James Tenney Brand (October 9, 1886 – February 28, 1964) was the 31st Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving in that role from 1951 to 1953. While serving on court from 1941 to 1958 his service was interrupted when he was chosen to be a judge on a military tribunal adjudicating Nazi war crimes after World War II.

Early life

James Tenney Brand was born in Oberlin, Ohio, on October 9, 1886.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. Brand graduated from Oberlin High School in Oberlin in 1905.Oberlin High School: obituaries. From ''The New York Times'', February 29, 1964.
/ref> Next he graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1909, followed by

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

where he graduated in 1914. After graduation Brand worked for the U.S. Forest Service when he moved to Oregon. In 1916 he married Irene Morley. Once in Oregon he was in private practice in Coos Bay, Oregon, before serving as the city attorney for Marshfield, Oregon, (now called Coos Bay) from 1917 to 1927. Brand was then appointed as a Circuit Judge in Marshfield, Oregon, located in the southwestern section of the state.Ted Mahar. STATE'S FIRST ELECTED WOMAN D.A. DIES. ''The Oregonian'', November 3, 1996. He served for 14 years in that position. He was living in Marshfield in 1936 when he attended the funeral of John H. McNary.

Judicial career

Brand was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court on May 14, 1941Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Supreme Court Justices of Oregon
/ref> by

Oregon Governor The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

Charles A. Sprague. Brand replaced

Henry J. Bean Henry J. Bean (November 13, 1853 – May 8, 1941) was an American politician and judge in Oregon. He was the 24th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. He served in that role twice during the 1930s. At his death on the bench, he was the long ...

, who had died in office on May 8, 1941. Then, in 1942, Justice Brand received a full six-year term after winning the election. In 1947 Justice Brand was appointed by the War Department to the War Crimes Tribunal to be convened in Germany after World War II. There he was one of four judges of Nazi War Crimes at the

Judges' Trial The Judges' Trial (; or, the Justice Trial, or, officially, ''The United States of America vs. Josef Altstötter, et al.'') was the third of the 12 trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nurem ...

, the third in a set of twelve trials collectively known as the

Subsequent Nuremberg Trials The subsequent Nuremberg trials were a series of 12 military tribunals for war crimes against members of the leadership of Nazi Germany between December 1946 and April 1949. They followed the first and best-known Nuremberg trial before the Int ...

. The trial began in March 1947 with Brand as a member of a three-person Military Tribunal, but on June 19, 1947, he became the Presiding Judge when

Carrington T. Marshall Carrington Tanner Marshall (June 17, 1869 – June 28, 1958) was a lawyer from Zanesville, Ohio, United States who served for twelve years as Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, and was later a judge at the Nuremberg Trials. Biography Carrin ...

resigned for health reasons. After returning from Germany he resumed his position on Oregon's highest court. James Brand won re-election in both 1948 and 1954. In between elections he was chosen by his fellow justices to serve as chief justice from 1951 to 1953. Justice Brand resigned his position on the bench on June 30, 1958.

Later life and family

After retiring from the court Brand became a professor at Stetson University College of Law in Florida. Justice Brand died in Phoenix, Arizona, while on vacation on February 28, 1964, at the age of 77. He was survived by his wife Irene Morley and his son Col. Thomas Brand who served in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

Other

*Speaker at: Postwar problems of the Pacific and world organization, held in March 1944. *In the movie

Judgment at Nuremberg ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' is a 1961 American epic courtroom drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, written by Abby Mann and starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietr ...

starring Spencer Tracy, Tracy’s character is modeled after Brand. * Hattie Bratzel Kremen the first women in Oregon elected as a district attorney served as Justice Brand’s personal secretary and court reporter, even accompanying him to Germany. *Authored: ''The Insanity Defense'', 9 Ore. L. Rev. 309 (1930) *Authored: ''Montesquieu and the Separation of Power'', 12 Ore. L. Rev. 175 (1933) *Authored: ''Crimes against humanity and the Nürnberg trials'', 28 Ore. L. Rev. 93 (1949)

Decisions authored

*''Mutzig v. Hope'', 176 Or. 368, 158 P.2d 110 (1945) ( jurisdiction, venue) *''Marsh v. McLaughlin'', 210 Or. 84, 309 P.2d 188 (1957) ( torts)

External links

Bancoult v. McNamaraSubsequent Nuremberg Meetings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, James T. Oregon state court judges People from Oberlin, Ohio 1886 births 1964 deaths Oberlin College alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Coos Bay, Oregon Chief Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Judges of the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Stetson University College of Law faculty 20th-century American judges Oregon city attorneys Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court