The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-05-05
M. v. LANIER.
Communicated.

VI III " III -hNC ScSAS. DuAAu S9
that time | have associated much with
lawyers and judges. Mr. NJ. '. Lanier
of Oxford, was the greatest lawyer |
ever knew, and the greatest one | ever
expect to know. He was not great
success as jury lawyer. He never tried
to express himself in fowery or eloquent
language-but when he discussed the
law, lawyers and judges listened with
interest, and his reasoning was general
ly unanswerable. His mind comprehend
ed every principle applicable to PROPOSE
ton He could see all through and
around a case Judge Merrimon, Col.
Fuller Mr. Bachelor, W. H. Young, Col.
Edwards, Mr.. Hays and Col. Hagrove
were mighty men at the bar in their
time; but generally ''old man Mark La
nier' would knock them out on some
point of law they hadn't thought of.
An old lady in the neighborhood where
l was raised had a case. Mr.. Lanier
was against her. She lost it of course
Soon after, she was talking to lady
friend telling her how wrong the decis-
ion was, when lady No. 2 said "Mrs c..
if Mark Lanier were to tell me I had to
move out of my house and home I'd go
| without question"
can see him now, and the picture will
ever remain with me, as he stood before
the Judge with his right hand raised,
fore finger pointed about half bent, his
thumb against the end OF his middle
finger and his right foot on the bottom
round of a chair Sometimes he would
change the position of his hand, and the
middle finger nail of his right hand would
| be gOuging under the middle finger
nail of his left hand; but the words that
| would proceed out of his mouth his OPP
ponents would not be able ''to gainsay
nor resist" The Judge could not see the
case in any other light. He once told me
never to allow myself to think about
the law after going to bed, saying it had
| kept him awake many night.
| heard Judge J. J. Davis tell good
| joke on himself in 1881. He said he and
Mr.. Lanier had appeared together-and
| Mr.. Lanier couldn't or wouldn't go
| before the Supreme Court to argue the
case but sent him, Davis, to do so.
him how he came out on the argument
and what Smith, afterwards Chief
Justice, relied on. Judge Davis said he
told him he. Davis, had relied on such
and such case and that Smith couldn't
answer it, when Mr.. Lanier laughed and
said "Didn't Smith know that case had
been once Overruled by the Supreme
|
Court of the United States?'
| heard a lawyer say once that Mr..
Lanier hadn't bought any law books
since the war, but | consulted him many
a time and his briefs brought out of the
treasure house of the law things new and
old He sometimes would say: ''Now,
Hicks, that's my view of the law, but |
| can't tell what the court will hold" It's
| a standing joke in the profession that he
was once celebrating some elementary
| principle before the Supreme Court, when
| the Chief Justice said. Mr.. Lanier, you
| might take it for granted that the Court
| knows some law" YES said Mr.. La
nier, May it please your honor took
| that for granted last court and lost my
| case
When went to Oxford to live in 1881,
| | was wondering what and how lawyers
lived and did had heard of Mr.. Lanier
| all my life as a great lawyer and he was
prise when | saw him one day riding
down Main street on top of his one
horse wagon load of fodder At the
next term he argued for Mr. Hays, exec
utor, case involving the construction
of Rev. Lewis Willie's will that gave
the bulk of his property to the widows
| and orphans of deceased ministers of the
! Presbyterian and NJ E. Churches Mr.
| Lanier afterward told me that he made
q very peculiar bargain about fees in
| that case. He said: Il told John Hays)
if lost the case I'd charge him good
fee, but if won it | wouldn't charge
| him a cent
| In his manner he was simple as child,
in his thought he was as great as the
! greatest He was very fond of humor, but
! 81 IL l.
| it seemed to him Dickens was all the
time trying to be funny. He said he had
a discussion with a man once as to
whether the Savior tried to be humor-
| Gus, and Mr. Lanier maintained that the
expression 'gO We and tell that fox was
| intended as humorous caricature
| He never allowed his conscience to be-
come scared In his old age he quit the
| practice. One day the sheriff reminded
him of a privilege tax imposed on law
| yers, to which he replied that he was not
practicing. A few days later he went
to the sheriff and said, Here, | don't
want to cheat the State; Arch Hicks
paid me a fee yesterday for some legal
| work and here it is He died last We'd
nesday, April 81, 1904, at the age of Sc,
| yet | don't think | ever read a clearer
| brief than one he wrote in the fall of the
| year 1900 when he was S3. He was a
very religious man, and was fond Of the
| study of the Bible. | have heard that he
read it in Greek and Hebrew. He never
| used rough or abusive language. Once
| he was speaking to me of witness in
| one of our cases, who was very COM
monfellow. He described him as "a poor
stick In one case the conduct of our
adversaries was bad. He spoke of them
IEthnoo rio o1o :; 1v3%
call them rascals A certain lawyer sued
one OF our clients to recover an acre of
| land that was in dispute and laid his
damage for the trespass at $4,000. Mr..
Lanier said chats so like e. He
didn't recover an acre nor cent but had
| the costs to pay. Lawyers sometimes
| refer to "a Mark Lanier COMPROMISED
h which is said to mean, that plaintiff
kgets all he claims and defendant pays
| COST"
He was a partner OF Judge r. B.
Gillian for some time. Judge Gillian
| was very popular and a great co1npro-
| miser. Mr. Lanier told me he saw Judge
Gillian get up ont of chair while read
ing a deed. ana after standing before the
| fire minute or SO, turned to lay the
deed in the chair and spit in the fire, but
by mistake spit in the chair and threw
the deed in the fire. Lawyers throughout
the State would write him for opinions
on difficult questions. There was no
higher authority. His power of concen-
tratiOn was great He would never
think of eating or sleeping when at work
on a case unless reminded by others. |
learned from him how to study the law,
to look for the authorities. and to some
extent to cOnstrue them He told me to
read each opinion in the light of it's own
peculiar facts; and that no case was an
| authority in my case unless the facts
were the same. | wish he could have
left to me his mental faculties. He was
a pure man, and a great lawyer. | be-
lieve he lives now in realms Of pure rea-