These tables are derived from information contained in 266 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions that were turned up in a Nexis Uni search for decisions filed between September 1, 1919, and August 31, 1920. The total of 266 decisions does not include various orders pertaining to petitions, motions, and disciplinary matters involving lawyers and judges.
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. For instance: (1) Whitewater Tile & Pressed Brick M. Co. v. Johnson; Whitewater Tile & Pressed Brick M. Co. v. Baker; and Whitewater Tile & Pressed Brick M. Co. v. Kestol; (2) Padden v. Padden (171 Wis. 212) and Padden v. Padden (171 Wis. 215); (3) Wisconsin Trust Co. v. Cousins (172 Wis. 486) and Wisconsin Trust Co. v. Cousins (172 Wis. 511).
I am grateful to Heidi Yelk of the Wisconsin Court System, whose skillful research provided newspaper articles on the deteriorating health of Justice John Winslow, who died on July 13, 1920, and Justice James Kerwin, who died in January of the following year. They were unwell for months during the 1919-20 term—often bedridden or out of town seeking treatment. Although they must have been part of 4-3 majorities in decisions filed on June 1, 1920, and July 3, 1920, they were clearly not regular participants in the court’s business. Justice Winslow authored only 16 majority opinions, the latest in January 1920, while Justice Kerwin accounted for a mere 5 majority opinions and one dissent, none later than December 1919.
Apart from naming authors of majority opinions and separate opinions (as well as the justices who joined separate opinions), sources do not list the justices who merely joined majority opinions (by far the largest category of participation). Thus, it is often impossible to determine which cases included participation from Justices Winslow and Kerwin—and, consequently, whether the decision in a particular case was, say, 7-0, 6-0, or 5-0.
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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