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The All-Woman Supreme Court refers to a special session of the Supreme Court of Texas which met in 1925. It sat for five months, and was the first all-female supreme court in the history of the United States.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Texas' All-Woman Supreme Court )〕 ==Background== The roots of the All-Woman Supreme Court lay in a lawsuit which originated in El Paso and reached the state supreme court in 1924.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=ALL-WOMAN SUPREME COURT )〕 The case, styled ''Johnson v. Darr (114 Tex 516)'', involved a so-called "secret trust" under which the Woodmen of the World were claiming ownership of two tracts of land in the city. The high court was asked to review the decision made by the El Paso Court of Civic Appeals in the case.〔 The case involved a lien on two tracts of land owned by the Woodmen in El Paso. A group of trustees from the group deeded both pieces to F. P. Jones, and the deed was properly recorded. That same day, Jones signed an agreement to hold the property in trust for the trustees and deed it back upon request. This was not recorded. Jones's creditors, including W. T. Johnson, claimed the land as payment for debts, whereupon the trustees brought suit to establish the agreement and prevent a transfer of the land.〔 The trial court held for the defendants on one piece of property, and for the plaintiffs on the other. The El Paso Court of Civic Appeals held for the Woodmen on both. 〔 The Woodmen of the World were very influential in Texas politics, and nearly all of the state's elected officials were members,〔 as were most lawyers. Consequently, most of the state's judges and attorneys had enough personal interest in cases involving the organization that they would have to recuse themselves. The state supreme court was no exception, and on March 8, 1924, Chief Justice C. M. Cureton indicated to Governor of Texas Pat M. Neff that he and associate justices Thomas B. Greenwood and William Pierson were members of the Woodmen, and as such would have to recuse themselves from the case.〔 Texas law indicated that in instances such as this the governor should act immediately and as quickly as possible to find replacements for the justices in question.〔 Even so, the longtime Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court, H. L. Clamp, later recorded that Governor Neff tried for ten months to find male judges or lawyers to sit on the court, but to no avail; every one approached responded that he, too, was a member of the Woodmen and could not sit on the court. Not until the first day of 1925 – one week before the case was to be heard – did he hit upon a solution; as the Woodmen were a fraternal organization, and accepted no female members, he would appoint a court made up of only women.〔 Discreet inquiries revealed that as long as the women were eligible under Texas law to serve in the position, there should be no barrier to their appointment. Neff's choice was particularly appropriate given the fact that he was the first Texas governor with a female private secretary〔 and his record of appointing women to all state boards and commissions throughout his term of office.〔 Furthermore, women were gaining more power in Texas politics throughout the decade; the state's first female governor, Miriam A. Ferguson, was scheduled to be inaugurated later in the month, and it was seven years both since Texas women had gained suffrage and since the first woman, Annie Webb Blanton, was elected to statewide office. Furthermore, in 1922 Edith Wilmans had become the first woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives.〔 Even so, there was little precedent for such an action, and the governor is often said to have taken it only after all other avenues had been exhausted,〔 although some sources view it as a deliberate blow for women's rights.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「All-Woman Supreme Court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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