John Ferguson Ryland (November 2, 1797 – September 10, 1873) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

[2] Ryland, the oldest of these children, spent much of childhood on Kentucky, where he "received a classical education at the Forest Hill Academy".

[1] While on the Supreme Court bench he wrote a number of important opinions, particularly in criminal cases.

[1] Ryland joined the majority opinion, which held that Dred Scott was legally an enslaved man.

[2] In 1866, Ryland was elected to the Missouri State Legislature, where he served for one session, thereafter returning to the private practice of law.