The morning call., 1894-04-15
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD.


David Dudley Fields life furnishes fresh
proof that men are rarely absolutely good
or absolutely bad and that the popular
custom of dividing them into saints and
sinners is based on delusion. Mr.. Field
did much for which posterity will honor
him; but he also did many things for
which the historian can find no excuse.
His life and the life of his three brothers
will be tempting themes for the discrm-
mating biographer. for in all four he will
be put on his mettle to distribute praise
and blame with an impartial hand.
David Dudley Field was man of so
and practicing lawyer in fair standing
when he became the personal counsel of
Fisk, Gould and Tweed. He was known
20 have devoted study 10 the higher
branches of Jurisprudence, but he was
also known to be strong practitioner and
was, in consequence, viewed with
concern By such men as Charles
O'Conor, Samuel ]. Tiden, James
c. Carter and Judge Emott. At the
time he identified himself with the
railroad Tammany triumvirate the lat
ter was engaged in a systematic attempt to
rob the city and the Erie Railroad. To
this dangerous combna ton Field gave the
aid of his talent. his ingenuity and his in
innate knowledge of the articles of legal
procedure. Two Judges of the Supreme
Court, Barnard and Cardozo, were then
creatures of Tammany, while Tweed had
control of the city departments, including
the County Clerks office and the Sheriff 5
Office. With this phalanx Fisk boasted
that the triumvirate was omnipotent and
that any one who assailed them would find
their touch clammy."
The boast was not idle. Field could fur
nish cases prepared with all his acumen
and knowledge of what was required in
the way of evidence, etc. Barnard and Car
dOZo were willing to issue writs of in
junction, prohibition and mandamus such
as Fisk desired. Citizens were restrained by
writs from attempting to assert their rights
by suits at law. Judges were forbidden to
hear cases, and lawyers to plead. Proper
ties were thrown into the hands of con-
federate receivers without notice to their
owners. Cases were arbitrarily sent be-
fore referees who were the tools of the
triumvirate. Stockholders in the Erie
Railroad were refused information of what
out of the'buildng.
This went on till the New York bar re-
belled as one man, ,and Barnard and Cardozo
were impeached and removed from the
bench.
1t was the opinion of the representative
men of the Bar Association at the time
that Field should be tried for non-p profess
sonal conduct, and if convicted should be
thrown over the bar. AS it chanced. Eow
ever. the president of the Bar Association,
a lawyer Of The highest standing, and a
man who had endeared himself to all by
the amiability and urity Of his character,
and won the respect of every one by his
profound legal knowledge. was friend OF
Fields. They had been boys together and
a sort of comradeship existed between
them. The President interposed on his
friends behalf. ana by personal solicitation
averted the proceeding.
From that time Field figured more large
~ as writer on law than as counsel at
the bar. He was appointed chairman of
the commission to codfy the laws of New
York, and he lowered so loftily above his
associates that he was in fact the commis-
sion. As such he drew Civil and Penal
Code and Code of Procedure. OF these
New York has thus far only adopted the
Penal Code; other States, including Cali
fornia, have adopted both Civil and Grim
inal codes, and a majority of the States
have borrowed parts of both, as also of the
Code of Procedure. 1t is not too much to
say that the Field codes are the highest
expression of modern law. They have no
rivals, even in France. With the treatise
on international law. which Mr.. Field en-
bodied In a code and which is now the
highest authority on the subject, they con-
stitute body of law which, if properly
digested. will fit any man for the practice
of the profession.
Like his brother, Stephen j. Field, Da-
vid Dudley Field had an acute, compre-
hensive and far-reaching mind. He saw
through subterfuges and dust as a way
farer sees through a plate-glass window.
His mind went straight to the real point
at issue, and it discerned the various fac
tors bearing upon 1t distinctly, allotting to
each its true weight On a question in
which he was not interested he was mathe-
matically certain to come to right con-
clusion. He was a born lawmaker, and
had il not been for the untoward incidents
above mentioned his ability would long
ago have insured him nigh place among
those who legislate for the nation.