A Century of Federal Judicature, The average age of the justices at the time of appointment was fifty-two years. Twentynine justices were between fifty and sixty years of age at the time of their appoint ment; fourteen were between forty and fifty. Only four justice« w;re under forty: Story, the youngest, was thirty-two; William John son, thirty-three; Washington, thirty-six, and Iredell, thirty-nine. Since Story's ap pointment, a period of over ninety years, only nine appointees have been under fifty: Camp bell and Curtis, forty-two; Harían and Mc Lean, forty-four: Wayne, forty-five; Miller, iorty-six; Davis and Field, forty-seven, and White, forty-nine. On the other hanri, s.ven justices ascended the bench at the age of sixty or more: Hunt and Lámar, at sixtythree; Blatchford and Strong, at sixty-two; lackson, at sixty-one, and Duvall and Shiras, at sixty. The average length of service is not quite sixteen years. Twenty justices served less than ten years; twelve between ten and twenty years; eighteen above twenty years. Of the thirteen justices who served twentyfive years or more, six served less than thirty years; those who served thirty years or more were: Field, Marshall and Story, thirty-four years; Wayne and McLean, thirty-two; Washington, thirty-one, and William John son, thirty. Fifteen justices terminated their service by resignation. The enactment of the usual age limit of seventy years would have deprived the court of the services of many of its most eminent judges. Twenty-two justices served while over seventy years of age; five of these at eighty or more. Taney's service terminated when he was eighty-seven, Duvall's at eightyfive, Field's at eighty-one, and Marshall's and Nelson's at eighty. Forty justices were college graduates. Thirty-three had prior judicial experience, seven of them in United States courts. Of those who had enjoyed prior judicial experi ence, nine had also served in both legislative
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and executive positions, while thirteen others had either legislative or executive experi ence. Nineteen justices who had no prior judicial experience had served in either legis lative or executive offices. Only three juslices, Miller, Bradley and Shiras, had no prior experience in legislative, executive or judicial office. The fifty-seven judges came from twentyfour States; the thirteen original States con tributed forty-four of them. Twenty-three were appointed from the Middle' Atlantic Slates, seven from New England, fifteen from the South, and twelve from the West. With the shifting of population the geo graphical distribution of the judges has changed. States which were sure of repre sentation in former times are now unrepre sented, while other States which are almost certain to be turned to-now have only lately been considered. North Carolina and South Carolina early ceased to figure. Virginia, which sometimes had two members, has been unrepresented since the death of Daniel in 1860. It is worthy of note that both Mis sissippi and Louisiana obtained their first recognition in recent years. New York has contributed more justices than any other State, seven justices having been appointed from that State. Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio come next with five each; Maryland and Massachusetts follow with four each. Only three States have had two members at one time; Virginia, Maryland and Ohio each had an associate justice during the service of one of its citizens as chief justice. No State has always been represented. The nearest approach to continuous representa tion is made by New York, the only breaks being from Jay's resignation in 1795 to the appointment of Livingstone in 1806, and from the death of Blatchford in 1893 to the appointment of Mr. Justice Peckham in 1896.
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