Alexander Wells

Background

Wells was born about 1821 in New York City.

Career

He was admitted to the bar about 1842, and practiced law in New York City. About 1850, they moved to California. Wells was appointed in April 1852 as a Temporary Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, to serve during the absence of Justice Solomon Heydenfeldt, and remained on the bench until October.

On November 2, 1852, Wells was elected for the remainder of the term, which expired at the end of 1854.

He was to be re-elected in 1854 for a full term, but died suddenly on October 31, 1854, at his home in San Jose, California. One historian summed up his judicial career as follows: "The sixth associate justice, Alexander Wells, who came to the bench in 1853 at the age of 59, died a year later, leaving no published legal mark on the court".

Achievements

• He won the Democratic nomination for a seat as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California in 1852, defeating the incumbent Alexander O. Anderson who had been appointed to the vacancy caused by the resignation of H. A. Lyons.

Views

Quotations: "The sixth associate justice, Alexander Wells, who came to the bench in 1853 at the age of 59, died a year later, leaving no published legal mark on the court".

Membership

He also entered politics as a Democrat, and was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1846.