A Century of Federal Judicature.
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A CENTURY OF FEDERAL JUDICATURE. IV. BY VAN VECHTEN VEEDER. THE lawyers who came to the bench during the decade subsequent to 1845 were uniformly of a very high order of abil ity; in fact, no similar period of the court's history can show the accession of five abler lawyers than Nelson,. Grier, Woodbury, Cur tis and Campbell. Xelson and Grier were fortunately vouchsafed long and distin guished careers, but the service of the others was too brief to enable them to make any very extensive contribution to Federal juris prudence. Justice Nelson's (1845-72) career is one of the most remarkable in judicial annals. Be ginning his judicial service as a circuit judge at the age of thirty, he succeeded William L. Marcy as a justice of the Supreme Court of New York eight years later; after serving in this position for six years he was advanced to chief justiceship, and presided for eight years. With, therefore, twenty-two years pre vious experience as a state judge, he was ap pointed associate justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1845, and finally termina ted his judicial career in 1872 as a mem Dei of the Joint High Commission selected to arbitrate the Alabama claims. He was thus in active judicial service for a little short of fifty years. I know of only one instance in which such service has been exceeded'. Wil liam Cranch, most widely known as an early reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, served continuously in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Co lumbia for a period of fifty-four years. With out any conspicuously brilliant qualities, Justice Xelson was a learned, practical and efficient member! of the court, and bore .his full share of its labors. He succeeded Justice Baldwin in support of Chief Justice Taney's
constitutional views. In the Dred-Scott case he concurred in the chief justice's opinion, believing that if Congress possessed power under the Constitution to abolish slavery, "it must necessarily possess the like power to establish it." During the civil war his con servatism and life-long political affiliations led him to oppose many of the government's acts, but his relations with the administration were as harmonious as his loyalty was un doubted. Justice Ncelsori was learned in in ternational law and admiralty, but his most conspicuous service was in the domain of patent law. A good idea of his work may be obtained from the cases in the note below. 1 Justice Grier (1846-70) does not seem to be as widely known as the merit of his work warrants. Among lawyers who have had oc casion to study the reports of his time he is known as one of the most learned and acute judges of this bench. To a judicial expe rience of nearly forty years duration he brought a varied culture and scholarly habits of mind. To his linguistic accomplishments 1 New Jersey Steam Navigation Company T. Mer chants' Bank, 6 Howard 344; The Kagle, 8 Wallace 15; The Prize Cases, 2 Black 633; The Plymouth, 3 Wal lace 20; State of (leorgia r>. Stanton, 6 il>. 50; The Pas senger Cases, 7 Howard 283; Dred Scott r. Sanford, 19 it. 393; Tayloe?: Insurance Company, 9 /'/'. 390; The Collector?•. Hay, n Wallace 113; Woodruff r. Parham, 8 Wall. 123; Meazie Bank r. Fenno, 8 ib. 533; Freeman?. Howe, 24 Howard 45: State of Pennsylvania f. Wheeling Bridge Company, 18 Howard 421; Hugg -.: Augusta Insurance Company, 7 /*. 595; Bank of Com merce r. New York City, 2 Black 620; Bank Tax Case, 2 Wallace 200; The Justices r. Murray, 9 it. 274; United States r. Baker, 5 Blatchford 6. See also his charges on the fugitive slave laws in i Blatchford 635 and 2 ib. 559, and on treason in 5 Blatchford 549. Some of his leading cases in the Supreme Court of New York are Thomas r. Uakin, 22 Wendell 9; Schiefftein v. Carpenter, 15 i/>. 400; Browne r. Potter, 17 it. 164; Fleet r. Hegeman, 14 /*. 42; Ay mar r. Sheldon, 12 »'#. 439; Masterton r. Mayor of Brooklyn, 7 Hill 62; Hutchins r. Hutchins, 7 ii. 104.
