The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-06-01

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/ cult praotiee and experiences That the
/ fortunes OF such men as jackson, Clay
Polk and Benton, and five hundred
others in the West, depended on knowl-
| edge OF men and things thus aequir-
! ed, personally know; nor could John
| Marshall, VIM Pinekney, or Daniel
/ Webster, have succeeded much without
| it.
l went to Nashville (where Ihaye
since resided) at the end of the year
/ 1878 In March, 1919, the town and
country were overwhelmed with mis-
/ fortune in trade, and a general bank
ruptcy, not known before or since in
that country. BY the end Of thz year,
the courts had two thousand cases in
them at least, and had more business
than ! could do in the town ITSELF and
rarely left ii. My success, profession
ally, was all that could be desired, and
/ | had far more character than / de
served, owing mainly to uncommon ca
/ pacity for labor, and much ambition.to
excel c5I pstitOrS The Nashville bar
was at that time inferior to none in
| the United States IN contests involving
conflicting titles to lands and possess
ed uncommon ability in most depart
ments of their profession. The action
of ejectment had drawn them there.
December, 1894, was elected by
/ the Legislature one OF the Supreme
Judges of the State, which Office Iheld
until 1896, having been then beaten
and turned out on new election, un~
! der the amended constitution adopted
by Tennessee in that year. l had act,
ed rs Chief Justice for some six years
before | was superseded. OF the Ten
nessee decisions, whilst I was on the
! bench, nothing need be said, as thew
are all reported in the volumes OF M
Yerger.
The old pastime Of duelling was over
thrown by striking lawyer from the
rolls in the case OF Smith as The state,
| q Yay. DDS in which l delivered the
opinion, and set forth my circuit expe-
/ rience; and for which homiy 90 my
brethren, | was scUrched by meny 2
racy sarcasm; such as, that a sinner
! who had carried blank challenges in
the crown of his hat and slept with
pistols under his head, was q very pro
per man to turn saint and lecturer, to
put down a vice he so well understood
in all its bearings. But, as we have not
had duel since, nor challenge, SO
far as | know, | still wear the hurels
coming of the good advice so ulsc-u-
pulously set forth to my brethren.
On the 4th of March 1897 | was
nominated 70 the Senate by President
| jackson as Judge Of the Supreme
/ Court of the United States, where ]
have had some character as being ia
miliar with the laws applicable to eases
involving conflicting titles to western
and southern lands.
As TO my mode of speaking st the bar
1 have no very exact ecollectio1 1t
was not methodical, tolerably fluent
sometimes stormy, and often sarcastic,
which habit cost me very dear on one
or two occasions. One thing I rec5llect
very well, that, after being on the bench
twelve years, and then attempting to
speak in court, | was as much embar-
rassed as at the outset; and under an
obvious necessity Of learning the art
over again, if ! intended to employ it,
which never did.
After ] was lawyer, and q success /
| full one, | cast about me for a pecma=
nent place of residence, taking a range
from New Orleans to Baltimore and
Harrisburg, Pa, and in the end sat
! down where | felt certain of success,
where good fortune attended me, as it
has throughout from early manhood up.
/ never was a candidate for any pO-
Hticsl place, nor held any office except
/ those above referred to. of Solicitor and
Judge For many ye5rs past / could
not have been elected to anything by
| the people. With the floating masses /
had nothing in common. punished
many of them for crimes, and always
severely. They feared and disliked
me- Among the great mass Of proper
| ty owners thousands have been alien
| ated by decisions adverse to their in
| terests The losing party naturally dis
likes the Judge who decides against
| him, and his family and friends take
sides; whereas, the party that wins,
and all connected with him, promUlge
aloud, that no Judge, not corrupt or
Ounce. could have decided otherwise
and so it falls out that half of neigh
borhood for a single decision turn enc
mics, and the other half do not stand
by the Judge as friends. This process
| will pervade a whole community in
dozen or twenty years. when, during
the time the same Judge has made
] thousands of decisions affecting almost
/ every interest and every influential
man in the community. A Judge may
have great cogency and influence with
/ IA N.lia Fz,f.
/ but if he be q stern and unquailing Of
fetal, it is not in human nature that
he should be popular man. so at least
has been my experience
have entertained some ideas or
legal training for the bar and bench
that are perhaps peculiar, which ! viii
state. The difficulty of understanding
the laws of England, as expouuded by
courts and stated by commentators, Is
not very great. Thus they presented
| themselves to my mind but in their
application 10 the various transactions
Of life lies the trouble. He who best
| knows how most things are usually
done, is best qualified to deal with the
right and wrong about which men 60
to law, and 70 apply old principles to
new circumstance; and so be Is the
best Judge of what a new statute means.
To Judge accurately OF these, deep prac~
tical knowledge is by far more valuable
than deep law learning, necessary as
both arc 20 the LAWYER He who knows
more law, but is without common sense
70 comprehend the facts to which his
law may be applied, is sheer pedant
IN his profession, and, therefore, II is
that we often find walking index OF
lawyer not an equal, as a Judge, to
vigorous county court magistrate who
never read law book. But, force a
Young lawyer 10 battle his way up on
the circuit; 10 60 and see the land sur
veyed, and the corner trees blocked be
fore he tries his eiectmeut to so into
the workshop, OF steamboat, or count
ing-house, and see how the thing is
done his client is lawing about and he
will beat q dozen of his equals in ca
pacity, crammed with law to the throat.
7 insist on thorough legal trair ing
and constant study; but object, wheth-
er il comes from the bar or bench, to
niles Of references and figures f0rmida-
ole as q lltaSNAe y At poA = EuAAANA "a 81 NAAA
the index, and having no value in the
particular case; and which parade Of
authorities is notoriously an address Of
vanity TO ignorance and pedantry, that
ever remind one of two grains Of wheat
smothered under two bushels Of chat
such being the plain condition Of the
little law that is applicable. How slow
we al are, in such cases, to fnd out
how merry our brothers make Them
selves at our expense, is marvellous.
No doubt, ! have been a common suf-
ferer, as / often deserved to be whenat
the bar, and especially since I have
acted as Judge, The practice deserves
| ridicule and gets its full share.
Most respectfully your ob't sery,b
j. CATEoN.
Washington, Dec a, 1851.