David Wagner (judge)

David Wagner (December 31, 1826 – August 4, 1902) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1865 to 1877.

Born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Wagner came to Missouri in 1842 and was admitted to the bar in 1848.[1]

He practiced law until 1862, when he was elected to the Missouri Senate,[2] and during his short tenure there "became a leading member of that body".[1] In 1864 he resigned his seat to accept the office of judge of the circuit court, and in 1865, in turn, resigned from that position to become a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri.[1] He was re-elected in 1868, and without opposition in 1870, but was defeated for reelection in 1876. He then practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri until 1880, when he retired to a suburban home near Canton, Missouri.[1] He occasionally advised as consulting counsel, but no longer in active practice.[1]

In 1870, Wagner published a revision of the statutes of the State, and in 1872 a supplement thereto. These publications were "admirably and systematically arranged", and until the official revision of 1879, Wagner's Statutes were "almost universally cited".[1][2]

Wagner died in 1902,[3] after a long illness, survived by his wife and four sons.[2]