William Harrison Waste (October 31, 1868 – June 6, 1940) was the 21st

Chief Justice of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

Biography

Born near Chico,

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 ...

, Waste was educated at

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest Public education#United States, public high school in the Southern California, Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are ...

, graduating in 1887. He graduated from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

in 1891 and

Hastings Law School The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California as ...

in San Francisco in 1894. He practiced law in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

and later in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

. In 1893, he co-founded the Holmes Library Association, which later became the

Berkeley Public Library The Berkeley Public Library is the public library system for Berkeley, California. It consists of the Central Library, Claremont Branch, North Branch, West Branch, Tarea Hill Pittman South Branch—and the Tool Lending Library, which is one of th ...

, and was its first president. From 1902 to 1905 he served in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

as a Republican from the 52nd district. In April 1905, Governor

George Pardee George Cooper Pardee (July 25, 1857 – September 1, 1941) was an American doctor of medicine and politician. As the 21st Governor of California, holding office from January 7, 1903, to January 9, 1907, Pardee was the second native-born Californ ...

appointed Waste as judge of the

Alameda County Superior Court The Alameda County Superior Court, officially the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Alameda County as established by Article VI of the Constitution of California. It functions ...

, where he remained until December 1918. On December 19, 1918, Governor William Stephens appointed Waste the presiding justice of the First District Court of Appeal, Division One. Waste replaced Thomas J. Lennon, who was named to the Supreme Court on December 20, 1918. When Frank M. Angellotti resigned as Chief Justice, Governor Stephens elevated Lucien Shaw to Chief Justice, and then named Waste to take Shaw's place as an associate justice effective November 25, 1921. In December 1925, Chief Justice Louis Wescott Myers resigned and Governor Friend W. Richardson named Waste the Chief Justice as of January 1926. In November 1926, Waste was retained in the election. When Waste was elevated to Chief Justice, Jesse W. Curtis Sr. was named from the Second District Court of Appeal, Division One, to fill the vacancy as associate justice. Among his notable cases is ''In re San Francisco Chronicle'' (1934), a contempt of court proceeding against a newspaper for publishing an article stating the court had ruled in a case that was still pending. The story concerned David Lamson, who was convicted, sentenced to the death penalty, and had filed an appeal. The newspaper ran a story that the court granted a new trial, based on anonymous sources. The newspaper asserted it had published in "good faith" but the court rejected the defense. In an opinion by Waste, the court found the ''Chronicle'' in contempt and fined the paper, editor and managing editor.

State bar

Waste was the first lawyer registered with the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

. As Chief Justice, he was assigned State Bar Number 1 in 1927 when the State Bar was formed and began registering attorneys and judges.

Personal life

On September 16, 1896, he married Mary Jane Ewing in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, with whom he had two children.

Death

Waste died in office on June 6, 1940, and Associate Justice Phil S. Gibson was named the next Chief Justice on June 20, 1940.

Legacy

Waste was the first recipient of the

Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal Benjamin Ide Wheeler (July 15, 1854– May 2, 1927) was a professor of Greek and comparative philology at Cornell University, writer, and President of the University of California from 1899 to 1919. Life and career Early years Benjamin ...

in 1929.Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal
Retrieved 2018-07-31

References

External links

William H. Waste, California State Bar number 1Profile
California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Transcript of Memorial Speech Regarding Chief Justice Waste
given on October 30, 1940. California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Opinions authored by William H. Waste
Courtlistener.com.

California State Courts. *
Join California William H. Waste