Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1880-03-24
Who Shall Be Chief Iustice7

tic privilege Of criticising the parties
spoken Of in connection With places Of
honor or trust to be hhed by election or
appointment. Upon all questions Of fit
ness for place BY reason Of mental, politi-
cal or personal qualification the journals
of the land should speak freely and direct
| ~ Ia the point. Their means of inf0rma-
ton is greater than those Of the people,
aud their readers look to the papers for
information ~ to the qualifications Of all
I parties named
Such criticism should he honorable and
fair and should never degenerate into
direct or indirect abuse. But too often it
happens that public Journals advocate the
claims Of Their favorites with more than
partisan zeal. They And it necessary in
portraying the excrllcncics of their favor
lite to indulge in distractions Of his oppo-
pcnt: dctractions bad enough when they
are Opru and direct worse when iusinua-
tons and iunucndocs are the weapon.
Now, We admire J. y. Eustis. We be-
lieve him to be fine lawyer. We know
that Judge Jno. A. Campbell highly re-
commends him for Chief Justice We
know that the members of the New Or
leans Bar accord to him profound ability.
/ We believe that lie would he the chicfrst
ornament of the Wilt administration. and
that in after years his decisions would be
quoted as faultlrss evidences Of his Judi
cial wisdom. We know that his standing
ia the Democratic party is unqucstoucd;
for have we not read speech nladc in the
/ last campaign full Of sound Democratic
/ doctrine. the uttrranccs of wise man
| and a patriot We believe that every pa
per in the state will agree with Us, word
| for weFd and letter for letter, in our praise
| of him.
! We'll We are Informed that his most for
/ midablr competitor is Mr.. Bcrmudcl, OF
/ New Orleans. We know but little of Mr..
/ lbrrmuacz-tha little il decidedly to hi~
advantage. We have heard nothing of
him in politics, and however other men
may think. man, political or party stand
inG must enter largely into the summing
up Of the Characteristics that must bc
c"n-idcicl before he is appointed. But
We may he ignorant Of his party standing
PERHAPS ~. There remains an objection
that j. an iusupcrahlc one. 1t j. known
that except IN instances 80 rare as To hr
extraordinary every lawyer has his special
T ~. Examples are few Of these legal
minds that were equally brilliant in all
edge and Application Of the whole they
are gifted far above their brethren. We
are told that the specially of Mr.. Bcrmu-
drz is the civil llw--that he has devoted
the greater portion Of hi- timr and genius
tu the mastery of its intricacies. His pre-
rminrncc III that branch of the law of use
to the courts is marked.
We consider that il is of absolute ncccs-
lily that one If the Judges should hc
master Of French aud spanish law, but for
such one the place of Associate Justice is
more proper. The drift of legislation upon
legal matters and of all questions connect
ed with the judicial system of our State.
carries us year by year farther from the
pceuliaritirs OF the civil law. Louisiana,
in her peculiar system, il separate and dis
tinct from all States of the Union: Vet that
difference is not - marked now A. il was
many years ago. While il will I've impo,-
sihlc that the civil law should ever be- en-
tircly ohltrratcd from the books uf the
State. il il nevertheless certain that time,
the needs of commerce, and the icrlu. of
comfy hrtvccn tie States will do away
with many differences that now exist. We
think thu supreme Bench should Ice con
Ntitutcd with reference to this fact, and
that the Chirf-Ju,ticc should represent
tins progressive feeling, and this pcculiari-
~ of our institutions; that while he should
hr learned IN huth, if he have speciality it
should he the common, the mercantile law.
rather than the civil law.
We have used the names of Eustis and
Rcrmudcz rather to illustrate our views
upon this question. While we warmly IA.
vor the claim, Of Mr.. Eusti-, while We
know that he j. admired more than any
any other man spoken Of for the place by
those whom We especially address in tins
article, 1t is the principle We contend for
rather than the man. We think Mr.. Eus-
ti~ would represent in a marked and dis /
tiugui~hcd manner that combination of lc- /
gal attachments that we think the Chief .
Justice should possess: yet. if another man