The Green Bag Volume XXIII
April, 1911
'
Number 4
Francis Cabot Lowell HE death of Judge Francis Cabot Lowell, at an age when men are usually in their prime, is deeply re
and other magazines, and had written a valuable life of Joan of Arc, in which he was the first to analyze her trial
grettable as depriving the federal bench
from a lawyer's point of view.
of one of its best equipped members as regards character and ability. Judge Lowell was an admirable type of the painstaking, learned and upright judge. The ailment which hastened his death was undoubtedly due in large
also deeply interested in his alma mater, serving first as an Overseer and subse
measure to the earnestness with which he applied himself to his judicial labors.
A man of books, plentifully endowed with the traits of one of the most gifted families of Massachusetts, he willingly took upon himself burdens of the kind
almost certain to break men of sensitive
He was
quently as a Fellow of Harvard Uni versity. He was also interested in the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, of which he was president of
the Board of Trustees. He had also made notable contributions to the litera ture of Unitarianism. The traces of this breadth of sympathy are seen in all his judicial work. As his friend Mr. Roosevelt said, “He was a judge with
As Major Henry L. I-ligginson
great legal learning and ability, who never for one moment permitted learn ing and technique of the law to dim his clear understanding of the fact that a
has said, “The Lowells always cared more to serve than to earn," and it was
judge must be much more than a law yer." The quality of his work, in fact,
Judge Lowell's keen sense of public
was such as to verify Bagehot’s con tention that a thorough soundness of judgment cannot exist in the absence of a wide range of delicately cultivated sensibilities. His decision holding Armenians
organization, though they may rest more lightly on rougher and brawnier shoul
ders.
duty which exacted a heavier toll than
he could bear and prematurely exhausted his powers.
Zealous in protecting the rights of the less favored litigant, unfailing in courtesy, and of a fine impartiality of mind, he won the universal respect of the bar for his fairness in dispensing even-handed justice. Judge Lowell's activities were mainly confined to the legal sphere. He had, however, con tributed articles to the Atlantic Monthly
proper subjects for naturalization, within
the "free white persons” clause, was characteristic of a Lowell.l
There was
nothing remarkable about the ruling, for Armenians, Syrians and Turks had lSee 22 Green Bag 135.
