Decius S. Wade played a pivotal role in creating Montana, jurisprudence. He came to Montana in 1871 from Ohio, where he had served in the state legislature and as a probate judge. He wrote over half the opinions of the Territorial Supreme Court during his sixteen year tenure on the Court, helped draft the four Montana codes of 1895 in his role as code commissioner, published speeches on the law, and was a prominent lawyer after he retired from the court in 1887. Because of the large number of Wade's opinions and his writings on jurisprudence, his work is particularly well suited to study.
Wade arrived in Montana only a few years after a period of great turbulence in the legal system. In 1864-65 a series of vigilante actions wrested control of the territory away from a highly organized band of criminals. In 1866-67 a lengthy, highly partisan struggle over control of the Territory led to judicial decisions striking most legislative actions and, eventually, to Congressional abrogation of virtually all actions taken by two territorial legislatures. Moreover, Wade came as a Republican federal appointee in a largely Democratic territorv chafing under rule from Washington.
Despite these unfavorable circumstances, Wade won widespread respect from Montanans of all political parties as Territorial Chief Justice. Working with a fragmented and contradictory set of statutes and the common law, Wade helped create a stable system of laws. This paper will assess Wade's contributions through his opinions and jurisprudential writings.