John Percy Nields Explained

John Percy Nields
Office:Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware
Term Start:September 30, 1941
Term End:August 26, 1943
Office1:Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware
Term Start1:July 3, 1930
Term End1:September 30, 1941
Appointer1:Herbert Hoover
Predecessor1:Hugh M. Morris
Successor1:Paul Conway Leahy
Office2:United States Attorney for the District of Delaware
President2:Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Term Start2:1903
Term End2:1916
Predecessor2:William Michael Byrne
Successor2:Charles F. Curley
Birth Name:John Percy Nields
Birth Date:7 August 1868
Birth Place:Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Death Place:Nahant, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education:Harvard University (AB, LLB)
Battles:World War II
Unit:Ordnance Corps

John Percy Nields (August 7, 1868 – August 26, 1943) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Early life and education

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Nields received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Harvard College in 1889 and a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1892.

Career

Nields worked in private practice in Wilmington from 1892 to 1903. He was the United States attorney for the District of Delaware from 1903 to 1916, thereafter returning to private practice in Wilmington in 1930. He was a captain in the United States Army Ordnance Corps during World War II in 1918.

Federal judicial service

On June 20, 1930, Nields was nominated by President Herbert Hoover to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware vacated by Judge Hugh M. Morris. Nields was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 3, 1930, and received his commission the same day. He assumed senior status on September 30, 1941, serving in that capacity until his death on August 26, 1943, in Nahant, Massachusetts.