Walter Quintin Gresham
Judge Gresham no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Gresham decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Gresham read municipal taxing authority as bounded by the legislature's express limits, even when those limits left valid bond judgments unpaid; creditors were charged with notice of the statutory revenue mechanism when they acquired the bonds.
“A municipality cannot be compelled to levy a tax in excess, of the limit prescribed by legislative authority”
For service on a foreign corporation, Gresham looked to the practical authority and local presence of the purported agents. Solicitors who could not contract for the railroad, coupled with no property or business office in the state, did not make the corporation present for service.
“The defendant had no agent or other representative in Illinois, authorized to bind it by any kind of contract. It had no property or officer, and no office for the transaction of business, in the state.”
Procedural preferences
A successful objection to personal service did not justify dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Gresham separated the two questions and preserved the action after affirming the order quashing service.
“The judgment of the circuit court quashing the service of the process is affirmed, and so much of it as dismissed the action for want of jurisdiction is reversed.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The judgment of the circuit court quashing the service of the process is affirmed, and so much of it as dismissed the action for want of jurisdiction is reversed.”
“The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Circuit judges do not carry a single assigned trial caseload. Gresham's earlier District of Indiana work is outside this appellate record.
A historical record
Judge Gresham no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.