请输入您要查询的百科知识:

 

词条 John W. Shenk
释义

  1. Early life and education

  2. Career

     Non-legal  Legal  Los Angeles   The Shenk Decision    The 1913 Mayoral Race   Supreme Court  Death 

  3. Clubs

  4. Personal life

  5. References

  6. External links

  7. See also

{{Short description|American judge}}{{Infobox judge
|honorific-prefix =
|name = John Wesley Shenk
|honorific-suffix =
|image = California Supreme Court Justice John Wesley Shenk.png
|alt =
|caption = John Wesley Shenk
|office = Associate Justice
of the California Supreme Court
|term_start = April 14, 1924
|term_end = August 3, 1959
|appointer = Governor Friend W. Richardson
|predecessor = Louis W. Myers
|successor = Thomas P. White
|office1 = Los Angeles City Attorney
|term_start1 = 1910
|term_end1 = 1913
|appointer1 = Direct election
|predecessor1 = Leslie R. Hewitt
|successor1 = Albert Lee Stephens Sr.
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|02|07}}
|birth_place = Shelburne, Vermont
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|08|03|1875|02|07}}
|death_place = Los Altos, California
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname =
|spouse = {{marriage|Lena R. Custer|1907}}
|relations =
|children =
|residence =
|alma_mater = Ohio Wesleyan University (BA)
University of Michigan School of Law (LLB)
|religion =
|signature =
|signature_alt =
|footnotes =
}}

John Wesley Shenk (February 7, 1875 – August 3, 1959) was a city attorney in Los Angeles, California, a Superior Court judge and a member of the California Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Shenk was born on February 7, 1875, in Shelburne, Vermont, the son of John Wesley Shenk of Cobbleskill, New York, who was a Methodist minister (died July 1922), and Susannah C. Brooks (died April 1929). He had three brothers, William W., Edmund S. and Adolphus B., and two sisters, Carrie M. (Wilson) and Susannah C. (McRae).[1] He was educated in Shelbourne and in Omaha, Nebraska, public schools and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a law degree from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1903, after which he passed an oral examination for the bar before the California Supreme Court. He later received honorary doctor of laws degrees from both universities and from the University of Southern California.[2][3][3]

Career

Non-legal

In Shenk's youth, he was a printer, farmer, painter and newspaper reporter. He was a soldier during the Spanish–American War when he was with the 4th Ohio Infantry, which saw service in Puerto Rico. After the war, he joined his brother Adolphus in the Imperial Valley as a farm hand and mule skinner, then, at the age of 26, as a school teacher.[4]

Legal

Los Angeles

In 1906 Shenk was appointed a deputy city attorney in Los Angeles, California, and in 1909 he became city attorney when Leslie R. Hewitt resigned from that position.[5][4] During his term, the cities of Wilmington and San Pedro, were merged with the city of Los Angeles, and Shenk later recalled "a midnight trip midst irate farmers and sharp-toothed watch dogs as he hurriedly listing polling places and secured names of election officers for the required ordinance calling the annexation election." Shenk was in charge of the city's legal office when Los Angeles annexed the San Fernando Valley and began the Owens River Project to bring water to the city through the Los Angeles Aqueduct.[4]

In a memorial tribute to Shenk written after his death, U.S. Judge Stanley N. Barnes recalled Shenk's role in a controversy between the city and the Pacific Electric Railroad, which wanted to lay a spur railroad track to some land in San Pedro to which it claimed ownership. Barnes said:

It was necessary to cross First Street in San Pedro. City Attorney Shenk said this required a franchise. By way of answer, and over the Labor Day weekend and holiday, the Pacific Electric hurriedly installed the track over the street—relying on the absence of judges and injunctions over the holidays and a fait accompli. The Board of Public Works, acting on the advice of John Shenk, paid back in kind on the following weekend. It took men, horses and equipment to the harbor, took possession of the empty railroad cars after removing them, tore up the tracks and announced the city was and would remain in possession. The Outer Harbor was saved for the people of Los Angeles.

Barnes added in regard to Shenk's influence: "Then there was the development of municipal power; the "Hyperion" sewer problem; the famous Griffith Park case ... the acquisition of the Los Angeles Public Library site; [and] the Water District Act of 1913—still known as the Shenk Act.[4]

The Shenk Decision

In 1912, the mayor asked Shenk to investigate an incident in which African American businessman C.W. Holden was charged a dollar for a beer at a saloon where white customers were charged only five cents for the same order.[6] Shenk's decision "that businesses had the right to charge whatever they desired and could change their prices at will,"[7] resulted in unprecedented discrimination against African Americans throughout the city. The effects of the Shenk Decision were chronicled in Los Angeles's African American newspapers, which included the California Eagle and the weekly newsmagazine, the Liberator[8][7] which asserted, "by a ruling as city attorney, Mr. Shenk completely nullified the Civil Rights bill in this state."[9]

The 1913 Mayoral Race

In 1913, Shenk ran for Mayor of Los Angeles as the candidate of the "good government" Municipal Conference. Based on Shenk's discriminatory decision the year before, African American newspapers urged their readers to vote against Shenk. Shenk lost to the independent candidate,[10] city Police Judge Henry R. Rose[11][12][13] by just over nine thousand votes[12] at a time when, according to the Liberator, African Americans represented fifteen thousand votes.[9]

In July 1913, after stepping down as City Attorney Shenk returned to private practice with E. R. Young, who had served as chief assistant City Attorney.[14]

In August 1913, Governor Hiram Johnson appointed Shenk to succeed Nathaniel P. Conrey as a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court.[15] In November 1914, Shenk was elected to a full term on the court.[16][17]

Supreme Court

In 1924, Governor Friend W. Richardson named Shenk as an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, where he sat for 35 years and wrote 1,355 opinions.[4]

Two of his notable opinions are a 1945 decision for a unanimous court in Alfafara v. Fross that Filipino-Americans were not aliens under the definition of the California constitution and therefore were eligible to buy and sell property in the state.[18][19]

A second notable opinion is his 1948 dissent in the case of Perez v. Sharp, in which the court held by a vote of 4 to 3 that interracial bans on marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and therefore were illegal in California. The opinion was the first of any state to strike down an anti-miscegenation law in the United States.[20] In his dissent, joined by B. Rey Schauer and Homer R. Spence,[21] Shenk wrote:

{{quote|The power of a state to regulate and control the basic social relationship of marriage of its domiciliaries is here challenged and set at nought by a majority order of this court arrived at not by a concurrence of reasons but by the end result of four votes supported by divergent concepts not supported by authority and in fact contrary to the decisions in this state and elsewhere.

... such laws have been in effect in this country since before our national independence and in this state since our first legislative session. They have never been declared unconstitutional by any court in the land although frequently they have been under attack. It is difficult to see why such laws, valid when enacted and constitutionally enforceable in this state for nearly 100 years and elsewhere for a much longer period of time, are now unconstitutional under the same Constitution and with no change in the factual situation. It will also be shown that they have a valid legislative purpose even though they may not conform to the sociogenetic views of some people. When that legislative purpose appears it is entirely beyond judicial power, properly exercised, to nullify them.[20]}}

Death

Shenk died on August 3, 1959, while still in office.[4]

Clubs

He was a Shriner and Knight Templar and a member of Lodge No. 99, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, Sons of the Revolution, Beta Theta Pi college fraternity and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, the Jonathan Club of Los Angeles and the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. He was master of South Pasadena Masonic Lodge No. 367 and was a member of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine.[2][4]

Personal life

On June 28, 1907, Shenk was married to Lena R. Custer in Los Angeles.[22] They had two sons, Samuel Custer and John Wesley Jr.[1] During the last 35 years of his life, he lived in Los Altos, California, where he was active in establishing a union church.

References

1. ^[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SU19220701.2.25&srpos=12&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22----1922---1 "Last Rites Are Given to Minister"], Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1922, p. 16. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
2. ^H. James Boswell, American Blue Book California Lawyers (1928), page 25
3. ^"Mother of Jurist Passes to Reward,' Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1929, page A-8
4. ^"In Memoriam," Cal. Reports 2d Vol. 53]
5. ^{{cite news|title=John W. Shenk, Who Succeeds Hewitt as City Attorney|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19100811.2.55&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=37 (314)|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=11 August 1910|page=3}}
6. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_NleGtjKXoC&lpg=PA214&ots=QfRb6JVJmP&dq=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&pg=PA214#v=onepage&q=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&f=false|title=California Progressivism Revisited|last=Deverell|first=William|last2=Sitton|first2=Tom|date=1994-05-31|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520084704|language=en}}
7. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eH35EuLuUsC&lpg=PP1&dq=seeking%20El%20Dorado%20Shenk%20Rule&pg=PA142#v=onepage&q=shenk&f=false|title=Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California|last=Heritage|first=Autry Museum of Western|date=2001|publisher=University of Washington Press|year=|isbn=9780295980829|location=|pages=142|language=en}}
8. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_NleGtjKXoC&lpg=PA214&ots=QfRb6JVJmP&dq=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&pg=PA216#v=onepage&q=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&f=false|title=California Progressivism Revisited|last=Deverell|first=William|last2=Sitton|first2=Tom|date=1994-05-31|publisher=University of California Press|year=|isbn=9780520084704|location=|pages=215|language=en}}
9. ^{{Cite news|url=|title=Shenk for Mayor? Wait!|last=|first=|date=|work=The Liberator|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|editor-last=Edmonds|editor-first=Jefferson|issue=1|publication-place=Los Angeles, CA|publication-date=April 4, 1913|volume=12|page=2|oclc=12031126}}
10. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_NleGtjKXoC&lpg=PA214&ots=QfRb6JVJmP&dq=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&pg=PA216#v=onepage&q=charlotta%20bass%20shenk&f=false|title=California Progressivism Revisited|last=Deverell|first=William|last2=Sitton|first2=Tom|date=1994-05-31|publisher=University of California Press|year=|isbn=9780520084704|location=|pages=216|language=en}}
11. ^{{cite news|title=Early Vote Heavy; Shenk and Stevens Confident|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19130506.2.26&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=186|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=6 May 1913|page=2}}
12. ^{{cite news|title=Final Returns for Every Candidate|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19130604.2.4&srpos=27&e=------191-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22----1913---1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=211|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=4 June 1913|page=1}}
13. ^{{cite news|title=New City Attorney Quits His Civil Service Job|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19130707.2.25&srpos=4&e=------191-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22----1913---1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=239|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=7 July 1913|page=1}}
14. ^{{cite news|title=Former City Attorney Returns to Law Practice|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19130708.2.151&srpos=20&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=240|date=8 July 1913|page=11}}
15. ^{{cite news|title=Six Los Angeles Judges Named by Governor Johnson|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19130814.2.14&srpos=36&e=------191-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22----1913---1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=San Francisco Call|issue=114 (75)|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=14 August 1913|page=1}}
16. ^{{cite news|title=New Superior Judges List Issued by Jordan|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19141127.2.194&srpos=19&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=23|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=27 November 1914|page=3}}
17. ^{{cite news|title=Judge Shenk Returns|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19200301.2.27&srpos=3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=103|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=1 March 1920|page=A3}}
18. ^Rodel Rodis, "Were Filipinos 'Aliens' in the United States?" Asian Week, July 31, 2013 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714115610/http://www.asianweek.com/2013/07/31/were-filipinos-aliens-in-the-united-states/ |date=July 14, 2014 }}
19. ^Alfafara v. Fross. 26 Cal.2d 358 S. F. No. 17108. In Bank. May 22, 1945. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
20. ^[https://web.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/Perez_v_Sharp_CA_1948.pdf Perez v. Sharp] (October 1, 1948), 32 Cal.2d 711, 198 P.2d 17. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
21. ^Rose Cuison Villazor and Kevin Noble Maillard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SiwgAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=perez&f=false Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Marriage] (2012), p. 78. {{ISBN|0521147980}}.
22. ^{{cite news|title=Society: Shenk-Custer Wedding|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19070630.2.128.2.5&srpos=8&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+w.+shenk%22-------1|accessdate=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=30 June 1907|page=2}}

External links

  • John W. Shenk. California Supreme Court Historical Society.
  • Guide to the John W. Shenk Papers, 1900-1935. Stanford University Libraries. Online Archive of California.
  • John W. Shenk papers, 1930-1935. Worldcat.org.
  • Past & Present Justices. California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

See also

  • List of Justices of the Supreme Court of California
{{S-start}}{{Succession box | before =Leslie R. Hewitt | title = Los Angeles City Attorney
John W. Shenk | years = 1910 – 1913 | after = Albert Lee Stephens Sr.}}{{Succession box | before =Louis W. Myers | title = Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | years = 1924 – 1959 | after = Thomas P. White}}{{S-end}}
{{LosAngelesCityAttorneys}}{{authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Shenk, John W}}

13 : 1875 births|1959 deaths|Ohio Wesleyan University alumni|University of Michigan Law School alumni|American military personnel of the Spanish–American War|Los Angeles City Attorneys|California Supreme Court justices|20th-century American judges|American jurists|Superior court judges in the United States|Lawyers from Los Angeles|California Republicans|American white supremacists

随便看

 

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

 

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间:2024/9/29 18:31:37