and

Legal Miscellany.

PUBLISHED BY THE D. B. CANFIELD COMPANY LIMITED, PHILADELPHIA.

SUBSCRIPTION, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. SINGLE COPY, TEN CENTS.

Copyrighted 1890. Entered at the Post Office at Philadelphia as second-class matter.

Vol. II.

July 15, 1890.

JOSEPH STORY.

Born September 18, 1779, died September 10, 1845.

No. 7.

This distinguished jurist was born at Marblehead, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the year 1779, and was the oldest child of a second marriage. His father, Dr. Elisha Story, was a native of Boston, ardent in the cause of liberty, an active participator in the memorable destruction of the tea, and afterwards a surgeon in the army of the revolution. Subsequently retiring from the service, he settled in Marblehead, where he practiced medicine with celebrity and success, till the close of an honorable and useful life, in the year 1805. The subject of this brief memoir received his early education in the academy of his native town, then under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Harris, afterwards president of Columbia College in New York, but under the more immediate care of Mr. Michael Walsh, an usher in that institution, a ripe classical scholar, though better known to the commercial public by his valuable system of mercantile arithmetic. With such instructors, such a pupil could not but make rapid advances in good learning. He accordingly entered Harvard University at Cambridge, in 1795, a half year in advance; and was graduated with high and wellearned reputation, in 1798. On leaving the university his prompt decision was for the profession of law; the study of which he commenced under the Honorable Samuel Sewall, late chief justice of Massachusetts, then in the practice in Marblehead ; and completed, after the appointment of Mr. Sewall to the bench, under Mr. Justice Putnam, of the same court, then practicing at the bar in Salem. To the mastery of this profound and noble science he devoted himself with unconquerable vigor of application, ardent thirst of knowledge, and the compacted and various energies of a superior mind.

The period of his admission to the bar, in 1801, is still fresh in our recollection as one of great political excitement. The Democratic party, after years of laborious struggle, had just gained a general victory, by placing its chief in the presidential chair; but it had still to contend with unabated efforts, for the control of the remaining State governments, against an opposing party, everywhere formidable in its numbers and talents, and in some States, vastly superior in strength. The existing divisions had unfortunately and unjustly been made to turn on our political relations with the two great contending powers of Europe; and the principles of the revolution were successfully invoked, to swell the ranks of the dominant party. In Massachusetts, the Democratic party, in which Mr. Story was found, composed at that time a minority, numerically strong indeed, but most strenuously resisted. Yet amidst the bitterness of party strife, the respect in which New England ever holds pure integrity and intellectual greatness could not but sooner or later be manifested towards a son so eminently deserving her confidence.

Mr. Story had brought into his profession untiring diligence, extensive learning, ready and persuasive eloquence, keen sagacity, integrity unspotted, and a tenacity and firmness of purpose which opposition could seldom withstand.

He was of course much resorted to, at a very early period, and received solid proofs of the wisdom and discernment of the public, in the great extent and variety of his professional engagements. Political circumstances may have had their influence with others, in opposing him so young, and often alone, in important causes against the most eminent lawyers of that day. A distinction like this, at once so honorable and so perilous, may be regarded as a most felicitous event in the life of a professional man; since it brings him into immediate contact with powerful minds, and familiarizes him with the depths of his favorite science. The art of war is nowhere so rapidly and successfully acquired, as in the field against the great captains of the age.

In 1805, Mr. Story was elected one of the representatives of the town of Salem, in the Legislature of Massachusetts; to which office he was annually re-elected till his appointment to the bench. In times of such political excitement, generous spirits are always found in the front of the battle, but the high estimation in which he was held, is evinced by the fact that during his legislative career, he was the acknowledged leader of the party with which he acted; and that on him, in 1808, was mainly devolved the task of defend

ing the embargo policy of the National Administration, against the resolution introduced and supported by Christopher Gore, then in the fullness of his intellectual strength, and the zenith of his influence. It should, however, be remembered to the honor of Mr. Story, and for the benefit of younger politicians and of later days, that he never was the slave of party.

He acknowledged no party ligament, binding him to the support of measures which his sober judgment could not approve. He recognized no code of political ethics, distinct from the principles which govern every good man in his private life. On the great questions of national politics, he was always a disciple of the school of Washington. While the restrictive system of Mr. Jefferson was avowedly resorted to and pursued merely as a measure of precaution, temporary in its nature, it could command his willing support without any compromise of consistency. But when it afterwards came to be acknowledged as a system of permanent policy, he stood faithful to his principles in as earnestly seeking its repeal.

It was the good fortune of Massachusetts, that so much political influence was at that time possessed by Mr. Story. From causes not within our present limits to detail, its supreme judiciary, besides the general odium in which the tribunals of justice are too often undeservedly held, had become peculiarly obnoxious to the Democratic party; and yet the aid of that party was now indispensably necessary in order to make some important alterations in the administration of justice, and to place the salaries of the judges on the permanent foundation intended by the Constitution. Prior to the year 1806, their stated compensation, which was very small, had become far inadequate to afford a decent support; and the course for many years had been to make to each of the judges an annual legislative grant, to supply this acknowledged deficiency.

Yet the language of the Constitution in relation to these officers is, that they shall have "honorable salaries, ascertained and established by standing laws." A vacancy occurring at this time in the office of chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, the appointment was offered to Mr. Parsons, then in the most lucrative practice in Boston; but it was declined by him, unless the salary should first be made both honorable and permanent, in the spirit of the Constitution. This measure was accordingly resolved on. His legal eminence rendered his appointment desirable on public grounds. It was an era of necessary reform and improvement in the law; to effect which his transcendent talents and extensive influence were deemed indispensable. Obnoxious as the bold and de

cided tone of his politics had rendered him to the Democratic party, the friends of the measure, relying with confidence on the magnanimity of Mr. Story, and his devotedness to the true interests of the commonwealth, at once intrusted to his hands the projection of the means to carry it into effect, and the superintendence of their execution. He accordingly moved the subject in the House of Representatives, was appointed chairman of the committee to whom it was referred, and reported a bill fixing the salary of the chief justice at twenty-five hundred dollars, and of his associates at two thousand each. A proposition of this kind, never regarded with universal complacency, was at this time furiously assailed. It was ably supported, also, from various quarters, but its fate, from the position in which Mr. Story was placed, was wholly in his power; and to his vigorous efforts, and the earnest appeal of his commanding eloquence, it is but justice to accord the merit of its passage.

The same cause which led to the permanent establishment of these salaries in 1806, soon rendered it necessary that another effort should be made to augment them. The judicial administration of Chief Justice Parsons had fully satisfied the public anticipations; but the experiment, so far as the emoluments of office were concerned, had convinced him that in accepting it, he had sacrificed a portion of income required for domestic expenses. He therefore came to the resolution of returning to the bar, unless the deficiency was supplied by the State. At this time, in 1809, the Democratic party controlled all the branches of the Legislature, and, flushed with recent success, felt little disposition to gratify a leading political adversary, especially in a grant of money; an application very naturally concentrating, in some degree, the opposition of political friends with foes. The alternative, too, of losing the public services of the Chief Justice, could not be urged with much hope of success on those who, in that case, would have the opportunity of appointing his successor. But Mr. Story was still in the Legislature, holding the same leading influence among his political friends; and his magnanimity and love of law and order, were again invoked, not in vain, to place the salaries of the judges on such an establishment as should suffice, at all times, to command for those eminently responsible offices, the first order of legal talent in the commonwealth. A bill for increasing the salary of the chief justice to thirty-five hundred dollars, and of his associates to three thousand, was accordingly reported; it was not only long and carefully considered, but was hotly debated; in the exertions made to de