John E. Richards

---

title: "John E. Richards" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1856-births", "1932-deaths", "university-of-the-pacific-(united-states)-alumni", "university-of-michigan-law-school-alumni", "lawyers-from-san-jose,-california", "justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-california", "people-from-alameda-county,-california", "california-state-university-alumni", "superior-court-judges-in-the-united-states", "lawyers-from-san-francisco", "20th-century-california-state-court-judges", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "california-republicans"] description: "American judge" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Richards" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American judge ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	John E. Richards
image	Portrait of John Evan Richards from History of the Bench and Bar of California.png
office	Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
termstart	February 11, 1924
termend	June 25, 1932
appointer	Governor Friend Richardson
predecessor	Frank H. Kerrigan
successor	Ira F. Thompson
office1	Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First District
termstart1	October 6, 1913
termend1	January 3, 1927
appointer1	Governor Hiram Johnson
predecessor1	Samuel P. Hall
birth_name	John Evan Richards
birth_date
birth_place	San Jose, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Santa Clara, California, U.S.
spouse
alma_mater	University of the Pacific (BA)University of Michigan Law School (LLB)
::

| name = John E. Richards | image = Portrait of John Evan Richards from History of the Bench and Bar of California.png | imagesize = | caption = | order =

| office = Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | termstart = February 11, 1924 | termend = June 25, 1932 | nominator = | appointer = Governor Friend Richardson | predecessor = Frank H. Kerrigan | successor = Ira F. Thompson | order1 = | office1 = Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First District | termstart1 = October 6, 1913 | termend1 = January 3, 1927 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = Governor Hiram Johnson | predecessor1 = Samuel P. Hall | successor1 = | birth_name = John Evan Richards | birth_date = | birth_place = San Jose, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Santa Clara, California, U.S. | religion = | spouse = | alma_mater = University of the Pacific (BA)University of Michigan Law School (LLB) John Evan Richards (July 7, 1856 – June 25, 1932) was an American attorney who served as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1924 until 1932.

Biography

Richards was born on July 7, 1856, to Richard Evan Richards and Mary Hamilton in San Jose, California, where he attended the public schools. He obtained his undergraduate degree from University of the Pacific in 1877 and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1879.

After graduation, Richards practiced law in San Francisco and San Jose with the firm of Moore, Lane & Leib, where future Justice William Langdon was later employed as a law clerk. In January 1904, Richards was elected a trustee of the newly formed Santa Clara Bar Association.

In September 1907, Governor James Gillett appointed Richards as judge of the Santa Clara Superior Court to fill the vacancy from the resignation due to age of Augustus Rhodes.

In October 1913, Governor Hiram Johnson elevated Richards to the First District Court of Appeal, replacing Samuel P. Hall who died in office. In October 1914, Richards won election to the remainder of Hall's unexpired term. From 1913 to 1916, he lectured at Santa Clara University School of Law.

On February 11, 1924, Governor Friend Richardson appointed Richards as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court to fill the vacant seat of Frank H. Kerrigan. In November 1924, Richards won election to the remainder of Kerrigan's unexpired term. His last opinion, Parra v. Traeger (1931) was filed on December 31, 1931. He died in office on June 25, 1932. Governor James Rolph appointed Ira F. Thompson to take the vacant seat.

Honors and activities

Richards served as a trustee of the University of the Pacific, which in 1914 awarded him an honorary Master of Arts. In 1924, the University of Michigan conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In his spare time, he wrote editorials, essays and poetry.

Personal life

On November 3, 1881, Richards married Mary Westphal in San Jose, California. They had two sons: John P. Richards and Donald W. Richards.

References

References

1. "California Supreme Court History". cschs.org.
2. (1932). "John E. Richards In Memoriam". California Supreme Court Historical Society.
3. (1914). "The Lawyer & Banker and Southern Bench & Bar Review, Volume 7".
4. (6 October 1899). "Mills Case Closed for the Plaintiff". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
5. (24 January 1904). "Lawyers Elect Their Officers". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
6. (12 September 1907). "Judge Richards Installed". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
7. "John E. Richards". myweb.wvnet.edu.
8. (7 September 1907). "Judge for Santa Clara". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
9. (6 October 1913). "Richard's Selection for Appeal Bench is Given Approval". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
10. (24 October 1914). "Judge John E. Richards". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
11. (1915). "California Blue Book, Or State Roster". State Printing Office.
12. (1966). "History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1900-1950, vol 2". Bancroft-Whitney.
13. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170813223651/https://casetext.com/case/parra-v-traeger ''Parra v. Traeger''] (1931) 214 Cal. 535.
14. (26 June 1932). "Justice John Richards of State Court Passes Away". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
15. (28 December 1932). "Appointed to Supreme Court". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
16. (7 January 1906). "Books Received". California Digital Newspaper Collection.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::