San Francisco County
Biographies
HON.
WARNER WALTON COPE
HON. WARNER WALTON
COPE is a native of Kentucky. He was left an orphan at the age of ten
years and his subsequent minority was passed under the care of relatives on the
maternal side, living most of the time with an uncle, who though kind in many
ways was too deeply immersed in business to pay much attention to his nephew’s
training or development. He was educated at an academy in Simpson county, Kentucky, where his uncle resided. The course
of instruction included English, Latin, Greek and mathematics, but his
attendance was not regular and he did not receive all the benefits of which
even such an institution is capable. He studied law and was admitted to
practice before leaving Kentucky, from which State he migrated in 1850 and came
to California, arriving here on the 9th day of July of that
year. He afterward engaged in mining, but with very little success, and in
1853 began the practice of his profession in El Dorado county. In
1854 he removed to Jackson, Amador county, where he
continued his practice until 1859. He was elected to the
Assembly from Amador county in 1858, and during the following session
served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
In
1859 he was elected an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of this State,
his term of office to commence January 1, 1860. He, however, became a
member of that body prior to the above date by appointment of the Governor, to
succeed Judge David S. Terry, who resigned from the Supreme Bench in September,
1859. As the successor of Judge Terry he took his seat in the Supreme
Court on the 20th day of September in that year, and remained upon
the bench until January 1, 1864, when his service was terminated by the
election of a new court, under a constitutional amendment which took effect at
that time.
Upon the formation of
the first Supreme Court Commission, Judge Cope was selected by the Supreme
Court as one of the commissioners, in pursuance of a plan that it would be
composed of Judge Cope and Judges Temple and Belcher. Judge Cope was,
however, compelled to decline the distinction, as also did Judge Temple.
At that time he was
occupied in reporting and publishing the decisions of the Supreme Court as official
reporter. He was the incumbent of this office until 1888, when he
resigned, having prepared and published ten volumes of reports.
He has never taken an
active part in politics. He began and remained a Whig until the
disintegration of that party, since which time he has acted with the Democrats.
Judge Cope is a
married man. He had three sons and three daughters. One of his sons
is married and a resident of Oakland, with his family, consisting of his wife
and five children.
Another son resides
in Santa Barbara. Following his father’s profession, he has, although
still a young man, filled the office of District Attorney, and now occupies the
bench of the Superior Court of that county.
A third son lives
upon and has charge of an estate owned by Judge Cope in Contra Costa county, where the family home is located and his daughters,
one of whom is a widow, reside.
After leaving the
Supreme Bench Judge Cope resumed the practice of his profession, and in 1866 he
became established permanently in San Francisco, where he has since remained.
Judge Cope was one of
the founders of the Bar Association of San Francisco, of which the late Judge Hoge was the first president. He was succeeded by
Judge Cope, who was the president for six years, and then retired. On his
retirement he was presented by the association with a membership for life, an
honor never conferred upon any other member of the association.
Judge Cope’s vocation in life and his career have been the
natural and practical operation of his mental qualities. Gifted with a
studious and thoughtful nature, he has found in the practice of law a genial
and healthy mental exercise. His choice of a learned profession was
undoubtedly determined by a sense of his intellectual necessities and
powers. His early educational advantages were limited but he made the most
of them, not from compulsion but because he loved study and
reflection. His professional life has been but the flow of a natural
current with continuous accretions, growing broader and deeper as advancing
years have opened up new and more extended experiences.
The expressions
“judicial mind” and “legal mind” are common enough and somewhat vague, but if
they have any descriptive meaning it is to the tone and quality of Judge Cope’s mind that they truly belong. Whoever has
listened while he has been speaking to a question of law, must have observed
how free from all heat and color of association, prejudice or fancy was his
treatment of the matter in hand. In the course of his practice he has been
mainly connected with cases where large interests were at stake, but however
great his responsibility, or intense his desire for success, on his part the
argument always proceeded with a clear and cool discussion of the whole case,
and unclouded judgment as to the relative strength of both sides. He has a
broad and fair mind, capable of perceiving and duly weighing all that ought to
be considered in arriving at a sound conclusion upon any proposition of
law. Well versed in principles he understands their proper limits and boundaries,
as defined by authority. An obscure or complicated question, in his hands
becomes gradually clear and simple as “The Gordian knot doth he unloose
familiar as his garter.”
In general
literature, he is a man of discriminating and cultivated taste, and while not
an omnivorous reader, is well up in all the standard authors and current
literature, from which he is fond of enlivening his conversation with happy
quotations.
Those who have the
most correct and at the same time the highest appreciation of his character and
qualities, are the friends who are fortunate enough to know him as an “all
round” man,—as a Judge, able, upright and learned; as a lawyer, shrewd,
faithful and persistent; as a gentleman and man of the world, accomplished,
sagacious and observing; as a companion, so interesting that his society is a
continued happiness; and last and best of all, as a friend, ever loving and
true.
Thus Judge Cope has
hosts of friends, but his intimate companions are few. Over these last,
the charm of his varied acquirements and kindly nature is spread, and from its
magnetism they cannot escape, and would not, if they could, for they feel and
say, “He hath given me medicine to make me love him.”
Transcribed
by 10-5-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 177-179,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.