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The Green Bag.

organized court. While he was in Congress, he served with great credit on the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. Hon. H. St. George Tucker of Virginia, one of his associates in that committee, before Judge Paynter had ever taken his seat in the court, said of him that he possessed the judi cial temper in the highest degree and he predicted for him a fine record as an able

and impartial jurist. In his opinions, Judge Paynter has shown great research and an accurate knowledge of legal principles and their application. His dissenting opinion in the " Bank Tax Cases " that came before the Court of Appeals in June, 1895, was a masterly argument in favor of sustaining the taxes assessed on certain banks in ac cordance with the provisions of the new constitution. Two years later, the same question again came before the B. L. D. Court of Appeals and this time it re versed its ruling, Judge Paynter delivering the opinion of the court in practically the language of his previous dissent. Eventually the question came before the United States Courts and the United States Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky, composed at the time of Justice Harían and Judge Taft and Judge Lurton and the United States Supreme Court both adopted Judge Paynter's view of the law. This one instance is mentioned to show the fulfillment of Mr. Tucker's prediction.

Many other notable opinions might be cited, but time and space forbid. B. L. D. GUFFY.

Judge Bayless L. D. Guffy was bom in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, on Decem ber 24, 1832. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and his father came from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1798. Thus Judge Guffy is more di rectly connected with the early set11 e m e n t and his tory of the State than any of his associates on the bench. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar and he at once lo cated in Morgantown, Ky., where he resided almost con tinuously until his election as Judge of the Court of Appeals in November, 1894. It has been said that soldiers and sailors have no poli tics but this princi ple cannot apply to jurists, because GUFFY. Judge Guffy has proved their ver satility by various political alliances. He has yielded submission to no party or set of men. In 1894 he was the Republican can didate for Judge of the Court of Appeals and he defeated the Democratic candidate, Judge Willis L. Reeves, a distinguished Circuit Judge of southern Kentucky. Judge Guffy took his seat on the bench in January, 1895, and since that time he has decided a vast number of cases, many of them of the greatest importance. In the case of Ohio Valley Railway Co.,