The Supreme Court of Vermont. as perfect specimens of judicial literature; he said all that was necessary to say in de ciding a case before him, and never more. He never was accused of what Judge Mat tocks called, " slopping over." His written opinions are not essays upon the law at large; he very carefully confined his lan guage to the precise matter before the court. In stating the legal principles applicable to the case, and not referring to books for authority, he resembled our great Chief Judge Chipman and Chief Justice Marshall. He was not in the habit of reporting every case which fell to him; if the case was not correctly decided, he would not re port it; and he refused to report that class of cases in which no new principle was in volved, or no new application of an old principle, — thinking that legal principles were not barred by the statute, and that it was not necessary to reaffirm them every year to prevent their becoming obsolete. He retired from his judicial duties in the full enjoyment of intellectual and physical life, and passed his remaining days in quiet seclusion, congenial to his retiring tastes and reserved habits. A friend writes of him: "The treasures of information, the fund of anecdote and personal adventure, especially the amusing and comical scenes in and about courts, in which his experience had been so wide and varied, which were garnered in his retentive memory, were here unlocked and produced for the entertain ment of his guests, arrayed in his own in imitable garb of quiet humor."
91
The first year of his practice he was called to defend in a Justice suit, and fresh from Chitty, filed a plea in abatement which he duly discussed. The justice in decid ing the case said: " The young lawyer has filed what he calls a plea in abatement; now this plaintiff seems to be a very ignorant man, and his lawyer about as ignorant as he is, and this writ doesn't seem to be a very good writ, and doesn't resemble one much more than it does a hog yoke; but the plaintiff seems to be an honest man, and if he has a just claim against this defendant he shall have judgment." The counsel for the defendant, who was exceedingly tall and of swarthy complexion, elated at the result, but somewhat disgusted with the remarks of the justice, arose and making a very pro found bow, said to the Court, ' I much thank you, d—n you.' At one time he went to hold the winter term at Irasburgh, and arrived there about sundown; during the evening, as was the custom in those days, the Bar called upon the presiding judge, and among them was a newly admitted member who had never seen him, and who after an introduction inquired, "Did your Worship arrive in town by the public conveyance or do you travel with your own coach?" Judge Royce, with a stern look, replied to him, " I came over from Berkshire in my old pung" (a square box of rough, unplaned boards on runners). He was not further questioned as to his mode of travel.
