Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1890-02-04
In Memoriam.
1ctioa Of Me Supreme Court and the
Bar IN Memory Of Judge Green.

41N4 tis %ASHsDty " y Ut9S VI SSits
On january 18th. 1890, at 4 o'clock, P. NJ,
In tho Supreme Court room of the Capitol of
West Virginia. at Charleston, at meeting of
tho members of the West Virginia Bar prac-
ticing IN said court called to take action con-
corning the death of the late Thomas Claiborne
Green, Judge of tho Supreme Court Of Appeals
of this State, on motion of Governor E. w.
| Wilson, Judge okey johnson was called to the
chair, and on motion of Gen Joseph Sprigg,
J. NJ. Payne. Esq, was elected secretary.
Gen. Sprigg moved that the chair appoint a
committee ON resolutions. which being adopted
the following gentlemen were selected by the
chair Gen. Jos. sprigg, Gov. E. w. Wilson,
w. w Adams, R. w. Monroe, Thos. L. Broun.
W. e. r. Byrne and J. NJ. Hamilton, who re-
tired and soon after reported the resolutions
hereto attached.
| The recent death of Judge Thomas Claiborne
Green calls for au expression from the legul
profession differing from fhe ordinary set
phrase of grief, or the customary resolutions
! of respect. During fourteen cvciitfTiF md la
horinIs years lie discharged with honor to him
self and wiih incalculablc benefit TO the State,
the duties of a Judge of the Court of Appeals
and during portion Of tRat lime he was Pres
idout of tho Court. His eminent services in
that responsible position need no culogy. He
has erected for himself in the volumes in which
his opinions arc recorded monument more
enduring thnlI brass. The result of his labors
| is permanent and far-rea ching and tho mark
of mis- analytic mind will be plainly emblazoned
| gpou ORR system of Jurisprudence 70 long as
| the commonwealth endures.
But while our weak words of praise con add
nothing to his fame. IL is still right aud proper
\ for us to place upon record our estimate OF his
dicial learning.
Born in tIio year 1870 in Culpcpor county.
| Virginia. hc was or. of = family of llwverS.
several ut whom rose to eniinence in the pro-
\ icssinn. Ills father WIS IL distinguished Judge
| of the Supreme Court Of Appeals OF Virginia.
I and his orotlar William Green. was for many
I years before his death regarded as the most
learned lawyer of the Virginia bar. Thomas
Claiborne Green was successful practitioner
ut the bar in Hampshire county and afterward
in Jefferson until his appointment to the bench
of the Supreme Court of Appeals in this State
| in 1875. He was elected in 1876 tn fill the un-
expired term of the late Judge James PAUL.
and in 1887 was reelected for the full term of
| twelve years.
| In the discharge of his official duties his in
dustry was patient and interchangeable. He had
n strong love for purc mathematics. n love
which displayed its inference in all his pro
cesscs of reasoning. and there is something of
| the strict and close logic of ulgrbraic demon
stration in his legal opinions. He knew moth
ing of the parties to any controversy which
| came before him for decision ; he often failed
/ TO remember even the maine of the litigants ;
rue DliAlFtlIt ana Defendant To him
personal as the letters of an equution f; and he
applied himself to the solution of She uuestinn
presented MS if he were searching hy known
and inheNible mathematical processes for an
unknown quantity. Truth was the object of
his search aud he followed it with an uncrring
! Judgment
While engaged in the Investigation of a jul
dtcial question his mind would sometimes be-
come completely absorbed in the train of
his thOUlyhs as to make him for.sctful of the
demands Ofphysiral comfort and bodily health
and this no doubt shortened his days He
was nor IN old man in the ordinary accepta-
ton of the term; bnt his mental activity wore
out aud consumed the weaker physical Org an
iZation until ''the weary wheels of life stood
still' at an age which finds many men in the
enjoyment of unimpaiTcd strength and Vipor
Men and communities are most ALWAYS sell
fish in their grief I'VE mourn for the loss we
have suffered; for the still greater benefits we
might have received from the continued SER
vices of the eminent man whose death we de-
plore; for the loss of a personal companions
ship which had become dear to us rs our treas
ured possession; for all tho heart-achc and
woe with whichwe long
''For the touch of a vanished hand
And the sound of n voice that is stil'i
But for the dead himself there should be no
sighingi for him there should be no tears.-
LIS Us Is the clearer vision OF Immortality; the
by this muddy vesture of decay" tile vast
realm of knowledge to which humanity cannot
attain To that God in whose existence and
attributes Inc steadfastly believed and to whose
loving Kindness he looked during all his life
with nnfntering trust, we commend the soul
of our departed brother; and upon the same
gracious Being, the God of the widow and
fatherless. NAV all the bcreaved cast the heavy
burden of their cares JosEPn SPRIGG,
And others.
After tile reading of the Tribute Judge john
son said:
In his profession as
lawyer Judge Green was eminent. IN rs he
took his Feat npon this bench. and for fourteen
years he toiled as few have labored. know
do not eYaggcratc. when say. hat but few
liHen on Che bench ever worked harder than
Judge Green. The volumes of the Reports in
which his opinions appear from the ninth to
the tlIirty-third inclusive. twenty-five out of
| the thirty-thrce volumes of our reports will
clearly demonstrate the fact that no Judge on
this bench during that period, and l may say
no Judge on any bench, ever gave such ex-
| hdustlYe research, to the number of cdses, in
proportion to those in which he wrote opin-
ions, as Judge Green. He was very iaborious
and exhaustive in almost every opinion he
wrote. While some may criticisc his lengthy
opinions the criticism is only as to the length
of the opinion. not to the matter of it, He
was as sble in his judicial opinions as he was
1t is matter of pride with the bar that Judge
| Green's opinions have had such wide circu-
lation. In the American Reports moro of his
opinions are found than from any other mem
Der of this Court. They are widely cited in
reports and in textbooks. Judge Green was
not only an able Judge. but he was courageous.
He feared no foe and favored no friend,
Judge Snyder followed in a very just and
feeling tribute-cloquently expressive of his
high regard for Judge Green as a jurist and