Oil on canvas, 33 x 29 in., by Harry M. Wegner, undated

Location: courtroom, left

Born February 14, 1847 near Staunton, Virginia
Died November 22, 1923 in Staunton, Virginia

First elected by the General Assembly on January 6, 1894 to a 12-year term beginning January 1, 1895. Service terminated by resignation.

Elected president on November 16, 1916 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Richard Henry Cardwell. Service terminated by resignation.

Education:
Attended law school at the University of Virginia, 1869-1870

Professional career:
Private practice of law in Staunton, Virginia, 1870-1895, 1917-1923

Military service:
Civil War (Confederate)

Further reading/Research collections

Sources:
Elected, Court of Appeals, Staunton Spectator, January 10, 1894, col. 1, retrieved on January 23, 2014; attended University of Virginia Law School in 1869-1870, Garnett Becomes Commission Head,. . . Judge George M. Harrison Succeeds Cardwell as President of Court, Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 17, 1916, col. 1, retrieved on March 6, 2014; resigned, 120 Va., iii; birth, education, and career, “Memorial,” Proceedings of the Fifty-Third Annual State Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association (Richmond: Richmond Press, Inc., 1942), 139-141, and Virginia Law Register, 2 (1917), 864-866; portrait, Library of Virginia catalog.

The Constitution of 1902 included a provision that the first judges elected under the new constitution be elected to terms of four, six, eight, ten, and twelve years, and thereafter to regular terms of twelve years. This measure was taken to prevent another complete turnover of the court, which had occurred in 1882 and 1894. Under the terms of this provision, Harris was elected on January 16, 1906, to a new term of twelve years beginning February 1, 1907. Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, 1906 Session, 69 and 70; and Thomas R. Morris, The Virginia Supreme Court: An Institutional and Political Analysis (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1975), 22-24.