Solomon Heydenfeldt
{{Short description|American judge}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Solomon Heydenfeldt
|honorific-suffix =
|image = Solomon Heydenfeldt.jpg
|alt =
|caption =
|office1 = Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
|term_start1 = January 1, 1852
|term_end1 = January 6, 1857
|appointer1 = Direct election
|predecessor1 = Serranus Clinton Hastings
|successor1 = Peter H. Burnett
|birth_date = 1816
|birth_place = Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date|1890|09|15}} (age 73–74)
|death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname =
|spouse = Catherine Heydenfeldt (death 1887)
Elisabeth A. Heydenfeldt
|relations =
|children =
|residence =
|alma_mater =
|signature =
|signature_alt =
|footnotes =
}}
Solomon Heydenfeldt (1816 – September 15, 1890) was an American attorney who was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1852 to 1857.{{cite journal|last1=Friedenberg|first1=Albert M.|title=Solomon Heydenfeldt: A Jewish Jurist Of Alabama and California|journal=Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society|date=1902|volume=10|issue=10|pages=129–140|jstor=43059669}}{{cite book|last1=Rochlin|first1=Harriet|last2=Rochlin|first2=Fred|date=2000|title=Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-618-00196-5}}. He was the second Jewish justice of the court, after Henry A. Lyons, but was the first elected by direct vote of the people.
Biography
In 1816, Heydenfeldt was born in Charleston, South Carolina.{{cite news|title=Solomon Heydenfeldt, Death of the Well-Known Lawyer After a Very Brief Illness|volume = 83|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18900916.2.86|accessdate=July 19, 2017|work=Daily Alta California|issue=78|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=16 September 1890|page=8}} He read law in the offices of William F. De Saussure, a son of the noted Chancellor Henry William de Saussure. In 1837, at 21 years of age, Heydenfeldt moved to Russell County and Tallapoosa County, Alabama. There, he was admitted to the state bar, practiced law, and in 1841 served as a judge.[https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/8934fbac8738f71f10a4aa42a3489ff7 Heydenfeldt v. Townes], 27 Ala. 56 (1855)("The order appointing an administrator, made in November 1841, is signed by S. Heydenfeldt as judge").
In 1850, he moved to California and was admitted to the bar. In 1851, his brother, Elcan Heydenfeldt, served as President pro tempore of the California State Senate, and Solomon unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination to the United States Senate.
In October 1851, he ran against Whig Party candidate, Tod Robinson, to fill the seat of Serranus Clinton Hastings, and won a six year term. Heydenfeldt's notable opinions include Irwin v. Phillips,[http://home.sandiego.edu/~jminan/waterlaw/Irwin%20v%20Phillips.pdf Irwin v. Phillips], 5 Cal. 140 (1855). which established the doctrine of prior appropriation in western water law jurisprudence.{{cite journal|last1=Littlefield|first1=Douglas R.|title=Water Rights during the California Gold Rush: Conflicts over Economic Points of View|journal=West Hist Q|date=1983|volume=14|issue=4|pages=415–434|doi=10.2307/968199|url=https://academic.oup.com/whq/article-abstract/14/4/415/1903093/Water-Rights-during-the-California-Gold-Rush?redirectedFrom=fulltext|accessdate=July 19, 2017|jstor=968199}} In March 1852, he returned to Alabama to visit his family, and his absence from the state led to a court opinion on whether his seat was "vacant".People v. Wells, 2 Cal. 198 (1852).{{cite journal|last1=Camp|first1=E. W.|title=When is it Vacant?|journal=California Law Review|date=1937–1938|volume=26|issue=1|pages=32–33|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/calr26&div=9&g_sent=1&collection=journals|accessdate=July 18, 2017|doi=10.2307/3476359|jstor=3476359}}
In 1854, he concurred with a decision delivered by California Chief Justice Hugh Murray in People v. Hall, ruling that the use of testimony by black, mullato, and Indian witnesses against whites should also be extended to banning the testimony of Chinese witnesses.{{cite web |title=People v. Hall, 4 Cal. 399 |url=https://casetext.com/case/people-v-hall-2243 |access-date=1 October 2024 |date=October 1854}}
{{blockquote |author=Chief Justice Hugh Murray|text=The same rule which would admit them to testify, would admit them to all the equal rights of citizenship, and we might soon see them at the polls, in the jury box, upon the bench, and in our legislative halls.}}
On January 6, 1857, he stepped down from the bench, and joined Vermont-born brothers Oscar L. Shafter and James McMillan Shafter in forming the law firm of Shafter, Shafter, Park and Heydenfeldt, along with Trevor Park, in San Francisco.{{cite web|last1=Tippin|first1=Brenda L.|title=History Lesson: Past and Present: Pt. Reyes Morgan Horse Ranch |url=https://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/upload/morgan_horse_ranch_article_history_tippin_2016.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=July 18, 2017|date=May 2016|page=28|quote=Senior partner Oscar Lovell Shafter was, at that time, considered the foremost title lawyer in California.}} While in private practice, Heydenfeldt argued before the California Supreme Court in Ex Parte Newman (1858),[https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/afae4f195fe9d0e9af33534ee6e1bd20 Ex Parte Newman], 9 Cal. 502 (1858). where he successfully defended a Jewish man's right to work on Sunday.{{cite journal|last1=Grodin|first1=Joseph R.|title=California Supreme Court Cases on Civil Rights in the Early Years|journal=California Supreme Court Historical Society Newsletter|date=Spring 2009|page=15|url=http://www.cschs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Civil-and-Uncivil-Rights-Excerpt-CSCHS-2009-Newsletter-Spring-Summer.pdf}}
In 1862, during the Civil War, he refused on principle to take a test oath for lawyers of loyalty to the Union cause against slavery (as did Virginia-born James D. Thornton), which led to his semi-retirement from the Bar.
Civic activities
Heydenfeldt helped found the first free kindergarten in San Francisco, along with New York professor Felix Adler.
Personal life
He married twice: first, in Alabama, to Catherine Heydenfeldt, who died July 3, 1887,{{cite news|title=Catherine Heydenfeldt's Will|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18870716.2.88&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22catherine+Heydenfeldt%22-------1|accessdate=July 19, 2017|work=Daily Alta California|issue=42|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=16 July 1887|page=8|quote=Ex-Judge Solomon Heydenfeldt is named in the will as executor.}} and then, in California, to Elisabeth A. Heydenfeldt, who survived him.{{cite news|title=Disputed Deeds, The Titles Called Into Question. More Complications for the Lawyers in the Famous Heydenfeldt Case|volume = 74|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18931029.2.170&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22catherine+Heydenfeldt%22-------1|accessdate=July 18, 2017|work=San Francisco Call|issue=151|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=29 October 1893|page=20}}[https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/32ed4e6f4a7366dbc12778cdf0dc4aa0?query=Heydenfeldt%20v.%20Jacobs%2C%20107%20Cal.%20373 In re Heydenfeldt], 106 Cal. 434 (1895). He had ten children.{{cite book|title=American Jewish Historical Quarterly, Volume 10|date=1902|publisher=American Jewish Historical Society|pages=138–139|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqYyAQAAMAAJ&q=Heydenfeldt+marriage&pg=PA139|accessdate=July 19, 2017}} His son, Solomon, graduated from Santa Clara University and in October 1872 became an attorney, and his nephew, Walter P. Levy, was a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.{{cite news|title=An Old Pioneer Passes Away, After a Brief Illness Death Claims Elcan Heydenfeldt|volume = 83|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18980225.2.67&srpos=10&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22walter+levy%22-------1|accessdate=July 19, 2017|work=San Francisco Call|issue=87|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=25 February 1898|page=10|quote=Elcan Heydenfeldt, brother of the late Judge Solomon Heydenfeldt and uncle of Judge Walter Levy.}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.cschs.org/history/california-supreme-court-justices/solomon-heydenfeldt/ Solomon Heydenfeldt]. California Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- [http://www.courts.ca.gov/12523.htm Past & Present Justices]. California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
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{{succession box
|title=Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
|before= Serranus Clinton Hastings
|after= Peter H. Burnett
|years=1852–1857}}
{{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Heydenfeldt, Solomon}}
Category:Lawyers from Charleston, South Carolina
Category:19th-century American Jews
Category:19th-century American judges
Category:19th-century American lawyers
Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of California
Category:Superior court judges in the United States
Category:U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law