Thomas Henry Anderson

Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) district Deceased · served 1902–1916 Appointed by William McKinley (recess appointment); Theodore Roosevelt (nomination) (Republican) 7 signed orders read

Judge Anderson no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Anderson decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

He treated a vague professional-discipline standard as constitutionally inadequate where it exposed a license holder to criminal consequences without a defined rule.

“Congress itself in its enactments should specifically define what shall constitute ‘unprofessional or dishonorable conduct’ for the purpose of this legislation, than leave so vital a subject to the possible caprice of any board of supervisors.”

He held that adverse possession could ripen beyond a mistaken deed boundary when possession was actual, open, notorious, and under a claim of right.

“To this view of the law we cannot assent.”

He separated background conditions from legal causation in evaluating a streetcar passenger's fatal injury.

“The closeness of the tracks and the size of the cars operated thereupon constituted mere conditions, and not causes.”

Cautions

He refused reimbursement for child support voluntarily supplied after divorce absent a court order or abandonment by the custodial father.

“a stranger can, in the-absence of a proper order or decree of the court, or their abandonment by the father, assume the custody of the children, and. then require him to reimburse her for the cost of their maintenance.”

He declined to infer abandonment of all other defenses merely from the filing of a supplemental answer.

“No authority has been cited by appellant in support' of the former contention”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Demonet v. Burkart
· 1904-04-05
Appeal (former husband) Granted in part

“with the exception of so> *324much of the decree appealed from as relates to alimony and •costs of suit, said decree must be reversed with costs.”

Czarra v. Board of Medical Supervisors
· 1904-11-09
Appeal (physician-appellant) Granted

“the decision of the Board of Medical Supervisors must be reversed, with costs”

Bieber v. Gans
· 1905-01-10
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“Finding no error in the judgment below, it is affirmed, with costs.”

Smith v. District of Columbia
· 1905-04-11
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“Finding no error in the judgment below, it must be affirmed, with costs”

United States ex rel. Knight v. Ballinger
· 1910-10-04
Appeal (mandamus petitioner) Denied

“there was no error in dismissing the petition, and the judgment below is affirmed with costs.”

Rudolph v. Peters
· 1910-10-04
Appeal (District of Columbia) Denied

“said decree of dismissal is affirmed with costs.”

Capital Traction Co. v. Hoover
· 1916-05-22
Appeal (streetcar company) Denied

“The judgment below is affirmed, with costs.”

A historical record

Judge Anderson 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.