Justice Arthur J. England, Jr.

Justice Arthur J. England Jr.

Former Justice Arthur J. England was the 63rd Justice on the Supreme Court. He served from 1975 to 1981.

After earning a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance in 1955, Arthur J. England, Jr. spent two years in Army counter-intelligence in Munich, Germany.  He then returned to Penn Law School, and graduated magna cum laude in 1961.  He joined one of New York City’s premier law firms, practicing tax and corporate law, and then moved to Florida in 1964 to join that firm’s Miami office.  He later earned an LL.M. in taxation from the University of Miami Law School.

England became part of a circle of politically active, progressive lawyers in Miami.  In 1969, he became the lead tax lawyer at McCarthy, Steel, Hector & Davis.  During this time, England served as special tax counsel to the Florida Legislature and as consumer advisor and special counsel to Florida governor, Reuben Askew.  He drafted the Florida Corporate Income Tax Code in 1971, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Practice Law in 1973, and the Florida Administrative Procedure Act in 1974. 

England was elected to the Florida Supreme Court in 1975, as its first Jewish justice, and helped restore the Court’s integrity after a series of scandals and resignations. 

He pioneered the nation’s first program to use the bank interest paid on lawyer trust accounts to finance legal services for the poor, and also helped to open Florida’s courtrooms to camera coverage, the first state in the nation to do so.

England left the Court in 1981, and returned to private law practice in Miami.

Quick facts about Justice England:

• (Dade)  [served 6 years, 7 months] 
• Served January 7, 1975 – August 9, 1981 as Justice  [elected at age 42]
• Served July 1, 1978 – June 30, 1980 as Chief Justice 
• b. Dayton, Ohio, December 23, 1932     d. August 1, 2013, Coral Gables, Florida
• County Judge:  No.          Circuit Judge:  No.