Judge

Southerner.

Because economic development created so many of the challenging issues in state law from 1815 to 1850, most of the celebrated judges of the era sat on the courts of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and other economically advanced jurisdictions. The foremost exception was Thomas Ruffin, the best-known member of the southern judiciary in the second quarter of the century. Born in rural King and Queen County, Virginia, Ruffin was related to the famous southern nationalist Edmund Ruffin. He received his early education in Warrenton, North Carolina, and graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1805. After studying briefly for the law in Petersburg, Virginia, he joined his family in moving to North Carolina and settled in Hillsboro.

Path to the Bench.

A fervent Jeffersonian Republican, Ruffin represented Hillsboro in the North Carolina legislature and served as speaker in 1816. He was then elected a trial...