The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-13
DEATH OF JUDGE COOLEY
AN EMINENT JURIST AND FAMOUS
CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER.
A Mental and Physical Wreck for a
Year, and Unconscious for sew
eraI Weeks Before His End.

ANN ARBOR, Mich, Sept. 12.-Judge
Thomas M. Cooley, the noted jurist and
constitutional lawyer, died early to-day at
his home. Three months ago he returned
from private sanitarium al Flint Mich.
where he had been treated chiefly for men,
tai weakness. He was then SO much i'm
proved in health that he was able to recog-
n:ze acouaintances. He realized his weak
physical condition and his failing mental
abilities and often expressed wish that
death would come. Several weeks ago he
relapsed into a comatose condition. Dur
ing the ensuing interval the only intelligi-
bic utterance he made was once when he in
quired for his eldest son. His demise lad
been expected for weeks past For two
years before his death he was unable to
work on account of his disabilities, and in
July, 1897, he was first sent to the santa
rum for treatment.
Thomas Mcintyre Cooley was born in At
tica, N. Y, on Jan. 6, 1924. In 1874 he took
up his residence in Adrain, Mich. where
ne continued his law studies. He was adj
mitted to the bar at Adrian in 1885, and the
same year married Miss Mary Elizabeth
Horton. He practiced law without holding
office until 1851 when he was chosen by the
Legislature to compile the statutes of the
State, work that, when finished came to
be considered a model for all those that
were to follow. In that same year the State
supreme Court was organized and he was
chosen reporter. This position he held un-
I'll 1864, when he was appointed justice to
fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Judge Manning
Meantime in 1859, he had removed to Ann
Arbor in order to fill chair in the Univer-
sity of Michigan, which chair, known as the
Jay professorship, he held for a period of
twenty-five years. His lectures in the uni
Versity were limited to legal and constitu-
tional subjects until his resignation of the
professorship, but on the appointment of
Charles Kendall Adams to the presidency of
cornell University, he consented to accept
temporarily the professorship of history
and gave lectures as such for one college
year, also lecturing for several years there
after on various subjects of political
science His lecture on the Federal Supreme
Court and its place in the American consti-
tutional system, which was the first of a
series of lectures delivered by eminent
speakers and writer's in the university, was
published by G; r Putnam's Sons in a vol
ume entitled THE Constitutional History
of the United States as Seen in the Devei-
opment of American Laws"
Soon after Judge Cooley's appointment
to the bench he began the publication of
a series of legal works that were produced
rapidly during the next twelve years. His
first work was digest, the first in this
Court, which was followed in 1868 by what
is probably his best known work, The Con-
stitutional Limitations Upon Legislative
Power, which has now got through a
dozen editions and has given him a very
high rank among American legal writer's
This was followed in 1872 by an edition of
anl CT 14as in IN, -.
one of STORY on the Constitution In 1877
he published volume on the Law of Tax
alton and another on '"Torts.' He has also
published short summary of constitutional
law and history of Michigan, which was
written in 1884 for a contribution to the
American Commonwealths series, edited by
Horace Scudder.
Judge Cooley was also associate editor of
Appleton's Encyclopedia, for which he wrote
all the law articles in the last edition. UP
to three years before his late illness, which
eliminated so sadly, he was prolific writer
for tho reviews and magazines of the day,
for which ne, wrote many notable articles.
paign of 1854 he had published in a law
journal of St Louis an article on THE Re-
sponsibility of Public Officers which he
began with the phrase, "A public Office is
public trust'-a phrase of which Colonel
Lamont made such vigorous use in the
campaign that its authorship was then and
is usually now credited to him. These arti-
cleS for the magazines were mostly of a
legal or governmental type, but sometimes
also of a historical nature, and in 1889 he
wrote an elaborate introduction to an illus
trated work on THE American Railway
in which railways and the principles con-
trolling them, as well as the laws for their
regulation, were discussed When Professor
Bryce entered upon the preparation of his
great work on the American Commonwealth
he put himself in communication with Judge
Cooley, and the notes that appear in the
completed work shows that the reliance
placed upon his opinions was very consider
able throughout.
Judge Cooley's life was filed with work
almost from its beginning Wnen school,
boy at Attica, N. Y. Never had a day
passed up to the time of the beginning of
his illness when he did not receive baskets
of mail from publishers and those seeking
legal advice. 1t is recorded that on several
occasions questions of law have been asked
him in letters that also inclosed very large
checks. Judge Cooley would not answer
these questions from strangers and would
always return the Enclosures. On public oc-
casions before his illness Judge Cooley often
appeared as an orator, particularly on occa-
sions when members of the legal profession
were assembled
Judge Cooleys connection with the SUI
preme Court of Michigan lasted until 1885,
when by a combination of circumstances he
was defeated in his candidacy for re-elec-
ton. His wife died ten years ago.