As an Associate Justice he served for 16 years, the longest service of any member of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court, and wrote over 150 legal opinions.

Sloan was born on June 22, 1857, in Morning Sun, Preble County, Ohio, to Mary (Caldwell) and Dr. Richard E.

[2] Sloan was educated in private and public schools and graduated from Monmouth College (Illinois) with an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1877.

When he developed asthma and hay fever, his family became concerned and sent him to Denver, Colorado, hoping the change of climate would provide relief to his symptoms.

[3] After graduation he and a friend, Louis H. Chalmers, traveled west, filling in for newspaper editors who wished to take time off from their duties.

During the course of their journey they stopped in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Spokane, Washington Territory, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, California.

[5] While in San Francisco, Sloan suffered a bout of hay fever and asthma, and it was recommended to him that he should try the Arizona climate.

[5] Sloan was admitted to the territorial bar in January 1885 and opened a private legal practice with Chalmers as his partner.

[12] An 1892 ruling that the territory's government could not be held liable for bonds issued for the benefit of a company was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Lewis v. Pima County (1894), 155 U.S.

[14] Sloan remained on the bench till 1894, with bipartisan support of the judge convincing President Grover Cleveland to allow him to complete his four-year term instead of replacing him at an earlier date.

[6] On June 26, 1897, recently inaugurated President William McKinley nominated him for the seat in Arizona's 4th judicial district.

In Daggs v. Phoenix National Bank (1898), 5 Arizona 409 the judge wrote: At the outset we are compelled to call attention to the omission of counsel to comply with the statue and rules of this court on the subject of assignment of error.

[24] In addition to his other duties, Sloan was appointed in December 1900 by Governor Oakes Murphy to a commission chartered to revise the territorial legal code.

[6] Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey, suspecting the reason for the summons, urged the judge to accept the governorship if it was offered to him.

[30] The new governor echoed this view in his inaugural address by expressing his optimism for the quick passage of an enabling act for Arizona.

[36] As Sloan later expressed, "Congress conferred upon me a greater authority in the matter of taxation than was ever exercised by any other executive in the history of the country.

"[38] Final approval of the state constitution was delayed in Congress and by President Taft over the issue of recall of judges.

[4] At the request of Governor Thomas Edward Campbell, he represented Arizona at the November 1922 conference which created the Colorado River Compact.

[4] Sloan died in his home in Phoenix on December 14, 1933, the result of a basal skull fracture he had suffered after a fall three days earlier.