James Woodrow Lewis (1912–1999) was a chief justice on the
South Carolina Supreme Court
The South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. .
Lewis was born in the Swift Creek area of
Darlington County, South Carolina
Darlington County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 62,905. Its county seat is Darlington. Hartsville is the largest city in the county. Darlington County is home to the Darlington Race ...
on March 8, 1912. Although he began law school in 1931, economic conditions during the Depression forced him to return home to Swift Creek to run a country store owned by his father. He continued studying the law under the tutelage of a local lawyer, and he was admitted to practice on December 6, 1935. At the age of 22, he was elected to the Statehouse. Legislators were exempt from the draft during World War II, but he resigned in midterm to enter the military.
Lewis served for sixteen years as a trial court judge before he was elected as an associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court on February 21, 1961. He was elected chief justice on January 21, 1975, to fill the unexpired term of
Joseph Rodney Moss; was sworn in on August 14, 1975; and served until his retirement in 1984. Chief Justice Lewis retired upon reaching the state's mandatory retirement age of 72.
References
Justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court
1912 births
People from Darlington County, South Carolina
1999 deaths
Chief Justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court
20th-century American judges
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