These tables are derived from information contained in 280 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions that were turned up in a Nexis Uni search for decisions filed between September 1, 1942, and August 31, 1943. The total of 280 decisions does not include various orders pertaining to petitions, motions, and the like.
When two or more cases were, in effect, consolidated—one was simply said to be ruled by the decision in the other—the cases are counted as only one: (1) Gaber v. Balsiger (243 Wis. 314) and Gaber v. Balsiger (243 Wis. 317); and (2) Fox Point v. Public Service Commission, Shorewood v. Public Service Commission, and Whitefish Bay v. Public Service Commission.
In Costello v. Polenska the court found its original mandate (January 12, 1943) to be erroneous and issued a new decision (March 9, 1943). So, too, in Maloney v. Industrial Commission (January 12, 1943, and May 18, 1943). In In re Des Forges’ Will the court modified its original (May 18, 1943) mandate on June 16, 1943. In each instance, both decisions are counted.
According to Portraits of Justice. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s First 150 Years, “[i]n 1940, [Justice George] Nelson became ill and was unable to attend court. He resigned in December 1942.” Nelson’s name does not appear on any of the decisions filed in 1942-43, and I am assuming that he did not participate at all during this term. Thus, he is omitted from the following tables—which do include his replacement, Justice Elmer Barlow, who was appointed to the court in the same month that Nelson resigned.
The tables are available as a complete set and by individual topic in the subsets listed below.
Four-to-Three Decisions
Decisions Arranged by Vote Split
Frequency of Justices in the Majority
Distribution of Opinion Authorship
Frequency of Agreement Between Pairs of Justices
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