| Birth Date: | 11 November 1861 |
| Birth Place: | Fayette, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Natchez, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Office: | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi |
| Termstart: | August 1912 |
| Termend: | 1915 |
| Termstart1: | January 1912 |
| Termend1: | August 1912 |
| State Senate1: | Mississippi State |
| District1: | 9th |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Successor1: | W. C. Martin |
| Predecessor1: | Charles F. Engle |
Richard Forman Reed (November 11, 1861 – May 31, 1926) was an American state legislator and justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1912 to 1915.[1]
Born in Jefferson County, Mississippi on November 11, 1861, Reed established his home in Natchez, Mississippi, where he entered the practice of law with his father in 1885.[2] [3] Reed represented Adams County, Mississippi, for one term in the Mississippi State Senate,[2] where he unsuccessfully opposed a measure to transition to an elected judiciary. He was "regarded by many as perhaps the ablest lawyer in the Senate".[4]
Reed was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, but later that year was appointed by Governor Earl L. Brewer to a seat on the state supreme court vacated by the resignation of Chief Justice Robert Burns Mayes.[5] [6] After his appointment to the state supreme court, he was succeeded in the Senate by W. C. Martin.[7] In addition to his judicial service, Reed was known as a writer, having written a piece titled The Nature Country describing the settlement of Natchez.[8] He lectured on law at Millsaps College.[2]
Reed died at his home in Natchez on May 31, 1926, at the age of 64.[2] [8] [9]