three years. At Cornell he gives instruction in Domestic Relations, the Law of Real Property, Common Law Pleading and Practice, Equity Jurisprudence, and Equity Pleading and Procedure. He is also Secretary of the school.
Of the non-resident members of the Faculty, perhaps those most thoroughly identified with the school are the Hon. Francis M. Finch and the Hon. Daniel H. Chamberlain.
Judge Finch was born at Ithaca in 1827. He was educated at Yale, where he took a leading position as a student and for his general attainments. Even before going to college, he manifested a remarkable literary talent, which he still retains, although he insists that " the practice of law has chastened and choked it down." He studied his profession in his native town, and was admitted to the bar in a little over a year after leaving college. The following extract from a sketch of Judge Finch's career, which has recently been made public, is so accurate in its statements and conclusions that we take the liberty of inserting it in this connection:—
"Mr. Finch's practice was of rapid growth; he was a gentleman of fine scholarship, a hard student, a clear and persuasive reasoner, a wise, reliable counsellor, conscientious to a marked degree in the fulfilment of his relations to his clients, and tenacious in the advocacy of their rights, and he soon took a commanding position among the ablest lawyers of the Sixth District. The most important cases were confided to him, and his opinions upon legal questions were eagerly sought by the most eminent of his brethren at the bar. Early in General Grant's first presidential term he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Twenty-sixth District, New York, which office he resigned after holding it four years. At the organization of Cornell University, Mr. Finch became warmly interested in the institution, was one of its trustees, and its counsel and friendly adviser through its early troubles. In May, 1880, Mr. Finch was appointed Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, to fill a vacancy of six months. In 1881 he was reappointed to fill a vacancy of one year. In the fall of 188 1 he was elected to a full term of fourteen years, which will expire Dec. 31, 1895. Mr. Finch possesses a natural mental grasp which seems able to take in the manifold bearings of a subject, to perceive its resemblances and harmonies, as well as its inconsistencies, almost at a glance. He has a judicial temperament without bias. In speech he is methodical, correct, rounded, and concise; his critical analysis of a subject, or resume of a case, covers all its points and leaves no gaps to fill. His opinions have been always characterized by the utmost fairness of spirit, depth of learning, and thorough research. In short, it may be truly said that he possesses all the elements necessary for a career of honor and usefulness upon the bench. He is approachable, genial, and affable; and while he possesses large perceptive faculties and keen discrimination, he is almost philosophically tolerant. His chief relaxation is his large and well-selected library, to which he turns with delight from his arduous legal and judicial labors."
It remains only to add that in the lectures of Judge Finch before the law students on the Statute of Frauds and Fraudulent Conveyances, one at once discovers, not only a literary finish and excellence of the very highest order, but also the same depth of research and legal learning, the same power of discrimination and analysis, and the same comprehensive grasp of the subject in hand that in his opinions upon the bench have made him famous the country over.
The Hon. Daniel H. Chamberlain was graduated from Yale College in 1862, pursued legal studies at the Harvard Law School for one year, when he entered the army as a volunteer officer, and served till the close of the war. In December, 1865, he settled in Charleston, S. C, where, in 1867, he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and was elected Attorney-General of the State in 1868, filling the office for a term of four years. Returning to his profession in 1872, he was elected Governor in 1874, and occupied the office till 1877. He then resumed his practice in New York City, where he has since pursued his profession without interruption.
