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Alfred Budge (February 24, 1868 – January 25, 1951)[1][2][3] was a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court from 1914 to 1948, including several terms as chief justice.
Born in Providence, Utah,[1] to Idaho political figure William Budge and Eliza (Pritchert) Budge, he was raised on the home ranch of his father, with limited opportunities for schooling. As a boy he attended four or six months each year the common schools of Bear Lake county, and at the age of fifteen became a student in the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah, where he spent three years.[3] He was then sent on a mission to Geneva, Switzerland,[1][3] where he "learned to speak German fluently", and "walked across Switzerland, preaching as he went, and continued walking into Germany". After three years in Germany, he was arrested in Nuremberg and convicted of "preaching a faith hostile to the government"; while his appeal was pending before the supreme court at Munich, he learned that the conviction was likely to be upheld, and he "he quietly left the country and reentered Switzerland".[1]
His experience in Germany having stimulated an interest in the law,[1] Budge returned to the United States and attended the University of Michigan Law School, from which he graduated in 1892.[3] In July of that year, he opened an office at Paris, Idaho, and within two years "had acquired a substantial and profitable practice".[3] While residing at Paris, he served as member of the city council, was city attorney, and a school trustee, and was substantially connected with the business affairs of the community.[3] In 1894 he was elected district attorney of the fifth judicial district, then comprising, Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont, Lemhi, and Oneida counties, and in November, 1898, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Bear Lake county, an office which he filled for two years.[3] A lifelong Republican, he was thereafter elected as a candidate for that party to a seat as a judge on the fifth judicial district of Idaho, defeating the incumbent Democrat and moving to Pocatello, Idaho, to carry out the office.[3] He was thereafter reelected to a second term on the fifth judicial district,[3] serving a total of 12 years as a district court judge.[1]
On November 28, 1914, Governor John Haynes appointed Budge to a seat on the state supreme court.[1] Budge was thereafter repeatedly reelected, serving for 34 years before retiring on December 30, 1948.[1]
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. JOHN T. WOOD OF IDAHO IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Friday, February 2, 1951
Mr. WOOD of Idaho. Mr. Speaker, Idaho has just lost one of her great leaders, Justice Alfred Budge, who adorned the Supreme Court of Idaho for 34 years with courage, integrity, and honor, but in passing he has left Idaho a rich heritage in an equally distinguished family consisting of his widow Ella Hoge Budge, who was selected as Idaho's Mother of the Year in 1950, and eight children, one of whom is my colleague from the Second District of Idaho, the Hon. HAMER H. BUDGE. The following article from the Coeur d'Alene Press, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, of January 25, 1951, describes briefly the distinguished career of Judge Alfred Budge:
FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE BUDGE IS STRICKEN BOISE, IDAHO.-Former Justice Alfred Budge, "the grand old man" of Idaho's Supreme Court, died today. He would have been 83 in February.
WROTE NEARLY 1,800 OPINIONS
Justice Budge, who wrote nearly 1,800 opinions during his 34 years on the supreme court, served in public life for 54 years.
During his 46 years on the bench, he missed only one term of court. A back injury prevented his attending the final supreme court term in 1948.
Justice Budge was a close personal friend and business partner of former Gov. Frank Steunenberg and was with Steunenberg at Richman, Utah, on the night before an assassin's bomb killed him December 30, 1905.
Justice Budge was born in Providence, Utah, February 24, 1868, but the family moved to Paris, Idaho, when he was very young. When he was 18, the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) Church called him into missionary service.
Two years later he was elected district attorney for the fifth judicial district in 1894. He was elected Bear Lake County attorney in 1898.
In 1902 he became district judge at Pocatello and served continuously until his appointment to the supreme court in 1914.[1]
Personal life and death edit
On July 5, 1894, in Logan, Utah, he married Ella Hoge, of Paris, Idaho, daughter of Walter and Amelia Hoge.[3] In 1850, Ella was named Idaho's mother of the year. They had eight children, including congressman Hamer H. Budge.[1][3]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Congressional Record, Vol. 97, Part 11 (1951), p. A546.
- ^ "Alfred Budge, Veteran Jurist, Dies in Boise", The Idaho Statesman (January 26, 1951), p. 1, 15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hiram Taylor French, History of Idaho: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Vol. 2 (1914), p. 715.
Category:1868 births
Category:1951 deaths
Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni
Category:Justices of the Idaho Supreme Court
- This open draft remains in progress as of July 5, 2023.