Daniel Ringo

Daniel Ringo (October 27, 1803 – September 3, 1873) was a Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, and later a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

Daniel Ringo
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
In office
March 3, 1851  May 6, 1861
Appointed byoperation of law
Preceded bySeat established by 9 Stat. 594
Succeeded byHenry Clay Caldwell
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas
In office
November 5, 1849  March 3, 1851
Appointed byZachary Taylor
Preceded byBenjamin Johnson
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born
Daniel Ringo

(1803-10-27)October 27, 1803
Cross Plains, Kentucky
DiedSeptember 3, 1873(1873-09-03) (aged 69)
Little Rock, Arkansas
Resting placeMount Holly Cemetery
Little Rock, Arkansas
Educationread law

Education and career

Born on October 27, 1803, in Cross Plains, Kentucky,[1] Ringo moved to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in 1820, and became deputy clerk of the district court, and in 1825, clerk.[2] Ringo read law in 1830,[1] and entered private practice in Washington, Arkansas.[2] In 1833 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas Territory (State of Arkansas from June 15, 1836). where he continued to practice law until 1836. In 1836 was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court, drawing the long term of eight years. He was chief justice until 1844, when he was defeated for re-election.[1][2]

One evaluation of his service on the state supreme court said:

A strong and sagacious man, with the authority which the position of chief justice always gives, would have been able to achieve a most enviable standing, laying the foundation of her jurisprudence broad and deep. Judge Ringo was not the man for this. Studying law in a clerk's office, his attention had been directed to the forms of pleas and entries, not to the broad principles of justice. For him a lawsuit was rather a means of settling nice points of special pleading than of adjusting the rights of parties. In his eyes, the forms of the law were an essential thing. During his whole official career his object was to seek out new refinements of pleading, and he impressed upon our jurisprudence a degree of technicality which it was never able to cast off until the adoption of the Code.[2]

Federal judicial service

Ringo received a recess appointment from President Zachary Taylor on November 5, 1849, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas vacated by the death of Judge Benjamin Johnson. He was nominated to the same position by President Taylor on December 21, 1849. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 10, 1850, and received his commission the same day. Ringo was reassigned by operation of law to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas on March 3, 1851, to a new joint seat authorized by 9 Stat. 594. His service terminated on May 6, 1861, due to his resignation,[1] which came at the beginning of the American Civil War.[2]

Later career and death

Following his resignation from the federal bench, Ringo served as a Judge of the Confederate District Court for the Districts of Arkansas from 1862 to 1863. He resumed private practice in Little Rock from 1865 to 1873,[1] though "[i]n his later years he did little, for the adoption of the civil code had deprived him of his principal engine of legal warfare, the common-law pleading".[2] He died on September 3, 1873, in Little Rock.[1] He was interred in Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.[3]

References

  1. Daniel Ringo at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  2. Fay Hempstead, Historical Review of Arkansas (1911), p. 443-44.
  3. "Daniel Ringo". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-04-07.

Sources

Legal offices
Preceded by
Newly established seat
Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
1836–1844
Succeeded by
Thomas Johnson
Preceded by
Benjamin Johnson
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas
1849–1851
Succeeded by
Seat abolished
Preceded by
Seat established by 9 Stat. 594
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

1851–1861
Succeeded by
Henry Clay Caldwell
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