John Forrest Dillon munication from the bar be spread upon the records of the court.
"If I may be permitted, as the pre siding justice for the circuit for a period
including the entire time of Judge Dillon's service in the court, to indulge in a suggestion of my own special mis fortune in the matter, I must say that it is greater than that of others; for he
his name was being considered,
455 the
question of place of residence could have been eliminated and he induced to accept appointment, there would have been added an illustrious member
to that illustrious Court. He is a commanding figure, whether
viewed as lawyer, judge, or author, and he needs no further honor to fix his place
who I had hoped, as he came later, might remain longer in this court than I, and to whom would have fallen the
in the legal history of this country.
duty of making the sad comments appropriate to the severance of our
Dillon's Preface to the Fifth Edition
official relations, is the first to leave
just issued, which is replete with bio
our common sphere of official duty. “Though in his case the cause is one which carries him to a less laborious, a more profitable, and let us hope a more agreeable and perhaps useful, field of labor, and though this must, as it
ought, mitigate the pains of separation, it remains true, as regards myself, that I cannot hope in any successor, however
talented by nature or accomplished by learning, the same assistance in the per formance of my own judicial duties,
and the same relief from unnecessary responsibility as presiding justice which have made my relations with him so pleasant.
More interesting than anything in this brief sketch will be found Judge (1911) of his Municipal Corporations, graphic charm and retrospection.
An
extract from his Preface would seem to be an appropriate conclusion. Judge Dillon says: “Over forty-five years have elapsed
since the preparation of Municipal Corporations began, and more than thirty-eight years since its first publi cation. It is therefore not only a child, but the companion, of the greater part of a prolonged professional career. Any justifiable satisfaction I might feel in its success is somewhat subdued, if not saddened, by the sombre, although not
relations which are imperfectly expressed
melancholy, reflection that in this edition I am taking final leave of a work which is intimately incorporate with the studies, lucubrations and labors of so many years. If these observations and reflec
by the strongest terms of affectionate
tions betray an author's vanity, they
friendship and unlimited confidence— it will be seen with what emphasis I unite with the bar and other members of the court throughout the circuit in
may perhaps on that account even be pardoned. I have indulged in these retrospections, not to gratify my feelings,
this cordial tribute of respect and ex
add that my chief pride and satisfaction in the work consists in the fact that it
"When you add to this the interrup tion, more or less, of our social relations—
but because they give opportunity to
pression of regret at the retirement of Judge Dillon from the bench." It would not have added to his lustre if Judge Dillon had been made a member of the Supreme Court of the United
acknowledge myself owing to this great
States, but it is pleasant to reflect that if, on one of the several occasions when
distraction, diversion, intermission, or
constitutes the largest and certainly
the last payment that I shall be able to make on the Baconian debt which I profession of the law, to which without
