Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1920-10-20


Der of this court
Always a student he soon mastered
the leading principles of the common
law and saw the need of broader APP
plication of the principles of equity in
adjusting disputes between parties
where the infleNible rules of the COM
mon law provided no adequate remedy.
And among his early efforts to inn
prove the service rendered by the
courts of this State was the passage
of an act extending the equity powers
of the court until it had full equity
jurisdiction in all cases where there
was not adequate remedy at law.
These powers and principles he applied
and expounded during his long career
on the bench until at his death the
equity practice in this State has be-
come at least of equal Importance with
that of the law.
OF his work as a member of this
court one hesitates to speak lest we
fail to do him justice. His period of
service on the bench connects what
has been sometimes termed the old
with the new--Peters, Barrows, Wal
ton, Libbey and Virgin, with WiswelI,
Whitehouse, Savage, and the present
able and distinguished head of the
court. UndemonStratiVe by nature,
his demeanor was ever that of the
scholar, that he was, and the dis
passionate justice rather than the man
of the world His hopes and ambitions
We're to the last encompassed in the
administration of justice and the
growth and development of the law.
What a change in legal proceedings
he witnessed during his long period of
service! When he first entered upon
his judicial labors equity service was,
confined within comparatively narrow
Held, and he did his full share toward
broadening it's scope and applying its.
principles to the solution of the new
problems as they arose Corporation
law was also in it's infancy, and he,
watched over its growth till it became
the most important branch of the law.
The rights and duties of public service
corporations were little appreciated
when he entered upon his Judicial ca
Judicial robes they had become clari-
fed and defined under the Illuminating
decisions of him and his distinguished
associates on the bench. Water rights,
and the States control over our rivers
and lakes were also an important and
fruitful source of litigation in the:
courts, and to the settlement of the
principles governing which he did his.
full share. From a time when the
work of the lawyer was largely in
court he covered the span to the
present where the most important
work is done in the office.
His opinions found in our reports
from Vol. Is to Vol, 1O9. cover almost
among them can be found in VIII ich he
did not illuminate the subject until the.
controillng principles stand out clear.
pear irresistible. We sometimes think
of the work of the lawyer as being
ephemeral and creating no lasting
monument to his memory. but that is
not wholly true of the Judge. In his
judicial opinions in which he declares
the law for the future guidance of So
ciety may be found an enduring mons
ument to his memory.
Chlef Justice Emery was not a mere
pedant, but scholar in it's broadcast
sense. He loved the legal profession,
he loved to study the sources of the
law and trace its growth, and he add
ed much to the store of legal learning
in this State.
Nor was ne content upon his retire.
ment to fold his hands and await the
final call to rest. His habits of study
and work had become too firmly fixed
He continued to live among his books,
and devoted much time to the study
OF the origin and growth of legal prin-
ciples, and contributed the results OF
his research and mature deliberations
10 law schools and magazines for the
benefit of those just beginning or pre-
pairing for the practice of the profess
sion that had been his life work and
which he loved above all others
His views of justice and its admins
tration l can no better express, and
they seem to me to sum up his whole
life work and aspirations, than by
quoting the closing PARAGRAPH of his
! last lecture before the Yale law school
on that subject:
No more noble work can engage our
powers; no greater service can be rem
dered mankind, I do not except the
| endowment of schools. colleges, libra
ries, and the like, nor the endowment
OF hospitals and other charitable in
stitutions., Great as are the virtues of
G Gie,,, -, oe.nnev9isnce. philanthropy,
greater virtue. To quote Addison:
! There is no virtue so truly great and
godlike as Justice and in the words
| Of Daniel Webster, Whoever Iabors on
this ediice of justice. clears its foun-
cation, STRENGTHENS its pillars adorns
IT'S entablatures, or contributes to
raise It's august dome still higher in
the skies, connects himself in name.
fame and character with that which is
and must be as durable as the frame
Chief Justice Emery did all this, and
IS entitled to all the encomiums Won
have pronounced upon him as we'll
earned by honest hard and faithful
| work, without great material reward,
but from his own innate love of truth
and Justice 49,
- The resolutions are received by the.
! Court and ordered spread upon its
records and, as a further mark of re-
| spect, the Court will now suspend for
the day. without the transaction Of
further business.