John Ferguson Ryland (November 2, 1797 – September 10, 1873) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri. Born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1811 his father moved to

Jessamine County, Kentucky Jessamine County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 52,991. Its county seat is Nicholasville, Kentucky, Nicholasville. The county was ...

, where he died in the following year, leaving a widow and eight children.L. C. Krauthoff, "The Supreme Court of Missouri", in

Horace Williams Fuller Horace Williams Fuller (June 15, 1844 – October 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and editor who served as the first editor of ''The Green Bag'', a late-19th- and early-20th century legal news and humor magazine. Life and career Born in Aug ...

, ed., '' The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 175-76. Ryland, the oldest of these children, spent much of childhood on Kentucky, where he "received a classical education at the Forest Hill Academy". He taught school for a number of years, and

read 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 the ...

in his leisure hours. In 1820, he relocated to Missouri, where he entered the practice of law. In 1830 the Missouri Legislature created a new judicial circuit, the Sixth Circuit, composed of the entire western portion of the State and extending from Iowa to Arkansas. Ryland was appointed as its judge on January 18, 1831. In that capacity, Ryland presided over the criminal prosecutions arising from the events known as the Mormon War. Ryland held that office until 1849, when he was appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court. He was reelected to the supreme court in 1851, serving to the completion of his term in 1857. While on the Supreme Court bench he wrote a number of important opinions, particularly in criminal cases. He was on the court that heard the 1852 case of ''Emerson v. Scott'', a predecessor to the '' Dred Scott'' decision in the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Ryland joined the majority opinion, which held that Dred Scott was legally an enslaved man. Following his judicial service, Ryland resumed the practice of his profession. During the American Civil War, Ryland "remained a steadfast Union man". Though a slaveholder, he believed the institution to be a detriment to the South. With the close of the war, he was an earnest advocate of restoring peace. In 1866, Ryland was elected to the Missouri State Legislature, where he served for one session, thereafter returning to the private practice of law. He had two spouses. The first was Martha Barrett (1797-1833) and the second was Elizabeth Garbrille Buford (1815-1878). He had 10 children, including Caius. Ryland died in Lafayette County, Missouri.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryland, John Ferguson 1797 births 1873 deaths Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri 19th-century American judges People from King and Queen County, Virginia