James McSherry (December 30, 1842 – October 23, 1907) was an American jurist who served as

chief judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

of the

supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

Biography

McSherry was born in

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederi ...

Frederick County, Maryland Frederick County is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 271,717. The county seat is Frederick. Frederick County is included in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ...

to James McSherry Jr. and Eliza Spurrier McSherry. He attended St. John's Literary Institute of Frederick from 1850 to 1856, and Mount Saint Mary's College from 1856 to 1861. He began the study of law in 1861, and was admitted to the Maryland

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1864. In 1867, he was appointed a commissioner of the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad. He remained active in the management of the railroad up thru its demise in 1896. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, McSherry was a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

sympathizer. He practiced law in Frederick, until he was appointed concurrently Chief Judge of the Frederick County Circuit Court (Sixth Judicial Circuit) and Associate Judge of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

in 1887. He was promoted to Chief Judge of the

in 1896, where he served until his death at his home in 1907. While serving as Chief Judge, McSherry was a member of the executive committee of the State House Building Commission. The Committee oversaw the construction of the present day annex to the

Maryland State House The Maryland State House is located in Annapolis, Maryland. It is the oldest U.S. state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772 and houses the Maryland General Assembly, plus the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In 1 ...

. McSherry married Clara Louise McAleer on February 21, 1866, with whom he had one son and five daughters.

References

*Radoff, Morris L., ''The State House At Annapolis'', The Hall of Records Commission - Department of General Services, State of Maryland, Annapolis 1972
Biography
from the Maryland Archives *

External links

Chief Judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals Mount St. Mary's University alumni Maryland lawyers 1842 births 1907 deaths Politicians from Frederick, Maryland 19th-century American judges {{Maryland-state-judge-stub