Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-09-30

partmentS or governmental authority, but it's chief usefulness has always been . found in the administration of the fun damental law upon which our system of i government depends, and in that field it . has confronted the most dangerous ! emergencies. Its construction of the . constitution or of the compatibility of legislative enaCtments with the consti- 1 tuition settles~the matter for all time. unless indeed. as it sometimes has done. it should at some future period reverse its own decision.
 Foreign jurists and writers of emi- hence have sometimes made the mistake of supposing that this unique authority vested in the court was of d despotic na- ture and dangerous as tending to defeat the will of the people as expressed by their representatives. But this view looks at tho power as one that may be exercised by way of supervision, deter mining the constitutiOnality of an en- actment in advance of its being contest ed. This would make of the supreme court a virtual third house of congress. and no such authority would be toler- ated i'll the United States. The powers of the judicial department are as sharply defined as those of the other coordinate p% SA eiAANl tAil- cOns,itutionality of an act cannot be pronounced except for the determina- ton of litigation. This ij the American way of securing to the people tho per petual reign of law free from the sway of arbitrary power.
 And the American people have learned to have faith and pride in the court. l They feel that it is indeed the bulwark of their liberties The names of Jay, ! Marshall, Gushing. Fancy, Livingston, Story, Chase, Hunt, Thompson and score of others lend luster to American { Jurisprudence. and now that the tran sicnt passions of their times have passed furnish standards by which tu measure a>pirants tu the bench they filled and hunOred.
 To be worthy of place anld this bril- liant galaxy is to be illustrious indeed, and to fall short of it k tn court oblivion. The standard is vigorously applied with each recurring appointment, and it is matter of congratulation that during the
 1O3 years of the courts existence the re- suit of the test has been unfavorable to
 so few. None but the most eminent ju-
 rists and lawyers are accorded the honor
 of an appointment. and it often requires
 great monetary sacrifices on the part of
 successful practitioners to accept the dig mty, for the salary of the associate jus.
 tices Is but Sl0,0OOa a year, and great law
 yerS often receive more than that amount
 as a retainer in Il single suit.
 President Cleveland's most recent ap-
 pOintment tu the bench William B. Hornblower oI New York, is good
 illustration of this. As d practicing [ lawyer, engaged in the most important sort of litigations, his income averages
 $40, ,O0O a year. and this of course must
 be entirely resigned when he takes his
 seat upon the bench. The aggregate of
 the amount thus surrendered will be greater than usual in his case, for he is [ but 42 years old and might reasonably . expect to largely augment his fortune r before reaching the average age at which suprem" court justices are appointed.
 No other judgc but Story was ever ap-
 pointed at a younger age. and if Mir.
 Hornblower attains as great an eminence as that famous justiciary and equals the S years of his service upon the bench of . the highest court ill the land he will . probably feel amply repaid for any F pecuniary sacrifices his position may
 have cost him. Such a distinction, in the
 nature of things, can be attained by few
 men ill generation, and the ambition E to live in history among the famous q judges of ones time is certainly far h nobler than that which leads merely to | the accumulation of wealth.