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The Green Bag
lawyer of today are looked upon as ele mentary in federal jurisprudence. In
Jefferson,11 and The Steamer Orleans v. The Phzrbus,12 the court in opinions by
Bank of Augusta v. Earle,8 upon the Judge Story had decided that here as in ground of comity, it was first decided that corporations of one state can sue in
England the maritime jurisdiction of the federal courts was restricted to the ebb
the courts of another, and in 1841 the
and flow of the tide.
License cases from Massachusetts, Rhode
It was finely said by Matthew Arnold in praise of Sophocles that “he saw life
Island, and New Hampshire, reported under the name of Thurlow v. Massa chusetts, Fletcher v. Rhode Island and
read the opinions of the Chief Justice,
steadily and saw it whole.”
So if you
Pierce v. New Hampshire,9 came be
whether
fore the court, and it was decided that a
question is to be examinedidiscussed and
state can regulate the trafiic of intoxi
decided, or the various questions requir ing the application of the principles of maritime or the municipal law or reme dial law are to be determined, you find
cating liquors within its borders.
Lu
ther v. Borden10 brought up a phase of the Dorr Rebellion. The action was trespass for assault. The defendants justified under the authority of the government which had appointed them. The court, however, was not to be en ticed into deciding which government was legal, and while saying the question was purely one of political power to be
determined by the political, not by the
an
important
constitutional
displayed the same calm deliberation which surveys and grasps the whole subject, and then without wavering moves
gradually but irresistibly to a conclusion. He possessed the power, the gift of his birthhour common to Mansfield, Marshall, and Shaw, of looking with illuminated
insight into the future, which led him to
judicial department of the government,
develop and administer the law so that
declared that the state courts having decided the question the federal tribunal had no jurisdiction to interfere. In
it should be progressive in its operation
February, 1845, the Congress by ap propriate legislation had extended the
without weakening its practical and positive application to the case to be decided. In the serenity of the judicial atmos
admiralty jurisdiction over the great
phere twenty-four years had now passed,
lakes and navigable waters of the coun
and the political animosities of earlier
try. The question at once arose, whether the act was constitutional, and the Genesee Chief having been libeled for collision on Lake Ontario with an
days had long since faded away. Allwho came in contact with the court, or knew
of the performance of its functions, recognized and conceded his fitness for
other vessel, it was presented for decision.
the exalted oflice.
Of this opinion, reported in 12 How. 443, which fully sustained the act, noth
been slowly ripening, until in the esti mation of the bar and the public men of his time, he was not only the titular,
His greatness had
ing but commendation has been written. The Chief Justice rose fully to the height of the argument, and in lucidity and elegance of expression the opinion ranks
edged head of the department. But a cloud which when it first appeared in the
with the best juristic efforts. It needed to be convincing, for in The Thomas
the servant of the prophet saw from
but by intellectual primacy the acknowl
horizon was no bigger than that which
a 13 Pet. 519. 0 5 How. 504.
10 1 How. 1.
n 10 Wheat. 428. ‘7 11 Pet. 175.
