unswerving honesty of your judgment, and the ability and accuracy with which your conclusions have been reached and then expressed. You will carry with you into your retirement our re spect and strong regard, and our earnest wishes that the closing years of your life may be con tented and prosperous and happy." For several years before his retiring, fail ing eyesight debarred him from reading or writing, and compelled him to rely on others' eyes and hands; but he persisted with a he roic and touching patience, and with no fall ing off in the quality of his judgments. He had an especial reputation in will cases, in criminal cases, and in those numerous and troublesome problems concerning assess ments in the city of New York, — cases affording little scope for display, but de manding an anxious and patient consider ation of evidence and a comparison and construction of a host of statutes. Very few judges in the history of the State have rendered so much and such intelligent ser vice; none have been more modest, more candid, more patient, and more generally safe and right. He is now living in digni fied and easy retirement at Hudson. The following are among his most im portant and ablest opinions : Craig v. City of Rochester, 39 N. Y. 404, horse-railway in city street — whether an additional burden to land of adjoining owner; Green v. Shumway, 39 N. Y. 418, test-oath for voters; In Re N. Y. C & H. R. R. Co. v. Met. Gas Light Co., 63 N. Y. 326, condemnation of lands under water in harbor of New York for piers for railroad purposes; Children's Aid Society v. Loveridge, 70 N. Y. 387, undue influence; Ben nett v. Austin, 81 N. Y. 308, trustee ex malificio; Boardman v. Lake Shore & Mich. S. R. Co., 84 N. Y. 157, priority of preferred stock dividends over common stock dividends; In re Petition of Merriam, 84 N. Y. 596, as sessment for street improvement in New York City; Greenfield v. People, 85 N. Y. 75, case of murder; — evidence; Prichard v. Thompson, 95 N. Y. 76, charitable trust;
Hobson v. Hale, 95 N. Y. 588, suspension of power of alienation; Wilmerding v. Mc Kesson, 103 N. Y. 329, liability of executors and trustees; Nat. City Bank v. N. Y. Gold Exchange Bank, 101 N. Y. 595, " BlackFriday " case. George Franklin Danforth. Judge Danforth was born in Boston, Mass., in 18 19; was graduated at Union College in 1840; was defeated for the office of associ ate judge by Judge Earl in 1876, but was elected in 1878. He retired in January, 1879, by reason of age, and as some think, by the unreason of our law in that regard. If all men were like him at seventy there could be no question of the unwisdom of the regu lation. He was in great practice at Rochester when he left the bar, and has gone back there to a great practice. He had a wide and deserved reputation for learning when he went on the bench, and his added expe rience there has ripened him into a most admirable lawyer, fitly equipped for any occasion. His opinions have always been celebrated for learning, and bear marks of independent and original thinking quite re markable in one so fond of research and so familiar with the books. Judge Danforth is a man of culture outside of the law, and is as much regarded off the bench for his manly qualities and his social bearing as he is esteemed on the bench for his magisterial talents. He was always a hard worker; and the reports of his time are full of his opin ions, of which, almost at hazard, I refer to the Story (Elevated Railway) case, 90 N. Y. 122; People v. Common Council of Brooklyn, 77 N. Y. 503, as to vacancy in office; People v. Sharp, 79 N. Y. 282, the case of the bribery of the New York aldermen; Troy & Boston R. Co. v. Boston, etc. Ry. Co., 86 N. Y. 107, on a railroad lease; Van Voorhis v. Brintnall, 86 N. Y. 18, on remarriage by a prohibited divorced party out of this State. Judge Danforth is chairman of the Commission now sitting to revise the Judiciary Article of the Constitution.
