Rousseau Angelus Burch

Rousseau Angelus Burch (August 4, 1862 – January 29, 1944) was a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from September 29, 1902, to July 1, 1935, then chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from July 1, 1935, to January 11, 1937.

Early life and education Burch was born August 4, 1862, in a log cabin in Williamsport, Indiana to Isaac A. Burch and Mary Schoonover Burch, who then moved to Salina, Kansas in 1869.

He was the retiring President of the Social Science Club in Salina, a literary association of educate professional men.

Career After obtaining his law degree he returned to Salina, Kansas where he practised law until 1902 with his brother Charles Wilkes Burch. The primary selection included Burch and other future supreme court justices Clark Allen Smith and Alfred Washburn Benson, with Burch winning the selection. He was then appointed by governor William Eugene Stanley to fill the vacancy until the next election.

In June 1935, chief justice William Agnew Johnston announced he planned to retire, and Burch would succeed him as senior justice. He did so on July 1, 1935, with Hugo T. Wedell being appointed to fill the vacant position.

He was known for his analytical reasoning and for being clear and concise with it being said he had the "faculty of making himself understood, no matter how obtuse the subject nor how obtuse his audience."

He died, aged 83, at his home in Topeka January 29, 1944.