Philip LaVergne Rice (July 22, 1886 – January 14, 1974) was a justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Hawaii from February 7, 1955, to July 27, 1959, serving as the last territorial Chief Justice from March 29, 1956, to July 27, 1959. Born in Lihue,

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

, Rice attended

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

and graduated from Anderson Academy in

Irvington, California Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Fran ...

, in 1906. After studying business in California, he returned to Kauai and was employed by the Koloa Sugar Co. In 1910, he became clerk of the Fifth Circuit Court on Kauai. He studied law at the University of Chicago, and then entered private practice in Hawaii in 1916. He was an officer in the United States Army in World War I, in the Hawaiian Department, achieving the rank of captain. In 1924, he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for territorial delegate to Congress."Territorial Chief Justice Rice Dies", ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' (January 14, 1974), p. 4. He participated in establishing the provisional police set-up on Kauai at the outset of World War II. In 1943, he was appointed to a seat on the circuit court for Kauai, also serving as administrator for the Office of Price Administration on Kauai during the war. During a 1946 sugar strike, he issued a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...

against picketing by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which was ultimately upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1949. On January 14, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Rice to the Territorial Supreme Court. Eisenhower had declined to nominate Rice's predecessor,

Louis LeBaron Louis LeBaron (1898 – March 30, 1989) was a justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Hawaii from 1942 to 1955."Louis LeBaron, former jurist, is dead at 91", ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' (April 3, 1989), p. D-16."Louis LeBaron, 91, territorial ...

, a Democrat, prompting criticism from Associate Justice Ingram Stainback. although Rice expressed appreciation of LeBaron's courteous response to the situation. On February 23, 1956, Eisenhower elevated Rice to the position of chief justice."Rice Named to Hawaii Bench", ''Spokane Chronicle'' (February 23, 1956), p. 2. Rice married Flora Benton in 1911; she died in 1971.

References

Justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court 1886 births 1974 deaths Punahou School alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni 20th-century American judges {{Hawaii-state-judge-stub