James Markham Marshall

James Markham Marshall (March 12, 1764 – April 26, 1848) was an American lawyer, Revolutionary War soldier and planter who briefly served as United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.

Early life and education

Born on March 12, 1764, in Fauquier County, Colony of Virginia, British America, Marshall was educated at home. Marshall was among the sixteen children of land surveyor and Revolutionary War Colonel, Thomas Marshall; his eldest brother John Marshall also served in the military before becoming a lawyer, planter and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He moved to the new federal city (now the District of Columbia) and continued private legal practice in Alexandria (the part ceded by Virginia to create the new capital and which decades later returned to Virginia) until 1801. The Supreme Court decision in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee in 1816 affirmed the Marshall brothers' purchase of the Fairfax lands, and thus allowed them to remove squatters and resell the land they had cleared. This made the Marshalls wealthy, and in the 1820 census, Marshall owned 39 slaves in Frederick County. The then made Fauquier County his main residence, and owned 47 slaves in the 1830 census. In the final census of his lifetime, after making provision for his children, he owned 32 slaves in Fauquier County.

Federal judicial service

President John Adams nominated Marshall on February 28, 1801, to the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, to a new seat authorized by . The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on March 3, 1801, and Marshall received his commission the same day. However, President Adams had already lost the election for a second term, so these nominations became controversial and the Judiciary Act of 1801 (a/k/a the "Midnight Judges Act") was repealed by the Judiciary Act of 1802 following the inauguration of President Adams' opponent, President Thomas Jefferson. Marshall's brother also failed to deliver some of the commissions, which led to the famous Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison. Judge Marshall later resigned and his federal judicial service terminated on November 16, 1803.

Later career and death

Following his resignation from the federal bench, Marshall resumed his private legal practice, this time at the gateway to the Shenandoah Valley as well as county seat of Frederick County. Thus, in addition to his agricultural operations, Marshall practiced law in Winchester, Virginia and surrounding counties for the next four decades.

Marshall outlived his famous eldest brother by more than a decade, dying on April 26, 1848, in Fauquier County, and is buried in the Marshall family cemetery in Front Royal, Warren County, Virginia.