Justice J.C. Vickers, the American judge of Cebu
James Cator Vickers or J.C. Vickers was born on August 5, 1877 in Taylors Island, Maryland, United States of America. Vickers, after finishing his collegiate degree in the United States, came to the Philippines in 1902.
Vickers studied at the University of the Philippines to earn his Bachelor of Laws (the state university was established by the Americans. In fact, the first dean of the College of Law was an American). Vickers, after finishing law, took the Philippine Bar Examinations and was admitted to the Bar on October 17, 1913.
Decades after practicing law, Vickers was appointed by the American governor general (the Philippines did not have a president from 1898 to 1935, we were governed by a governor general to serve as chief executive or administrator of the country, who was appointed by the president of the United States of America) as judge of the Court of First Instance of Cebu. Judge Vickers served for several years in the judiciary in Cebu (1927 to 1930). Vickers was later re-assigned to the Court of First Instance of Manila in 1931 to 1932. Vickers practiced law in Cebu from 1914 to 1926.
J.C. Vickers was then appointed as associate justice of the Supreme Court from June 1, 1932 to February 1, 1936. Justice Vickers was a member of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Ramon Avancena, the fourth Chief Justice, who held the position for sixteen years, the second longest term (Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano was the longest, he held it for eighteen years).
Chief Justice Avancena was from Molo, Iloilo on April 18, 1872. His parents were Lucas Avancena and Petra Quirosay. CJ Avancena was Chief Justice from April 1, 1925 to December 24, 1941. Avancena finished his law degree in 1898 at the University of Santo Tomas and became legal adviser of the Philippine revolutionary government in Panay Island (Western Visayas). He retired at age 69 on December 24, 1941 and was replaced by Justice Abad Santos who was months after arrested by the Japanese in Barili, Cebu to be later brought to Malabang, Lanao del Sur to be executed on May 2, 1942.
It was Justice Vickers, when he was still Judge of the Court of First Instance of Cebu that granted the petition of Cebu Autobus Company, the bus company owned by President Sergio Osmeña that ordered Lt. Damian of the then "Traffic Squad" of the Philippine Constabulary detailed in Cebu from confiscating or suspending the licenses of the erring drivers of Cebu Autobus.
As a practicing lawyer of Cebu he handled high profile cases and was co-counsels of the famous lawyers of Cebu then, like McVean (a fellow American), Don Paulino Gullas (the founder of The Freeman), Briones, and Cabahug. Among many of the cases, was the case of the Estate of Salome Avila, a widow and a resident of Sibonga, Cebu who died on May 4, 1924 and the probate of the last will of the deceased was opposed.
Vickers was also one of the counsels of K.D. Law, a citizen of the Republic of China and a resident of Cebu who was an Immigration Broker from June 1, 1909 to June 1, 1918, when his license was cancelled by the Collector of Customs of the Port of Cebu on the ground that K.D. Law was not a citizen of the Philippine Islands.
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