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wallace,s Reports. Vol. XII

mn
Inc '"eiitn volume of Wallace,s Reports
containing the cases argued and adjudged in
the Supreme Court of the United States at
the December terms of 1870 and 1871 has
been issued from the press of w. H and n
H. Morrison, Washington d. c., and Il for
sale in Portland by Loring, Short and Har-
mon. Its typographical execution and bind
ing are of the usual excellence of these re-
ports. There are seventy-fve causes report
ed, in all but four or five of which elaborate
opinions are given. The court consists of
nine members, so that, if the cases were dis
tributed in such manner as to equalize the
labor, each justice should draw about etght
opinions; but we see that Mr. Justice Clifford
delivered eighteen of the judgments reported
in this volume. They include the most i'm
portant causes, involving grave questions of
constitutional law and of general interest,
such as that of Ward v. Maryland, where
the Court, (per Clifford, J.) declared that a
law prohibiting citizens of other States from
selling by sample in Maryland-(similar to
our law as passed Feb. 23d, 1866, Chap. so of
the public laws of that year)-was unconsti-
tutional as in contravention of the fourth ar
ticle Of the constitution, which declares that
"citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
the privileges and immunities of citizens M the
several States" 1t is noticeable that large
majority of the admiralty cases are submitted
to Judge Clifford to draw the opinion. These
things show the estimation in which his CO.
adjutors upon the bench hold his capacity for
labor and his mental acumen. We refer
to these facts, as they appear from the records
OF the Court, because we were sorry to see
that correspondent of Portland weekly,
having an extensive circulation in this State,
recently wrote very disparagingly of our emil
nent fellow-citizen and his services and laud-
ed one of the Western judges in the highest
terms. The judge thus be-praised delivered
SIR opinions, and, so far as it appears, in
causes of secondary consequence. That the
Supreme Court should assign eighteen causes,
nearly all involving important principles, to
the weakest member, that he might give to
the world the reason for their conclusions,
and at the same time assign only sac inferior
ones to the ablest man on the bench, is diff
cult to credit; and, If it be so, the fact Is not
only inexplicable but very discreditable. We
prefer to think this anonymous cores
pondent misinformed, rathe- than that
our Supreme Judges pursue such an
improper and singular course Judge Cliff
ford has really well prepared himself for, and
sustained himself in the various elevated posi-
tions to which he has been called and though
such common scold as Warrington might
naturally be expected to sneer at him, we
think it ought not to be done SO causelessly
by papers printed at his home. The health
of the Chief Justice prevented him from
writing any elaborate opinions; those an
nounced by him are only three or four lines
in length except that in the legal tender cases
and the last one in the volume which fills
little more than page. Besides the opinions
delivered by Judge Clifford above enumerat-
ed. he gave elaborate dissenting opinions in
the legal tender cases and in one or two other
causes. Hr a
There are one or two other cases reported
sthat deserve comment but we will not make
them to-day as this article is already sufi-
GENTLY extended. We may recur to the sub
ject again. s..r .r