After Lincoln's election to President of the United States, however, Zane replaced him as William H. Herndon's law partner.

[2] Republican President Chester A. Arthur appointed Zane chief justice of the Utah Territory Supreme Court in 1884.

Zane arrived in August 1884, and was assigned to the Third Judicial District (Salt Lake City), as well as his Supreme Court post.

Sen. George Edmunds of Vermont, a leading critic of polygamy, pushed a bill in 1882 that disenfranchised polygamists and called for an electoral commission to supervise Utah elections.

[2] Zane continued his prosecutions until July 1888, when the more lenient Elliott Sandford replaced him on the high court.