Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Access to confidential correspondence and judicial conference notes restricted until June 1, 2026.

Use Restrictions

Because the library is not open to the general public, researchers should contact the library to arrange access to the collection.

Preferred Citation

Justice A. Christian Compton Papers, 1974-2006, Accession #00028264, Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were transferred to the Virginia State Law Library from Justice Compton's chambers in 2006.

Biographical Information

A. Christian Compton was appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia September 1, 1974, by Governor Mills E. Godwin. He was reelected to the court February 1, 1987, and February 1, 1999, and served as a senior justice from 2000 until his death in 2006. He presided over a case that defined "death" as brain death.

Scope and Content

Chiefly case files from Compton's tenure as a justice (1974-2000)and a senior justice (2000-2006) on the Supreme Court of Virginia. Also contains files, mainly memos and correspondence, documenting Compton's administrative work for the court overseeing building issues, 1974-1999; the Virginia State Law Library and efforts to establish a Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Society, 1982-2002 (bulk 1996-2002), foreign attorney applications, 1974-1986, and information about U.S. Supreme Court rulings on reciprocity and bar admissions; corrections to Virginia and Southeast Reports, 1977-1982; and a House of Delegates Sub-Committee Study of Appellate Review of Civil Cases (HJR 329), 1989-1990.

The papers also contain files on the Virginia Bar Association Appellate Capacity Project, 1987-1989; minutes of the Virginia Bar Association Judicial Section, 1996-2000; canons on judicial ethics, (correspondence and clippings pertaining to changes in laws about membership in private organizations practicing discrimination), 1989-1991; and a copy of a master plan for the Office of the Executive Secretary, 1974. Correspondence with clerks includes a copy of Compton's response to a national survey, 1982, about hiring practices for law clerks, and Supreme Court of Virginia guidelines for clerks, as well as Compton's particular guidelines for his clerks.

Separated Material

Additional records (approximately 6.0 c. ft. of published opinions, articles, and newspaper clippings about opinions, orders from the Clerk's office, letters and exhibits from case files) were separated by order of the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2007. These materials, with the exception of the published opinions, were transferred to the Washington and Lee University Law Library in September 2011.

Index Terms

• Brain death.
• Building plans -- Virginia.
• Clippings (information artifacts) -- Virginia.
• Compton, Asbury Christian, 1929-2006.
• Correspondence -- Virginia.
• Judges--Virginia.
• Judicial opinions--Virginia.
• Judicial records -- Virginia.
• Law clerks -- Virginia.
• Lawyers -- Virginia.
• Minutes -- Virginia.
• Virginia. Supreme Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Other Finding Aid

Box and folder list available at repository.