The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1883-06-23
A Great Lawyer.
JUDGE JOHN A. CAMPBELL.

JUDGE JOHN A. CAMPBELL.
just before the Supreme Court
adjourned Chief Justice Waite
said of an argument made in the
case of the States of New York
and New Hampshire against the
State of Louisiana: " "This is the
finest legal argument have ever
heard.' And Associate Justice
Miller, who took his seat on the
Supreme Bench in 1869, and there
fore antedates all the others, said:
a" | concur in that opinion.n The
man who made the argument was
John A. Campbell, of New Or
leans. lie was a member of the
Supreme Court of the Uaited
States when the most famous Of
its present members were un.
known. He held his place until
the war broke out, aud then he
left the Union aud the bench with
his State. lie reappeared after
the war as q member of the Su.
preme Court har with q remark.
able practice even for that bar of
large practices and great fees. and
has stood in the front rank ever
since. Hc is q very old man; his
form in thin and bent, his skin is
in the parchment state, and his
hair is white as the driven snow /;
but great mind looks out of his
keen bright eyes, and q great soul
controls his fragile body. He is q
lawyer to the core in some re-
spccts one Of tho wisest, broad.
est, deepest and most learned in
the United States. lie has Meth.
er the presence. voice nor tongue
of the orator, but when he speaks
in his thin, deliberate, measured
tones, never wasting u word, the
Supreme Court Of the United
States listens as 1t listens to almost
no other man. Mr.. Campbell is
absorbed in his work. lie has no
eyes nor ears for anything or any
body not Immediately concerned
IN the case IN hand.
lie lives very quietly in New
Orleans, surrounded by one Of the
finest law libraries in all languages
in the world. lie is a profound
civil lawyer, with Justinian ut his
tongues end, and Mt the same time
a common law lawyer competent
to battle with the best of thaI
class. Ills memory is as wonder
ful as George Bancr0it's. lie ap
parcntly remembers every scraI
of law he over saw or heard, an,
he has his resources 80 classiiic,
aud catalogucd that he can brin,
them forth Mt will. This is wha'
makes his dry, monotonous argu
mcnts SO well worthy of the praise
great lawyers give them. Flower.
tropes and grandiloqucnt meta
phors with such learning woul,
be out of place.
Mr.. Campbell is '' well to do,
and practices only because h
loves the work. lie practices i
the Supreme Court, taking onl
great cases. lie takes only thre,
or four In a year, at a foe of fron
$1,000 to S2J,O00 u case. Now an,
then he gives an opinion on SOM
great question to some less learn
ed lawyer or to some inquirin,
Judge who feels his deficiency IN,
seeks this powerful friend of tn
court" But all minor cases, tina
is cases involving minor questions
whether the amount of the fee IN
v0lved be great or small, are dc
clined. Once retained in q cas-
Mr.. Campbell becomes rcclusC
When he energies from his book
he has absorbed his case with nj
its bearings, either Of his own sid
or Of the other. You may be quit,
sure that when he has said his ga
he has said all there is to say OF
either side, and that the. court vii
generally agree with him. II
were on the other side, no matte
how great | might be, or how goo
my case might be, fancy ! woul
do well to submit the case withou
argument. Judge Campbell woul
state both sides as well as thong
he was still on the bench, and tn
Judges would agree with him an