John C. Lanham (December 6, 1924 – August 14, 2007) was an American

state legislator A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Stat ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and Circuit Court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He also served as the Chief Justice of the

High Court of the Marshall Islands The High Court is the second highest court of law in the Marshall Islands Judiciary. The court is established by Article VI, section 3 of the republic's constitution It has appellate jurisdiction over cases originating in the lower courts as well a ...

Early life

John Lanham was raised in an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. In an interview later in life, Lanham explained how the experience had affected his view of the law, "The first thing I think of when I study a law is: What will be its effect on (poor) people." He served on a

B-25 bomber The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and in the American

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He arrived in

after the wars.

Career

Lanham was first elected to the last

Hawaii Territorial Legislature The Hawaii Territorial Legislature was established on April 30, 1900, by the Hawaiian Organic Act which established the Territory of Hawaii as part of the United States. It was the legislative body of the Territory until Hawaii became a state in ...

before it became a state in 1959. He next served in the

Hawaii House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

and then as a Hawaiian

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

. During his time in office, Lanham focused on the creation of an office to assist the poor in paying for legal advice. He also helped to create Hawaii's

Family Court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintif ...

system, reformed the

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries ...

system and modernized the state's

criminal code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

. Hawaiian Governor

John A. Burns John Anthony Burns (March 30, 1909 – April 5, 1975) was an American politician. Burns was born in Montana and became a resident of Hawaii in 1913. He served as the second governor of Hawaii from 1962 to 1974. Early life John Burns was ...

appointed Lanham to the Hawaiian Circuit Court in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

in 1970. Lanham was named the Chief Justice of the

in 1982. The Marshall Islands were a

trust territory United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Natio ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the time. He was replaced as Chief Justice by

Nelson Doi Nelson Kiyoshi Doi (January 1, 1922 – May 16, 2015), was the sixth lieutenant governor of Hawaii from 1974 to 1978 in the first elected administration of Governor George Ariyoshi. Doi was a member of the Hawaii Democratic Party. Early and l ...

in 1985.

Death

John C. Lanham died in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on August 14, 2007. He was survived by his wife, Annie, daughters Patrice and Catherine, son Robert, and grandchildren Tatum and Kyle.

References

External links

Pacific Magazine: Former Marshall Islands Chief Justice Lanham Dies
2007 deaths Hawaii state court judges Members of the Hawaii Territorial Legislature 20th-century American legislators Hawaii state senators Members of the Hawaii House of Representatives American judges on the courts of the Marshall Islands United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War 1924 births 20th-century American judges {{Marshalls-politician-stub