Warner Cope
| Warner Cope | |
|---|---|
| 6th Chief Justice of California | |
|
In office March 11, 1863 – January 2, 1864 |
|
| Preceded by | Stephen J. Field |
| Succeeded by | Silas W. Sanderson |
| Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | |
|
In office September 20, 1859 – March 10, 1863 |
|
| Appointed by | Governor John B. Weller |
| Preceded by | David S. Terry |
| Succeeded by | Edwin B. Crocker |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 31, 1824 Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | January 17, 1903 (aged 78) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Warner Walton Cope (January 31, 1824 – January 17, 1903), also known as W. W. Cope, was the 6th Chief Justice of California.
Born in Kentucky, Cope came to California in 1850 and tried mining, but found little success. In 1853 he resumed work as an attorney, first in El Dorado County and the next year in Jackson, Amador County. He was elected to the state legislature in 1858. In June 1859 he was nominated by Alvinza Hayward, also of Amador County, to be the candidate of the Democratic Lecompton Party for associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. In September 1859, he was elected, but before his term was to begin he was appointed by Governor John B. Weller to fill a vacancy on the court starting September 20, 1859. He became Chief Justice on March 11, 1863, filling the vacancy after President Abraham Lincoln appointed Stephen J. Field to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cope himself left the court at the end of that year when a constitutional amendment required new judicial elections. After leaving the court, Cope returned to private practice until about 1893, at which point he retired to Contra Costa County, where he raised nuts and fruit. He was president of the San Francisco Bar Association from 1880 to 1885. He died in San Francisco.
Cope married early in life; three sons and three daughters outlived him. One of his sons, Walter B. Cope, was a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge and a prominent California lawyer in the firm of Morrison, Cope & Brobeck. Like his father, Walter also served as president of the San Francisco Bar Association, from 1906 to 1909.
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