{{Short description|American judge (1792–1852)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}} '''John Dillard Cook''' (1792 – 1852)<ref name="Mo Bio">{{Cite web|url=https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=120100|title=Judge John Dillard Cook|website=www.courts.mo.gov}}</ref> was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from November 1820 to May 1823.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=299|title=Former Judges of the Supreme Court|website=www.courts.mo.gov}}</ref>
Born in Virginia, Cook read law with a Frankfort, Kentucky, lawyer to gain admission to the bar.<ref name="Mo Bio"/> Cook moved Missouri during territorial days, and was a member of the convention which framed the state's first constitution. He served as judge of the Supreme Court for two years before resigning to accept an appointment to the state circuit court.<ref name="Green Bag 165">L. C. Krauthoff, "The Supreme Court of Missouri", in Horace Williams Fuller, ed., ''The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 165-66.</ref> Cook was one of the first three judges appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court, following the admission of the state to the Union.<ref name="Green Bag 157">L. C. Krauthoff, "The Supreme Court of Missouri", in Horace Williams Fuller, ed., ''The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 157.</ref> An account of his time on the supreme court states:
{{quote|His tastes led him to prefer ''nisi prius'' service, in which he achieved high distinction. He is remembered as a thorough master of the common law, but greatly lacking in industry and application. He was genial in disposition, and charitable to the point of prodigality.<ref name="Green Bag 165"/>}}
He lived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, and died there around the age of 60.<ref name="Mo Bio"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court |before=Newly constituted court |after=Rufus Pettibone |years=1821–1823}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, John Dillard}} Category:1792 births Category:1852 deaths Category:U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri
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