Matthew William Hill (June 26, 1894 – February 28, 1989) was an American lawyer who served as a justice of the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the ...

from 1947 to 1969, and chief justice from 1957 to 1959.

Early life and education

Matthew Hill was born in

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

, the only child of Saxton Hill and Mary Elma Noe. In 1907, when Matthew was 13 years old, the family moved to

Lester, Washington Lester is a ghost town near Stampede Pass, just south of Snoqualmie Pass in King County, founded in 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway (now the BNSF Railway). Lester is located along what is currently National Forest Development Road 54, on l ...

. He attended a two-room school, later being graduated from

Stadium High School Stadium High School is a public high school in Tacoma, Washington, and a historic landmark. It is part of Tacoma Public Schools, or Tacoma School District No. 10 and is located in the Stadium District, near downtown Tacoma. The original building ...

, Tacoma. He enrolled in the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

where he was a member of the debating team, and Vice-President of the University of Washington Associated Students. In 1917, he graduated ''cum laude'' and Order of the Coif with a Bachelors of Law degree. He later received an honorary Juris Doctor from Seattle Pacific College.

Legal career

Admitted to the Bar in 1918, Hill practiced law in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. From 1923 to 1924, he served as an Assistant U.S. District Attorney. He was appointed judge of the

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

in 1945. In 1946, he was elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of Washington State, defeating incumbent Edward M. Connelly, taking office on January 13, 1947, and served as chief justice from January 14, 1957 to January 12, 1958.

Honors

The Matthew W. Hill Scholarship at the University of Washington Law School, established in his memory, supports second and third year students.

Personal life

In May 1924, Hill married Irma Verne Young and they had two daughters (Irma L. and Mary B. Hill) and a son (Matthew Hale Hill). Hill died in Olympia at the age of 94."Matthew W. Hill Dies", ''Tacoma Morning News Tribune'' (March 2, 1989), p. 20.

References

Selected publications

*
Court opinions written by Matthew W. Hill
CourtListener.com. 1894 births 1989 deaths Justices of the Washington Supreme Court University of Washington School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges People from Bozeman, Montana People from Olympia, Washington {{US-state-judge-stub