Robert Cooper Grier. adorning it with his learning, an able and a great judge. The record of his high judicial service is contained in the thirty volumes of reports from 5 Howard to 8 Wallace. It bears abundant testimony to his diligence, research, sound judgment and great firm ness. But Mr. Van Vechten Veeder in this magazine has so recently and so adequately praised Mr. Justice Grier's judicial English, setting forth an example of it, together with a most satisfactory list of his more import ant opinions, that I shall not attempt itera tion of them here. He never based an argu ment upon a mere technicality, but sought out some broad principle upon which to place the decision of a case. His aspect and bear ing upon the bench were dignified and inspir ing. He was a large man of vigorous mus cle, with a kindly and scholarly face. His courteous manner won him the affection of the bar, as his learning and ability won its respect and admiration. Until stricken with paralysis in 1867, he was never absent from a sitting of the Court, and when on December 14, 1860. he was constrained to send his resignation to President Grant, to take effect on February i, 1870, it was accepted in a note of cordial praise and affection by the executive. This resignation called forth from h'S associates upon the Bench and from the Bar expressions of sorrow at his loss so marked and cordial as to show that they were by no means perfunctory. He lived lonj/ enough to attend the funeral of his suc cessor, ex-Secretary Stanton, and died on September 25, 1870. I have within so short a time called at tention in these pages to the conditions and circumstances under which the work of the Supreme Court of the United States was done during the years of Mr. Justice Grier's service upon that Bench, and to the historical events during the years of his boy hood and early manhood, which might have had an influence in moulding his character and forming his ideas, that it seems worse
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than unnecessary to more than refer briefly to some of them here. Suffice it to say that his first years upon the Supreme Court were troubled by the ever-increasing anti-slavery agitation, the questions arising out of the Mexican War, and those brought to the front by the natural growth of the country in popu lation and commerce; the last years by the vexatious questions of Reconstruction; and the intermediate period by those of the Civil War. Under the leadership of Taney, the power of the States to make internal im provements was established. Under the lead ership of Chase, the power of the na tional government • to wage war and procure the sinews therefor, was tri umphantly asserted. Mr. Justice Grier ably performed his full share of all this work. But I venture to think that his talents and learning were better adapted to the solu tion of problems of private law. He wras es pecially learned in the law of real property, trusts and probate. But his admirable con tributions to the science of jurisprudence in nearly all its branches are not so well known among the lawyers of today as their merits deserve. The terseness and clearness of his style, his strong grasp of the principles of the case before him, make all his judicial opinions interesting reading. They are learned, but not overburdened with learning. They are the products of a strong mind that thought clearly and logically, and he was able to express his judgments in a language that was peculiarly adapted to convey his meaning to the minds of others. He was a life-long Democrat and a strong supporter of the Federal Government. His high con ception of the judicial duty and function is everywhere apparent. He sought to admin ister the law. No man has ever sat upon the Supreme Court of the United States with fewer idiosyncrasies and preconceived con ceptions of what the law ought to be. His sole purpose was to ascertain what the law was and then to administer it. He worked
