LASC Seal

Celebrating 200 Years

The Bicentennial of the Louisiana Supreme Court

1813-2013

Home History Justices Historical Documents Historical Photos
Celebrating 200 years . The Bicentennial of the Louisiana Supreme Courrt 1813-2013

 

Louisiana Supreme Court Justices

1813-Present

 

Chief Justice John T. Ludeling

John Theodore Ludeling (1827-1891)

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, November 1, 1868, to January 9, 1877

 

Born January 17, 1827, in New Orleans, the first native Louisiana Chief Justice • Spent childhood in Monroe, and enrolled in St. Louis University at age 12, not taking a degree • Read law in Monroe with Isaiah Garrett and admitted to Louisiana bar • Married Maria Copley Larkin in 1855 and had four children • Aligned with Republican Party, opposed secession and refused to fight against his country or his Confederate soldier brothers • Earned the respect of Union and Confederate sympathizers • Following the war was elected to 1867 Constitutional Convention • Appointed chief justice in 1868 by Reconstruction Governor Henry C. Warmouth • Brought stability and integrity to the court in difficult post-war period • Relieved of his seat in 1877 by Governor Francis T. Nicholls, who appointed all new justices • After retirement served as first president of Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad • Died January 27, 1891, at country home, Killeden Plantation, near Monroe • Portrait painted by Paul Poincy