Quick Facts
Biography
Charles Sumner Lobingier (1866 - 1956) was a United States jurist who served as a judge of the Philippine Court of First Instance from 1904 to 1914 and as Judge of the United States Court for China in Shanghai from 1914 to 1924. He was also the author of a number of books on international and comparative law.
Early life
Lobingier was born in Lanark, Illinois on 30 April 1866. He married Ellen Ballon Hunker on 31 November 1898.
Education
He was educated at the University of Nebraska where he received the degrees of AB (1888), AM (1892) and LLM (1894). Lobingier was admitted to the bar in Nebraska in 1890 and practiced there for 10 years from 1892 to 1902. From 1900 to 1903 he was a Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska and received a PHD from that institution in 1903.
Judicial appointments
He was appointed to the Philippines Court of First Instance from 1904 and served in the Philippines for 10 years. Following the resignation of Rufus Thayer as a Judge of the United States Court for China in 1913, Lobingier accepted an appointment to act as judge of that court from 1914. In 1917, he gave evidence before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the operation of the United States Court for China and in 1920 compiled and edited case reports of the United States Court for China as well as other decisions relating to extraterritoriality from other courts including the British Supreme Court for China and Japan.
Academic appointments
Over the years, Lobingier taught law at the University of Nebraska, the University of the Philippines Law School, the University of California, the Comparative Law School of China, National University (Washington) and at the American University.
Later life
In 1934 he was appointed an officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission and in 1949 he was appointed as Honorary Consultant in Modern Civil Law by the Library of Congress.
Lobingier died in 1956.