22
The Green Bag
One of the most delightful — and cer tainly wholesome—of Judge Bleckley's judicial opinions, is that rendered in a case where a wife's property, bought with the hard earnings she had made by keeping boarders, was being defended against seizure by her husband's creditors. "The legal unity of husband and wife," pronounced the judge, "has in Georgia, for most purposes, been dis solved, and a legal duality been estab lished. A wife is a wife and not a hus band, as she was formerly. Legislative chemistry has analyzed the conjugal unit, and it is no longer treated as an element but as a compound. A hus band can make a gift to his own wife, although she lives in the house with him and attends to her household duties,— as easily as he can make a present to his neighbor's wife. This puts her on an equality with other ladies, and looks like progress. Under the new order of things, when he induces her to enter into the business of keeping boarders, and promises to let her have all the proceeds, he is allowed to keep his promise if she keeps the boarders. It would seem that the law ought to tolerate him in being faithful to his word in such a matter, and we think it does." f.* Another verdict of his that will be held in grateful remembrance by the gentler sex is that containing the follow ing sentiment: "Between the passenger and the baggage, there is a relation be yond that of mere partnership. When baggage is lost, it is not simply priva tion,—it is bereavement." That Bleckley is a master of epigram, no one can doubt who recalls how aptly he hit off appellate tribunals: "Some courts live by correcting the errors of others and adhering to their own." Or again, in regard to one of his own deci sions: "Any one who seriously doubts the correctness of this ruling, may readily
solve his doubts by studying law." Or his comment when a sheriff, in answer to charges of dereliction of duty, claimed that he had acted under advice from a lawyer: "We suppose, from the quality of the advice, that he must have ob tained it gratis." Or his quaint reply, when a young barrister had just com pleted an impassioned and chivalrous plea in behalf of a female client: "In protecting women, courts and juries should be careful to protect men, too, for men are not only useful to general society, but to women especially." It is always more difficult to stop re citing Bleckley stories and quotations than it is to begin. For rare is a lawyer in Georgia, or in the South for that matter, who does not possess a wellstocked repertoire of "Bleckleyana." But the present collection may well be closed with a bit of a story that the public has not yet gotten hold of. It was in the privacy of the Judge's family circle, and one of the younger members was giving, rather excitedly, a detailed account of a "revival meeting" she had just been attending. "And, O Papa, who do you suppose went up and gave his hand to the min ister and asked to be prayed for? It was Judge T—." "No, no, my child," remonstrated the father. "Not Judge T—. You must be mistaken." For Judge T— was an espe cially upright friend and neighbor, grayhaired, benignant, and amiable. "But it was Judge T—, Papa! And he asked for the prayers of the church be cause he said he was such a dreadful sinner." "What a sad hallucination," mused Mr. Chief Justice, in a hurt tone, and with a deprecatory shake of his head. "Why, Judge T— never committed a sin in his life. Or, if he did, it is barred by the Statute of Limitations."
