The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-23
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We have seen that in his Introduction Mr..
Veeder names the opinions of Lord Bowen
ns examples Of the application of gina
ton 10 the dry bones OF legal formulas.
Four Of Lord Bowen s opinions will be found
reproduced In part in the second Of these
volumes. There ia no doubt, as our author
says, that Lord Bowen was representa-
tive Of the best culture Of his time No
man ever went from Oxford to the bar
with a higher reputation for scholarship.
A regards academic distinction. Bowen
was the only Oxonian in our time who could
be compared with Goodwin Smith He
was 20 years old when he was called to
the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and ~ when he
was elevated TO tho bench In 1882 he
became a Lord Justice Of Appeal, and
eleven years later was made a Lord Of
Appeal, with the title of Baron Bowen Of
Colwood. 1t was as Lord Justice Of Appeal
that Bowen delivered the series Of opinions
which for legal learning and literary grace
are pronounced unsurpassed in English
law. His subtle intellect, his cultivated
taste, his unique knowledge Of legal history
and mastery OF the historical method as
applied to the evolution of law, and his
singular felicity in expounding legal princi-
Piles, were the qualities which gave him pre-
eminence among his contemporaries, To
a mind capable at once of entertaining the
broadcast views and the most subtle dis
tinctions, he added the habit of patient in
dustry, without which intuitions are de.
ceitful and gifts Of exposition vain" Mr..
yeeder goes on TO speak OF the purity, ease
and accuracy Of Lord Bowen's style.
Along with legal requirements, which he
shared with many OF his contemporaries,
he had, what Is rare in such minds, a fine
sense OF literary FORM an instructive prefer
enoe for the right way Of saying a thing,
and a literary cons0ientiousness which
compelled him to seek for the best express
sion OF his thoughts" Touching this point,
our author recalls what one of Bowen's
colleagues in the Court of Appeals said OF
him: Il doubt whether those who listened
to or read his brilliant Judgments would
have the least notion how much thought
and persistent effort he had given 10 them,
and the extreme rapdity of his mental
occupations made this all the more remark
able to those who by daily intercourse saw
the pulse Of the machine" It was also
characteristic Of Lord Bowen that to him
law was no mere collection OF rules. Az he
said In one case: There 10 no magic at
all In formAlities He recognized to use
his own language, the duty OF endeavoring
to apply legal doctrines so "a to meet 1the
broadening requirements Of growing
country and the gradual illumination OF
the public conscience It will astonish
some lawyers TO hear that when Bowen
cited authorities 1t was only to support
conclusions which he had already reached
by the independent exercise Of his own
Judgment. He had no patience with the
servile citation of cases to define general
terms which are necessarily relative, and
which, If infiexibly fixed, would lose half
their efficacy. He believed In applying
the doctrine of evolution to legal and DO.
litical philosophy, He held that "the only
reasonable and ths only satisfactory way
of dealing with English law Ia to bring to
bear upon 1t the historical method. Mere
legal Technology may seem dead thing.
Mix history with Il. and II clothes itself
with life"
We reproduce a part Of Lord Bowen's
opinion In the case Of Aboard Va Skinner,
because the point raised 10 il is Of great I'M
portance, and because there had previously
been no governing authorities. Miss An