the present business, to say nothing of the future. Accordingly three different meas ures looking to this end were introduced into the present Legislature, the result of which was the appointment of a Commission to revise the Judiciary Article of the Consti tution -and recommend changes. This body consists of thirty-eight of the most eminent lawyers of the State, and will probably re port a plan to the next Legislature. The reporting during this period, by Messrs. Hand and Sickels, has been of a good and satisfactory quality. Considering the great amount of labor now thrown upon Mr. Sickels, his work is entitled to commen dation for accuracy and promptness. It would be difficult to find in any court that has ever existed a parallel to the vari ety, excellence, and importance of the body of law laid down in this court. I have given the names of more than one hundred judges, with particulars of many of them, nearly all of whom were first nomi nated by the people I believe that under a system of appointment by the governor this list would not have been equalled in merit and distinction, and I point to it as a stand ing refutation of the argument that the peo ple are not fit to name their judges. The Court of Appeals has the finest quar ters of any court in the world, so Lord Coleridge says. They are on the third floor of the Capitol, extending across the eastern front of the south wing and of the centre. The chamber for arguments is on the south east corner, with three great windows on the east and two on the south, commanding an extensive view of the beautiful Hudson River valley. The chamber is of moderate size, well proportioned and of good acoustic qual ities. Its walls are panelled from floor to ceiling in oak, and the ceiling is heavily timbered with oak. The bench is elaborately carved along the front, showing grotesque heads, among other ornaments, which may be symbolical of the successful and unsuc cessful suitors or counsel. On the walls are thirty-three portraits of deceased judges of
the State, nearly all of this court, but em bracing Jay and Nelson. Over the bench hang portraits of Walworth, Kent, Spencer, Church, Jay, and Folger, the three former on the lower row, and the three latter on the upper, and arranged in the order named from left to right. Over the fireplace hangs a superb portrait of the elder Peckham. The fireplace is a magnificent structure of the choicest Mexican onyx. Between the south windows stands a bronze statue, of heroic size, of Chancellor Livingston, the work of our distinguished Albany sculptor, Palmer, and a duplicate of one in the Capitol at Washington. The only unpleasant object (to lawyers) in the room is a tall clock in a carved oaken case. The judges look at it oftener than the lawyers. The judges' con sultation-room, libraries, and toilette-rooms are north of the chamber, communicating with it by a door behind the bench. Through this door at ten o'clock the judges enter, in their gowns, while the bar rise and stand until the crier opens court and the judges take their seats. There is a daily calendar of eight causes, and the judges sit until two o'clock. Across the hall, on the south, is a large room for the bar, hung with portraits of great dead lawyers, pre-eminent among them Nicholas Hill, at full length, and in the hall hang full-length portraits of two of the greatest living lawyers, David Dudley Field and William M. Evarts, — men of such stature that they have not been able or have not chosen to get through the court-room door to sit on the bench. In this court there has always existed a delightful personal harmony, and strong dif ferences of opinion have never interfered with the friendship of its members for one another. The court has always been sin gularly free from intrigue and unworthy ambition. In conclusion I will give an extract from a sketch of the Judicial History of New York, which I wrote some years ago for "The Public Service of the State of New York : " —
