The Portland daily press., 1881-08-04
PARNELL's labors for the cause Of Ireland
seem to consist largely in getting himself
named in the House of Commons.
IN. Y. Tribune.l
Justice Clifford as q JuriSt.

Deen given; many reauerS Will llko 10 reCaiIi
in addition, the length, variety and importance
of his judicial services. He was appointed to
the Supreme bench early in 1858; hence was
serving his twenty fourth year at the time of
his death. This is an unusually long term Of
| judicial service; and Judge Clifford's opinions
as a member of the Supreme Court, which are
| numerous as well as long and learned, are dis
tributed through forty-one'of the one hundred
and two volumes in which the reports of the
Court are comprised. He was assigned also to
the First Circuit, which was, at the date of his
appointment, even more than at the present
| day. one of prominent Importance. 1t COM
| prises the States of Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island Various
causes have developed in that circuit volume
of law business OF very varied as we'll as i'm
portant character; the Circuit Court there has
also been assisted by bar of exceptional
| ability in Boston, and has been more continu-
| ously reported than any other. The profession
| throughout the country were long accustomed
| to look to the First Circuit as q chief source,
| after the Supreme Court at Washington, of in
struction in Federal jurisprudence. Judge
| Clifford's opinions and decisions upon the Cir
cult fill four volumes; and these are perhaps
even more suggestive of the mental character
Court opinions, the mould of which may have
been more largely influenced by conferences
with his brethren.
The first opinion under his name found in
| the Supreme Court reports was delivered in
| Goodman VS.. Simonds go How. 356), case in
| volving question of wide influence in mer-
camille law-the right of one who has ac-
| quired commercial paper by Endorsement, be-
| fore its maturity, and in good faith to enforce
| 1t under all circumstances against the maker.
| The opinion, which fills fifteen printed pages;
| reached results decidedly more favorable to the
| integrity and value of negotiable paper than
| some previous decisions in England and even
| in this State. They have been adhered to,
and sven strengthened and developed, in, later
| cases in the Supreme Court. In 1864, Justice
| Swayne, with whom the other Justices all con-
| CURED, declared that in Justice Clitfords ear
| liest opinion "the subject was elaborately aud
| exhaustively examined, both upon principle
| and authority and that its propositions had
| become the settled law of the Court. In the
| latest case but one in which Judge Clifford ap-
! pears to have acted the same subject was pre-
| sented, and the doctrine and opinion in Good
! man vs.. Simonds are cited as controlling.
| Throughout the long series OF the Supreme
| Court reports his opinions recur frequently,
| and are generally char acterized by extensive
| and accurate learning, wide reading and abun-
| dant citation of authorities thorough scrutiny
| of the facts, however complex the case, and
| impartiality as between individual suitors.
| When theories of government were indirectly
| involved in cause, Judge Clifford showed his
| prepossessions His independence of judg-
| ment is indicated by the number of dissenting
| opinions; and when he dissented no labor was
spared to establish for any possible future ocea-
| sion the position he deemed it right to take.
| Throughout number of the volumes his opin.
consider-by persistent omission of the arti-
| Gle. This seems a manneriSm or atfectatiOn
| somewhat weakening the style; and there was
| aacourt-room tradition that brother Justice
once, in conference room, moved the humor-
! GUS resolution: "That Brother Clifford be en-
| couraged to use the definite article IN naoderG-
| tion." Perhaps in Difference to some hint like
| this, perhaps by means OF friendly care OF re-
porters the popularity is less noticeable in the
later opinions; it never obscured their substan-
| tial value
| In the Circuit Court as we'll as Supreme
| Court decisions, admiralty, maritime and
commerciahsubjects are prominent; and such
| topics are discussed with learning and fair
| lberality of spirit toward progress, though
| without much effort to advance the law. Col
| lision causes in numbers came before him; in
| these there is not often opportunity for the de-
! velopment of principle, but his patient study
and thorough mastery OF complex facts are
| noteworthy. In admiration OF the criminal
| law he displayed knowledge of technicalities
| without being swayed by them; he was gener-
I ally ready to enforce the penal law, yet in
! conservative spirit. His decision in 1858
| against the defense OF insanity urged in behalf
| Of Captain Holmes in which he discarded nov
| el views which have since been widely dis
| cussed and held the accused to the full meas
| ure of responsibility indicated by standard
4 English cases, is good illustration. Our pa
] tent and copyright law owes much of its de-
I velopment during the quarter century to his
labors; he sympathized with the growing de-
| mand for a more liberal Reorganization of INTEL
lectual property, and his decisions in this field,
instead of being marked by conservative care
| to keep within the letter of the law and
| the track of precedents, show disposition to
| advance the law commensurately with the
| growing demands of human progress. OF this
| his decision in the famous Lawrence and Dana
| suit and several decisions which contributed
1 largely to establish the Goodyear india rubber
] rights, are examples.
| It was in the causes occasionally occurring
/ in which political issues are indirectly in
volved that his conservative spirit shone
Democratic side, toward the elimination Of
| Democratic policy before the war, and natural
ly felt little sympathy with the rise and growth
| Of the enlarged views of National authority
| and Federal power which soon afterward OBJ
tanned. Not only in the Judgment against
| General Neal Dow, in the dissenting opinion
| against the legal tender acts, and in the delib-
| erations of the Electoral Commission, mem
! toned lately in the Tribune, but in many 9TH
| er instances, he made whatever stand he could
against the movement of his times; yet always
| with learning and integrity. Thus in the Cir
cult Court he readily held that Confederate
I privateers were not pirates, and that the in
| come tax could not be collected from State
Judge. Early in the war when q Massachu-
chusetts man under military arrest by order of
Secretary Cameron asked him for writ of ha-
beas corpus, which he granted, but which the
milit ary authorities refused to obey, he calmly
regrett ed that officers of the United States
should obstruct the writ, and that the Court
had not the command of the physical force ne
cessary to effect SERVICE" and ordered the writ
placed on file, to be served whenever practical
BILE!
We do not hesitate to pronounce Judge Clif-
ford jurist of eminent ability and usefulness.
His ability was that in which learning, indus
try, integrity and professional enthusiasm are
the chief components In usefulness he be-
longs in the class of which Chief-Justice Ia
ney was type. That insight, that unconscious
sympathy with human progress, which in rare
instances enables judge. while scrupulously
administering existing law, to expand, ad-
vance and develop it commensurately with hu-
man needs, he did not much display. We do
uot place him in the class of which Marshall
and, perhaps, Story, on the Federal Bench,
| Mansfield in England, Kent and perhaps Oak
ley in this State, are distinguished representa-
tives. But his name will long hold respected
place in American judicial history.