James Edwin Horton

Judge James Edwin Horton (1878 – March 1973) was a Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit Court in Alabama. He was elected in 1922 and again in 1928.

Judge Horton was born January 4,1878, the son of James Horton, Sr. and Emily Donelson. His mother was the great-niece of former President of the United States Andrew Jackson. His family bible shows he was born in Limestone County, AL. At some point during his childhood he moved to Athens, Alabama.

He had no formal education until the age of eight or nine. He was a sickly child and had to rely on his mother's care. Nothing has been known about Judge Horton's high school education. The next record of him appeared when he enrolled in Vanderbilt University's medical studies program. His decision to become a doctor was influenced by his father.

After a year Horton decided that medicine was not for him and transferred to Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and gained his B.A. in 1897. At Cumberland School of Law he earned his Bachelor of Law degree in 1899. Horton's clerked for his father, a Probate Judge, before entering into a private practice.

Judge Horton served one term in the Alabama State Legislature from 1910-1914. Following this he served in the Alabama State Senate. His term as a Senator was cut short when a chancery court opening appeared, which he took.

He eventually left his seat on the chancery court, returning to his old law practice and farming his land. He continued with this life for some time, before being elected judge of the Eighth Circuit Court, as noted above. It was during his second term that Judge Horton got the most important case of his career: the re-trials of the Scottsboro Boys.

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