldt helped found the first free kindergarten in San Francisco, along with New York professor Felix Adler.[12]
He married twice: first, in Alabama, to Catherine Heydenfeldt, who died July 3, 1887,[13] and then, in California, to Elisabeth A. Heydenfeldt, who survived him.[14][15] He had ten children.[12] His son, Solomon, graduated from Santa Clara University and in October 1872 became an attorney, and his nephew, Walter P. Levy, was a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.[16]
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