Granville Pearl Aikman
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Granville Pearl Aikman (December 26, 1858 – September 29, 1923) was an American attorney and judge who was a Judge of the 13th District Court of Kansas from 1900 until 1913. During his time on the bench, he presided over many cases involving railroad and oil companies, and issued several historically-first injunctions and decisions. A supporter of
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
, he appointed the first female bailiff in the history of the United States, and empaneled the first jury consisting entirely of women in the history of
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
(second ever in the United States).


Early life

Aikman was born in 1858 in
London, Kentucky London is a home rule-class city in Laurel County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 7,993 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the second-largest city named "London" in the United States and the ...
. He attended the Laurel Seminary in his hometown. After his family moved to Kansas in 1871, Aikman began attending the schools of Butler County and eventually befriended
William Allen White William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America. At a 193 ...
. Upon completing his education at age 18, Aikman obtained a teaching certificate and taught school for four years to help support his family and fund his further studies,
reading law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under th ...
in the offices of Sluss & Hatten, in Wichita. He was admitted to the bar association of Kansas in 1881; the following year he began practicing law in El Dorado, Kansas, and joined the Freemasons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen.


Judicial career

Aikman was elected Probate Judge in 1883, and served four years (two terms) from 1884–1888. Upon leaving office, he returned to private practice, until 1900, when, as a
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, he was elected a Judge of the 13th District Court of Kansas. During his time as a district court judge, Aikman presided over more than 100 cases involving railroad companies; in two cases, his decisions resulted in new state law. In the first instance, he issued a permanent injunction against the
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, preventing it from drilling for oil and gas on its right-of-way. In the second, he was the first judge to hold that railroad companies cannot escape their responsibility for damages by hiring private companies to burn overgrowth on their right-of-way. He also issued the first ever injunction in Kansas against railway and express companies delivering whiskey (during
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
). In 1905, Aikman presided over a notable antitrust case, ''Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of Kansas v. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company'', in which the State of Kansas sought to revoke the charter of the railroad company, accusing them of conspiring with competing railroads to fix prices, working with Standard Oil to fix oil prices in Kansas, and cooperating with Chicago and Kansas City meat packers to regulate prices of meat and freight costs. Aikman was the first judge in Kansas to hold that the ''Old Soldiers Preference Law'' (a state law giving preferential hiring treatment to former soldiers in public jobs) was constitutional, with the Kansas State Supreme Court later affirming. In 1906, Aikman presided over the murder case of Lewis Bloomfield, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. In total, he presided over 12 murder trials, some of national notoriety, and was only reversed upon appeal once (his original decision was later sustained by the State Supreme Court). Aikman was frequently paid compliment by the
Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the st ...
for his competence and knowledge of the law. In 1907, Aikman presided over a case involving the kidnapping of the " St. Louis World's Fair Incubator Baby", which received national coverage. Aikman was a strong supporter of women's suffrage. He wrote and presented the first resolution endorsing it in Kansas at a Republican State Convention, doing so against the recommendations of many leading Republicans (who opposed the measure and claimed it would ruin him politically); he presented the measure anyway, a vote was called, and it ultimately carried. After suffrage was passed in Kansas, in 1912, with just over a month left in office, he appointed the United States' first-ever female bailiff, and empanelled the first-ever jury consisting entirely of women in Kansas history (second ever in United States history, after
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
), to sit on the case of ''H. H. Boeck vs. Carrie M. Schreiber''. According to Aikman:
Women became qualified to act as jurors when the new constitutional amendment made them electors. I desired the honor of presiding over the first trial in which their new rights were executed.


Later life

Aikman left office after 1912 and returned to private practice with his brother, where he was recognized as a capable trial lawyer and jurist. He died on September 29, 1923. After his death, his widow published a book entitled ''Life and Character of Judge Granville P. Aikman'', which consisted of many newspaper articles covering his life, political career and death, as well as tributes from his colleagues and friends, including Judges Allison Thompson Ayres, Volney P. Mooney, C. A. Leland, A. L. L. Hamilton and George J. Benson.


References


External links


Kansas Genweb Project
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aikman, Granville Pearl 1858 births 1923 deaths 19th-century American judges 20th-century American judges Probate court judges in the United States Kansas state court judges * American people of Scottish descent People from El Dorado, Kansas American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from London, Kentucky Kansas Republicans