Reminiscences of Judah Philip Benjamin. to daily practice was great, and it seemed to him a real pleasure to explain to others what he knew and valued so much himself. Few works on English law have been so readily accepted and so universally used as "Benjamin on Sales," which has gone through several editions. The profession and duties of barrister and solicitor, which in England are separate, are in America discharged by one and the same person, though it is common, in the case of a part nership, for one member of the firm to devote himself to seeing clients, getting up the facts of cases, and doing all those things which in this country are done by a solicitor, whilst the other partner takes up the litigant cases at a later stage, and conducts the trial of causes and the arguments of points of law in court. Benjamin, before he was led into the fierce struggle of political life, which ended in his acting as one of the chief ad visers of Jefferson Davis, had for years been a member of such a legal partnership. His clients were numerous, their business being principally of a mercantile character, and few men had a sounder or wider range of knowledge and experience of the law-mer chant, including shipping, insurance and foreign trading, than Benjamin, long before he ever thought of leaving America and coming to England. The chambers in Lamb Buildings soon became well filled with briefs and cases for opinion, and there from early morning to late evening was Benjamin to be found, steadily disposing of all that came to him with as much zeal and energy as he could have shown were he a young man for the first time earning his livelihood. But, for all this, he never closed his door to any friend who came for a chat or to obtain his views on some nice point of Anglo-American jurisprudence. I once went to him myself to ask for the explanation of a new system which had grown up in the export trade from New York to Liverpool. He gave me at once, as was his manner, a short and
399
clear account of the practice, and also ex plained the legal results and the rights of the parties. This led to a curious sequel, for within a few weeks I was retained for a plaintiff in chancery against two defendants. When the cases came on for hearing before Vice Chan cellor Malins, I duly appeared, feeling con fident of success, not only from my otn opinion of the plaintiff's rights, but accord ing to the view expressed by Benjamin that he was in the right. I found opposed to me for one of the defendants, Sir Roundell Palmer, for the other Mr. Benjamin. Palmer's case was postponed on the ground of per sonal convenience, but he told me while we waited for the judge to come into court that the point was quite new to him. Benjamin and myself occupied the whole day with our arguments, and the vice-chancellor, after much doubting, delivered a judgment against the view presented by Benjamin and in favor of that with which he had furnished me when I had sought his aid. Most Juniors seeking their promotion to the office of Queen's Counsel write to the Lord Chancellor of the day, expressing their wish to acquire the position, and so obtain the right to wear a silk gown and pre-audi ence in court which follow. In Benjamin's case it was otherwise; whilst still a Junior he held many briefs in the House of Lords, and when Cairns was Lord Chancellor, he was so struck with Benjamin's argu1nents in a case before him that he wrote him a note proposing, if Benjamin was willing, to ap point him one of her Majesty's Counsel. This was accepted, and from that time Benjamin's practice increased, and he soon held a high position, and made as large an income as any barrister within the bar. Having thoroughly established himself in the first rank of the London bar, he went on circuit, choosing that which is pre-eminent in commercial and maritime law, the North ern, and soon acquired a considerable prac tice, although he had as competitors such
