14 Facts About Lorenzo Sawyer

Lorenzo Sawyer was an American lawyer and judge who was appointed to the Supreme Court of California in 1860 and served as the ninth Chief Justice of California from 1868 to 1870.

Lorenzo Sawyer served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Courts for the Ninth Circuit and of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Lorenzo Sawyer worked on the farm during the summer and attended the district school in winter.

In 1840, Lorenzo Sawyer emigrated to Ohio, where he pursued his studies for a time at the Western Reserve College, and afterward continued his studies at Columbus and at Ohio Central College near Columbus, graduating in 1846.

Lorenzo Sawyer was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio in May 1846.

Lorenzo Sawyer afterward went to Chicago, Illinois, where he passed a year in the office of future California Senator James A McDougall.

In 1855, Lorenzo Sawyer was a candidate for Justice of the Supreme Court, and came within six votes of reaching the nomination.

Lorenzo Sawyer went to Virginia City in January 1862 to open the office and establish the business, and while there Governor Leland Stanford of California offered him the appointment of City and County Attorney of San Francisco, which he declined.

In November 1885, Lorenzo Sawyer served as an original trustee of Leland Stanford Junior University.

Lorenzo Sawyer died on September 7,1891, in San Francisco and he was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Lorenzo Sawyer was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 10,1870, and received his commission the same day.

Lorenzo Sawyer was assigned by operation of law to additional and concurrent service on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on June 16,1891, to a new seat authorized by 26 Stat.

Lorenzo Sawyer's service terminated on September 7,1891, due to his death.

In 1884, Sawyer handed down what became known as the "Sawyer Decision" in Woodruff v North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company which abruptly ended hydraulic mining in Northern California's Gold Country.