The
Relative
Influence
in
of
the
Lawyer
Modern Life*
By James M. Beck Of the New York Bar DEEP as the foundations of society, almost as wide as human thought itself, "Justice," in all generations, has been "the great interest of man on earth." This much-quoted saying of Webster seems to answer the theme which has been assigned to me. If Justice be the great interest of man on earth, then assuredly those who make it an especial study and by whose efforts its great ends are measurably attained, must occupy in our infinitely complicated modern society a position of pre-eminent usefulness, power and honor. It is therefore surprising to find President Hadley, of Yale, quoted as saying recently that today there are but three masterful professions, journal ism, finance, and politics. In my judg ment, the law is as masterful as either, and the individual lawyer, meas ured by the result of his achievements, is as potent a force as the journalist, the financier or the politician. What journalist ever contributed so much to the unification of our country as did Daniel Webster, by his great argument in Gibbons v. Ogden, and his even more impressive assertion of federal authority in his great reply to Hayne? What finan cier has ever so potently affected the economic development of this country as the same great lawyer did, when in the great case of Dartmouth College v. Woodward he established the stability of •[The Trustees and Faculties of Columbia Uni versity invited Mr. Beck to make an address to the last graduating class of the Columbia Law School. The present article is substantially the address which was delivered last spring.—Ed.]
corporate rights? Between the states man and the lawyer comparison is more difficult, for in our history the states man has generally been a lawyer, and his great achievements those of a lawyer who pleads at the greater bar of public opinion and to the court of last resort of posterity. It would be difficult to say which did more to precipitate the Civil War, the decision in the Dred Scott case or the great debates on the constitutional aspects of slavery of the lawyer-statesman, Abraham Lincoln, with his distinguished adversary, Sena tor Douglas. Without, however, extending the com parison, it is enough to say of the law, in the language of a great judge and even greater philosopher, Lord Bacon, that "it is the great organ through which the sovereign power (of society) moves." Mr. Justice Blackstone, in his noble introduction to his Commentaries, speaks of it as— A science which distinguishes the criterion of right and wrong; which teaches to establish the one and prevent, punish or redress the other; which employs in its theory the noblest faculties of the soul, and exerts in its practice the cardinal virtues of the heart; a science which is universal in its use and extent, accommodated to each individual, yet com prehending the whole community' These, however, are but the enthusi astic tributes of lawyers. Let me then quote one of the broadest and sanest of philosophers, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who said with equal terseness and felicity:—
