Charles R. Barnard

Associate Justice, September 14, 1929 - December 31, 1930
Presiding Justice, January 1, 1931 - June 30, 1958

Charles R. Barnard served as the third Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal and remains as its longest serving Justice. He was born in Warrenville, Illinois, on December 28, 1881. After attending high school in Centralia, Illinois, he went to Grinnell College in Iowa, from which he graduated in 1904. Three years later, he obtained his law degree from the University of Iowa. On September 15, 1907, he established his residence in Fresno, where he practiced law until 1925. He served as chairman of the Fresno City Board of Education. Governor Friend W. Richardson appointed him to the Fresno County Superior Court on June 3, 1925, an office to which he was elected in 1926 and reelected in 1928. On September 6, 1929, Governor C.C. Young appointed him as one of the three Justices to first serve on the newly established Fourth District Court of Appeal. He took the oath of office on September 14, 1929. He was elected Presiding Justice in 1930, an office he assumed on January 1, 1931. Reelected several times, Presiding Justice Barnard would hold that title for more than 27 years until his retirement on June 30, 1958. In fact, Presiding Justice Barnard sat on the Fourth District Court of Appeal longer than any other Justice, just shy of 29 years. He was named to the Judicial Council in 1932 and served as a Justice pro tem on the California Supreme Court in 1938. Like many of his contemporaries, he was very active in a number of fraternal orders. He died on March 16, 1968