Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-06-15
A GREAT LAwYER.
The Retired Justice whose Arku.
ment Before the Court HAS SILL
the Force of an Opinion.

The Washington correspondent of
the Philadelphia Record says:
Just before the Supreme Court ad-
Journed Chief Justice Waite said of
an argument made in the case of the
States Of New York and New Hamp.
shire against the State OF Louisiana:
That is the finest legal argument l
ever heard. :" And Associate Justice
Miller, who took his seat on the Su-
preme bench ia 1852 and, therefore,
sntedates ell the others, said: II con
cur in that opinion. p" The man who
made the argument was John A.
Campbell, OF New Orleans. He was
a member of the Supreme Court of
the United States when the most
famous of its present members
were unknown. He held
his place until the war broke out, and
then he left the Union and the bench
with his State. He appeared after
the war as member of the Supreme
Court bar with remarkable practice
even for that bar of large practices
and great fees, and has stood in the
front rank ever since. He is very
old man; his form is thin and bent, his
skin is in the parchment state and
his hair is as white as the driven
snow; but q great mind looks out
through his keen bright eyes and a
great soul controls his fragile body
de is lawyer to the core; in some
respects one of the wisest, broadcast,
deepest and most learned in theU nited
States. lie has neither the presence
voice nor tongue of the orator, but
when he speaks in his thin, delibe
rate, measured tones, never wasting
a word, the Supreme Court Of
the United States listens as it listens
to almost no other man. Mr.. Camp
bell is absorbed in his work. He has
no eyes or ears for anything or any,
body not Immediately concerned in the
case in hand. He lives very quietly
In New Orleans, surrounded BY one oil
the finest law libraries in all languages
IN the world. He is profound civil
lawyer, with Justinian at his tongues
end, and at the same time a common
lawyer, competent to battle with the
best OF that class. His memory is as
wonderful as George Bancrott's. He
apparently remembers every scrap of
law he ever saw or heard, and has
his resources so classified and
catalogued that he can bring them
forth at will. This is what
makes his dry, monotonous
arguments so we'll worthy Of the
praise great lawyers give them Flow
cry tropes and magniloquent meta
phors would be out Of place with such
learning Mr.. Campbell is we'll to do.
and practices only because he loves
the work. He practices only in the
Supreme Court. He takes none but
great cases. He takes only three or
four in year, at q fee of from $1,000
to S25, 900 piece. Now and then he
gives an opinion on some great cues.
ton to some less learned lawyer or to
some inquiring Judge who feels his
deficiency and seeks this power
ful friend Of the court" But all
minor cases; that is, cases involy-
ing minor questions, whether the
amount of fees involved be great or
small, are promptly declined. Once
retained in case, Mr.. Campbell be
comes recluse. When he energies
from his books he has absorbed that
case with all its bearings either of his
own side or the other. You may be
quite sure that when he has said his
say he has said all there is to say on
either side, and that the court will
generally agree with him. If were
on the other side, no matter how great
| might be or how good my case might
be, | fancy | would do we'll to submit
the case without argument. Judge
Campbell would state both sides as
though he we're still on the bench
and the judges would agree with him
anyway.