Milton J. Helmick

Milton Helmick, Judge of the United States Court for China

Milton Helmick was Attorney General of New Mexico (1923-1925), a judge in Albuquerque (1925-1934) and the Judge of the United States Court for China (1934-1943).

Early life

Helmick was a native of Colorado. He attended Stanford University and then took a law degree from the University of Denver in 1910.^[1]

Career

Helmick served as Attorney General of New Mexico from 1923 to 1925 and from 1925 to 1934 as judge for the 2nd District of Albuquerque.^[2]

In 1934, he was appointed to a 10-year term as the Judge for the United States Court for China in Shanghai, China replacing Milton D. Purdy.

On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops occupied the United States consulate in Shanghai where the court was based. Helmick was interned for about half a year before being repatriated to America.^[3] His appointment as judge formally came to an end in May 1943 after the Treaty for Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China was ratified.

Helmick returned to China in 1944 to study the new Chinese legal system to prepare for dealing with the system after the defeat of Japan. He then worked for the Standard Vacuum Oil Company in Shanghai from 1945 to 1951.^[4]

In 1953, he was appointed Judge of the United States Consular Court for Casablanca and Tangiers where he tried one of the few cases of piracy against an American citizen in the 20th Century.^[5]

Retirement and death

He retired in January 1954 and died in San Francisco in October 1954 at the age of 69.^[6]

Further reading

• Clark, Douglas (2015). Gunboat Justice: British and American Law Courts in China and Japan (1842-1943). Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books. , Vol. 1: ISBN 978-988-82730-8-9; Vol. 2: ISBN 978-988-82730-9-6; Vol. 3: ISBN 978-988-82731-9-5
• Scully, Eileen P. (2001). Bargaining with the State from Afar: American Citizenship in Treaty Port China, 1842-1942. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12109-5. 

References