John Carroll LeGrand

Who was John Carroll LeGrand?

John Carroll LeGrand was an American politician and jurist who served as chief judge of the supreme court of the US state of Maryland, the Court of Appeals, and as Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates.

LeGrand was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Samuel D. LeGrand. He attended private school, studied law under James M. Buchanan, and was admitted to the bar around 1837.

LeGrand served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1839 to 1841, including a period as Speaker in 1841. He later served as Secretary of State of Maryland from 1842 to 1844, and wrote a book, Oration on the Landing of the Pilgrims of Maryland which was published in May 1843.

From 1844 to 1851, LeGrand served as Associate Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Maryland. In 1851, he was appointed Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, where he served until 1861. LeGrand was defeated for re-election by Unionist candidate Silas Morris Cochran, after a letter he wrote to the Baltimore Sun calling for Maryland to secede from the United States was publicized.

LeGrand never married. He died in 1861, and is interred in Greenmount Cemetery.