James M. Love

James M. Love

James M. Love (March 4, 1820 – July 2, 1891) was a longtime United States federal judge in Iowa, presiding in district courts for over thirty-five years during the Nineteenth Century.

Biography

Born in Fairfax County, Virginia, Love became an attorney in 1840 by reading law. He was in private practice in Coshocton County, Ohio from 1840 to 1846, then served in the United States Army from 1846 to 1848, as a captain of the 3rd Ohio Regiment in the Mexican American War. He practiced in Coshocton County from 1848 to 1850, until moving to Keokuk, Iowa, where he resumed practice. He was an Iowa state senator from 1853 to 1856.

Love became Iowa's second federal district court judge in 1855. He received a recess appointment from President Franklin Pierce on October 5, 1855, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Iowa vacated by John James Dyer. Formally nominated on February 7, 1856, Love was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 25, 1856, and received his commission on December 21, 1856. On July 20, 1882, upon the division of the District of Iowa into Northern and Southern districts, Love was reassigned to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. While on the bench, Love was also a professor of commercial law at State University of Iowa (now University of Iowa) beginning in 1875, serving for a time as Chancellor of the law department. Love served as a judge for over 35 years, until his death in 1891, in Keokuk, Iowa. He was the longest-serving federal judge to be appointed by President Pierce.

Sources

• James M. Love at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.