The distinction of being No. 1

William H. Waste, chief justice in California from 1926 until 1940, has the distinction of being the first member of the State Bar of California.

Waste, who received his LL.B. degree from Hastings College of Law in 1894, was given the number as a professional courtesy to the state's top presiding judge at the time the State Bar was formed in 1927.

According to the History of the Supreme Court Justices of California by J. Edward Johnson, Waste tended to be judicially conservative. His tenure was "typified by a gentle, but strong-spirited, application of rule by principle and law without violence."

It was during Waste's era that the court's justices began wearing judicial robes on the bench.

A native of Chico, Waste attended Los Angeles High School, then moved back up north to study philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.

As a young lawyer, Waste was active in local affairs and participated in the founding of the Berkeley Public Library, becoming its first president.

He was elected to the state assembly in 1902 and appointed to the Superior Court in Alameda County in 1905.

In 1919 he was appointed presiding justice of the District Court of Appeal, First District, followed by his appointment as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court in 1921.

In 1926 he was elevated to chief justice.

Although Waste originally moved to Berkeley only to attend the university, he eventually made the city his permanent home and died there in 1940.

[MAIN MENU][CALBAR JOURNAL] The California Bar Journal - February, 1996

The distinction of being No. 1

William H. Waste, chief justice in California from 1926 until 1940, has the distinction of being the first member of the State Bar of California.

Waste, who received his LL.B. degree from Hastings College of Law in 1894, was given the number as a professional courtesy to the state's top presiding judge at the time the State Bar was formed in 1927.

According to the History of the Supreme Court Justices of California by J. Edward Johnson, Waste tended to be judicially conservative. His tenure was "typified by a gentle, but strong-spirited, application of rule by principle and law without violence."

It was during Waste's era that the court's justices began wearing judicial robes on the bench.

A native of Chico, Waste attended Los Angeles High School, then moved back up north to study philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.

As a young lawyer, Waste was active in local affairs and participated in the founding of the Berkeley Public Library, becoming its first president.

He was elected to the state assembly in 1902 and appointed to the Superior Court in Alameda County in 1905.

In 1919 he was appointed presiding justice of the District Court of Appeal, First District, followed by his appointment as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court in 1921.

In 1926 he was elevated to chief justice.

Although Waste originally moved to Berkeley only to attend the university, he eventually made the city his permanent home and died there in 1940.

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