The Ouachita telegraph., 1871-05-20
The Late Chief Justice Taney.


The New York World of a late date,
contains u review of Il volume of decis-
ions made by the late Chief Justice in
the Circuit Court, of the Eastern District
of Maryland, and recently published i'll
This volume was edited .
by his son-in-law, the late Mr.. J. Mason .
Campbell, Of Baltimore, a lawyer of
in that city, and includes re-
ports of cases in law and equity, tried /
during the period from 1886 to 1861 be- .
fore Judge Tancy. The editor having
died before the publication of this vol
ume, Mr.. brightly, of Philadelphia,
completed the work, which must be
regarded as Il valuable contribution to
the legal profession. The Worlds re-
view embOdieS an interesting sketch of
the great Judge, and we have no doubt
the book will have Il large circulation.
1t is announced that Judge Tancy's
daughters, who are in indigcnt circum-
stances, are interested in the proceeds
of sale. We extract these passages from
the World
cit may not be within the scope of
daily journalism to venture on detailed
criticism of works so purely technical
and professional as this, and we shall
not attempt it; but in turning over its
leaves our eyes is attracted by one case
Lowry VS.. Commercial and Farmers
Bank (p. }t0)-Which seems of cnor-
| nous practical interest i'll regulating the
duties Of bankers and other corporations
so as to protect tho interest Of ccstW Inr
trusts by preventing unauthorized and
| fraudulent transfers Of stocks and regis
| tered securities of all sorts. 1t ought to
be learned by heart by every c:,shicr and
transfer clerk and broker in the land.'
Tl,@ <Arv <>f 81
the rancorous spite ofRadicals who have
impiOusly trsamplcd on the Constitution
of the land, vainly seek to degrade its
illustrious expounder. They may deny
his bust it's appropriate niche in the
gallery of the legal giants of tho land,
but they cannot displacc him from the
luminous records of national juriS-
prudence.
Mr.. fancy took his seat on the bench
of the Supreme Court at January term,
1887. There We're but seven judges in
all then-Story, Thompson, Mclean,
Baldwin, Wayne and Barbour. The
Chief Justice survived all but Wayne.
Their political antccedentS had been
! Democratic, while the early tcnctS of
the Chief were of the most advanced
Federalism, but, like many others of
his party, he had cxpiHtcd it by the
most demonstrativc Jacksonism. If
there was any one topic as to which he
| did not ever seem able to maintain an
intellectual equilibrium, it was the Bank
| of the United States, and everything
connected with it. One by one his Ori-
ginaf associates passed away, and the
temper of the court was modified, or
would have been SO, but for the grand
control which, as presiding officer, Judge
'Taney was able to maintain. In 1912,
Mr.. Barbour, incarnated of all that was
scrupulous and intinitesimal in Virgin
ia, strict constructionisn, died. Then
Smith ThompsOn--:,nu in 1915, that
marvel of judicial g;irrulity and multi
farious learning, Judge Story. Judge
Nelson succeeded Mr.. Thompson in 1874,
and through him only are we now con-
nected with the dead. In its second
phase Of the period we arc commenting
on, the court was not, with Daniel and
Woodbury. and Mckinley, Us strong
within as it had been previously, or as
;. it was afterwards with Gricr and Curtis,
and that model Judge, for SO the protcs-
sion, without dissent, regarded him,
John n. Campbell. The last change,
anterior to tho catastrophe of 1861, Was
the succession of Judge Clifford on the
resignation Of Mr.. Curtis in 1887. JUS
ticcs SWayne, Davis, Miller and Field
II y y,
but the sun was going down and hcav Y
clouds We're gathering round the sink
ing luminary. Such was his career aS
ChicfJuStice. He had sworn into otlic,
no less than seven Presidents of the
United States. We may record with I,
blush that OF all the Chief Justices his
is the only bust whom the ranrOr of
politics excludes from the chamber he
so long hOnorcu. This, mOmcntouS IL
Mr.Sumncr,w who guards the portal, con-
sid"rS it, is Il very small matter after all.
This is not the place, nor is ours the
pen to uO the poorest Justice to the rn-
incnt mans judicial character ~ Il
member of an appellate tribunal. His
style as writer il superior to thiri
Justice MarShall'S which was-wr say
it with due rcNcrCncc-lil>c his figure,
stumbling. Their manner on the
bench was not unlike. Who that has
ever argued II cause before Chief Justice
IHncy-thcrc arc few who personally
remember his prc,lcccSsOr-,.n forget
tho dark but genial face, the eye which
wanting in what the gariSh world calls
expression, had Il wonderful power on
him who was either sensible or foolish
ly addressing the court-thc tap of the
hand that admOnishCu Silcnrc-thc at
trnti0n which, often SorclH tried, newer
seemed to tlag-in short, the cumbina
ton of high qualities which make Il
perfect judicial manner. We rrmrm-
bcr to have heard that the vulgar,
clustering soldier, who was the bearer
of General Cadwaldrr'S defiant rrturu
to the h1dc,tS co'7'nS III th" c;,Sc of Mcr-