The newly opened (dedicated October 27, 2011) RSA Dexter Avenue Building was built over and around the old State of Alabama Judicial Building. The new facility includes an honor court with statues of the Alabama Supreme Court chief justices who served in the old building. One of the staues is of James Edwin "J. Ed." Livingston (March 17, 1892 – October 15, 1971), who served as Chief Justice from 1951 to 1971.
The bronze statue is life-size. Justice Livingston is shown standing in his judicial robes, as are the other justices. His hands are folded in front of him in this pose. Next to the statue is a bronze plaque giving biographical information.
The following biographical information comes from this Alabama Archives web page: (
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A native of Macon County, J. Ed. Livingston attended public schools and Alabama Polytechnic Institute. After completing law school at the University of Alabama in 1918, he served in the Army until the end of World War I. He then returned to Tuscaloosa to practice law and remained there for twenty-one years. From 1922 to 1940, he was also a part-time professor of law at the University of Alabama.
Livingston followed in the footsteps of Lucien Gardner, succeeding him in 1940 as associate justice, appointed by Governor Frank M. Dixon, and eleven years later as chief justice, appointed by Governor Gordon Persons. He was re-elected three times. Looking back on all the opinions he had written, Judge Ed, as he was called, maintained that he was proudest of his dissenting opinion in Ex Parte Foshee, 246 Ala. 604, 21 So.2d 839 (1945), which dealt with the Court's rule-making powers.
A skillful raconteur, Livingston was himself the subject of many stories told by fellow judges and lawyers, many of whom had been his students. The subjects of these tales included his activities as lawyer, teacher, and jurist, as well as his hobbies, hunting and farming.
J. Ed. Livingston married Marie Wise of LaFayette in 1913. They had two sons.