Evening star., 1932-02-16
Special Dispatch to The Star.

NEW YORK, February 16 (NAN.A).
Prom his admission to the New YORK
bar in 1891 to his selection by Presi.
dent Hoover to be associate justice OF
the Supreme Court at the age OF 81,
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo has steadily
accumulated, without seeking 1t, the
admiration of lawyers and laymen,
conservatives and liberals, Republicans
and Democrats, who have come to
speak of him as one Of the great JurlstS
Of his time.
For the clarity of his thought and
the lucidity Of his expression, his name
references with the name Of the retir-
ing justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
whose place in the Supreme Court he
Is to fill. Both are recognized as nb-
erals, who hold that the law must take
the form and pressure Of the time,
that it must compromise between the
claims of the past and the needs OF
the present, between settled traditions
and the evolution of public purpose.
Judge CardozoS most recent express
sion of this view was uttered three
weeks ago, addressing the New York
State Bar Association as chief judge OF
the Court of Appeals Of New York on
the subject Of The Judicial Process
Up to Now"
Compromise Between Paradoxes.
For the lawyer and the Judge, a
driving force at all times has been the
avalanche of precedents," he said. The
necessity is deeply felt for a rational
iZing principle whereby precedents that
are outworn may be decently discarded
without affront to the sentiment that
there shall be 10 breach of the legal
order nthe house of its custodians.
With the years Of crowded thought
I have given to the subject, cannot
make it more precise. The judicial
process is one of compromise between
paradoxes, between certainty and un-
certainty. between the liberalism that
| Is eXaltation OF the written word and
the nihilism that Is destructive OF
regularity and order.
ten of recent years by neo-realists and
others may seem to break with all ira
dition and to presage far-reachlng
change It Is easy, in thus estimating
their labors, to be misled by forms and
phrases. What is new in juristic
thought today is chiefly the candor of
the processes. Much that was once
unavowed and kept beneath the sur
face Is now avowed and open.
Not one of us can say what law
means. Start a discussion as to its
meaning. try to tell how it is born,
whence it comes. out Of what we man
ufacture it. and before the dispute Is
fairly under way the vociferouS dis
putantS will be springing at each 9TH
ers throats.
Native of New York City.
Il do not known how it will all end"
Judge Cardozo concluded. Il know that
1t has been an int :esting time to live
in. an interesting time in which to do
my little share in translating into law
the social and economic forces that
throb and clamor for expression
Judge CardoZo was born in New York
City May "a, 1870, and was early i'm
pressed with the confusion Of interests
which the city presents. He undertook
to think his way through. At Columbia
College he was graduated with highest
honors at the age of 19. The following
year. 1890, he received the degree Of
master of arts from the university. A
year later he was admitted to the bar.
For % years his private practice was
active and varied. latterly as special
counsel retained by other lawyers for
the trial Of complicated cases and diff
cult appeals. He left the bar for the
bench when the fusion movement in
1918 looked about for judiciary candi-.
dates that would command public re-
spect.
Within few months after Mr.. Car
dozo was elected to the Supreme Court
he was designated to serve as a Judge
Of the Court of Appeals by Gov. Glynn,
a Democrat. He was appointed to the
Permanent Court by Gov Whitman, a
Republican, in January. 1917. and elect
ed for full term of IA years as asso-
ciate Judge in the same year.