ililiiiuHllUlHintUHluiHUHiiiiuHiiiMHiminiiimuiin iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHtiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiuiiutiiiniiniiiiiiiiiiiiniitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiititiitiiiii /3^ 66 ass hooK Fii>l ?a I'kKSKNTlin BV k m^ ^M '\ %^ .^H ^^flP :^^^^ 1 ^ .; ■W^BK ta^%^''::M^^ / W ;' FJC ^^J^^KE^ / ^i^il ' •y -*^%;?«* ( ' /trlr^ /■!/ ('^/Ul !/it>OtlH Ji. ^ 0.-1 , RESPONSES TO TOASTS AT A DINNER GIVEN BY THE BENCH AND BAR OF NEW JERSEY AT THE WALDORF-ASTORIA, JANUARY 19, 1907 TO VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY ON HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY NEW YORK 1907 Gtm CcArawvou^v 'M . U.C\ryvtL5M^4t. The dinner was arranged by Messrs. Franh Bergen, Halsey M. Barrett, Richard V. Lindahury, Edward M. Colie, M. T. Rosenberg, Willard P. Voorhees and Samuel Kalisch. And there were present as guests of the Bench and Bar, Hon. Alton B. Parker, Hon. John 31. Dillon, Hon. Hampton L. Carson, Hon. John L. Cadwalader, Rev. James M. Buckley, D.D., and Mr. George R. Van Dusen. TOASTS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things. — Carroll. OUR GUEST Hon. William J. Magie He is a great observer, and he looks quite through the deeds of men. — Julius Ccesar. RESPONSE Hon. Henry C. Pitney I hold every man to be a debtor to his profession ; from the which as men of course seek to receive countenance and profit so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.— i?«con. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE JUDICIARY IN OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT . , , Hon. Alton B. Pakker Justice is the greatest interest of man on earth. It is the liga- ment which binds civilized beings and civilized nations together. Wherever her temple stands, and so long as it is duly honored, there is a foundation for general security, general happiness, and the improvement and progress of our race. — Webster. THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHANCERY Hon. Hampton L. Carson I have a heart to feel the injury, A hand to right myself, and by my honour, That hand shall grasp what gray-beard law denies me. — The Chamberlain. THE VICE CHANCELLORS . . Hon. Frederic W. Stevens Three things are to be kept in conscience — Fraud, accident and things of confidence. — Moore. THE SUPREME COURT .... Hon. J. Franklin Fort And sovereign law, that state's collected will. Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. — Sir William Jones. THE BAR OF NEW JERSEY . . . Hon. John W. Griggs We surgeons of the law do desperate cures. Sir. — Beaumont and Fletcher. And when the wine was poured. And they had drunk what each desired, they went Homeward to slumber each in his abode. — Odyssey. Chancellor INIagie presiding, requested Rev. James 31. Buckley to say grace, and after dinner the Chan- cellor said : "Gentlemen of the Bench and Bar of Xew Jersey, and you who honor us with being here as our guests : You all know the purpose of this gathering. We are here to do honor to our veteran Vice Chancellor, and to indicate in this public way the high estima- tion in which he is held by his associates on the Bench, by the Bar, and by the people of the State. "Before I proceed I am asked to read one letter that has been received from the Governor of the State, and it is so appropriate that it is proper that it should be read. It is addressed to Mr. Bergen. 'The death of a relative prevents my accep- tance of your invitation to be present at the din- ner in honor of Vice Chancellor Pitney. Vice Chancellor Pitney's service to the State has been so conspicuous that I desired especially to extend to him the courtesy of my presence on this occa- sion, I had hoped, too, that this event would furnish an opportunity which I particularly desired before the close of my administration to say publicly how much our State owes to the Bench and Bar. The safety of life and property, CHANCELLOR MAGIE the necessary distinction between liberty and license, the preservation of our institutions against demagogic and socialistic influences, depend largely upon our courts and the legal fraternity. These have proven a bulwark against innovation that destroys, while at the same time they have interpreted our law in a way that enabled us to progress with safety. I have long felt that some recognition of this service should be made offi- cially by some one outside of the Bench or Bar, and I regret that I can not be with you to pay this deserved tribute.' "The committee indicated to me that I was ex- pected to make only a few remarks. If I desired to and intended to express all the grounds upon which this spontaneous outburst of affection and admira- tion for our Vice Chancellor is based, I should have to say more than a few words. But some words ought to be said, and I propose to read what I have prepared. "I think it is sufficient on this occasion to recall that Vice Chancellor Pitney on April 9, 1889, en- tered the Court of Chancery as Vice Chancellor, a court which had been adorned by many distinguished equity judges. From the time of Isaac H. William- son and Peter D. Vroom, Governors and Chancellors, who settled the foundation of our equity practice, through the terms of Chancellors Benjamin William- son, Henry W. Green, Abraham O. Zabriskie, Theo- [6] CHANCELLOR MAGIE (lore Riinyon and Alexander T. McGill, and under Vice Chancellors Amzi Dodd and Abraham V. Van Fleet, the Bar of New Jersey has been proud to think that no court in the land can display a succes- sion of judicial officers of greater ability and reputa- tion. It can be said that Vice Chancellor Pitney has measured up to the standard of his eminent prede- cessors. It can be said also that in the changed con- dition of modern affairs strange problems have been presented to the Court of Chancery unknown to our predecessors, arising largely out of the tendency to conduct business enterprises not by individuals, nor even by individuals who are associated as partners, but by corporations formed under the liberal laws demanded from and conceded by our legislature. With these problems, novel as they are, the Court of Chancery has had to deal, — and it can be said that no one in the court has dealt with them more success- fully than Vice Chancellor Pitney. He has adorned our equity reports with incisive and luminous opin- ions, in which the points decided are so expressed that his meaning cannot be mistaken, even by a re- viewing court. His capacity for work, his diligence in deciding cases, his unceasing devotion to his judi- cial duties have been admired by the Bar and envied by his associates. It must be confessed that at times some of the Bar have thought brother Pitney some- what exacting. If the apparently good case of a litigant has been put in peril before him because of a lack of preparation or the negligence of counsel, or CHANCELLOR MAGIE if counsel have appeared to evade the directions of the court, and especially if there has appeared an in- tent on the part of any one to mislead the court, there have probably been some words said, but on no such occasion has it ever entered the mind of any one, not even of the counsel around whose devoted head the lightnings flashed and thunders rolled, to con- ceive for a moment that the episode would in any degree affect the solution and decision of the case. The Vice Chancellor has retained not only the con- fidence of the Bar in his ability and integrity, but their admiration and affection for him as a man, be- cause they have found behind his manner a great heart of generous impulses. "And now I must inject into this festivity a note of sadness. The learned judge, the trusted associate and friend whom we have met to congratulate, a few days ago placed in my hands his resignation of his judicial office, to take effect not later than April 9th next, which date will mark the close of his eighteenth year of continuous service. He has concluded that at this period of his life he ought to retire and be re- lieved of the business of his laborious position. His associates will lose him with regret, the Bar will miss him and his vigorous ways, but all will admit that he has earned the right to a rest. "And now. Vice Chancellor Pitney, it only re- mains for me, as the head of your court, speaking for myself and your associates, as well as for the Bar of New Jersey, to congratulate you upon having this VICE CHANCELLOR TITNEY day reached the end of the eightieth year of your hf e, with your mental vigor and force unabated, and to ^\dsh you many days of enjoyment and usefulness hereafter." VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY'S RESPONSE "Mr. Chairman and Brethren of the Bench and Bar. What can I say, and how shall I say it? To say that this demonstration touches me deeply ; to say that I duly appreciate it; to say that I trust I am truly grateful for it, is to utter mere mocking plati- tudes. I have, at moments, as I sat here, doubted my own identity. I have been unable to realize that the uncultured, unambitious, indifferent, dreamy, lazy farmer's boy of sixty years ago is the recipient of this ovation. At other moments I have fancied that all this must be the work of a fairy or a magi- cian, or that it was a passing dream, the offspring of partaking of the juice of the Indian hemp or a de- coction of the beautiful and alluring poppy. But, no! Your joyous faces, your gleaming eyes, these distin- guished guests, all assure me that it is real. And with a sense of its reality comes an overpowering sense of my own unworthiness of it. I feel that I do not deserve it. No — let me rather attribute — I will attribute it to the superabmidant goodness of your hearts and the overflowing generosity of your souls, not to my own worth. [9] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY "And here it behooves me to say that I have, in years gone by, on many — too many — occasions, made heavy drafts on that goodness and generosity, by uttering in pubhc sharp and disagreeable words ad- dressed to some of you which must have given pain; and for those offenses I desire here and now pubhcly to express the sorrow I have always felt ; and to ask, what I am sure has already been granted, your par- don. "With regard to my judicial work of which the Chancellor as your chairman has spoken so kindly: If you think I have striven not to fall behind or be- low my brethren in our individual endeavors to up- hold and maintain the high standard of judicial ex- cellence set for us by our illustrious predecessors ; "If you think I have been conscientious, indus- trious, painstaking, zealous, attentive, and patient. If you think I have kept a mind open to every considera- tion which should influence my judgment, and closed to all else. Closed on the one side to the fancies, fads, follies, and clamor of the unthinking multitude, and to the ingenious and plausible arguments, so-called, of the unprincipled demagogue. If you think I have not been deluded into mistaking any of these for sound public policy. If I have been indifferent to the voice of the siren popularity. If I have not been misled by the dreams of the socialist. And if, on the other hand, I have been deaf to the more subtle and, therefore, more dangerous suggestions of wealth and power no matter what shape it may assume ; [lo: VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY "If, in fine, you think I have kept my mind fixed solely upon the problem of mastering the case pre- sented and arriving at a just conclusion without fear or favor, and have had the courage to proclaim that result without regard to consequences to particular individuals ; in so far as I have succeeded in this re- spect in not falling behind my brethren, just so far I am willing to accept this testimonial as an assurance that I have achieved some degree of judicial success, and that I am warranted in understanding this tri- bute to mean 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' "And here I deem it not out of place to assert, on behalf of myself and every judge in this broad land, that w^hen in the course of judicial duty he shall have arrived at and proclaimed his judgment, he is en- titled, as a part of one of the three great and inde- pendent departments of the governmental system, both State and National, of this country, to the posi- tion of absolute independence and freedom from per- sonal criticism from any other person, either as an individual or as a member of any other department of the government. The man who attempts, except by lawful means, to influence the judgment of a judge commits a palpable, vulgar, and usually futile crime against the ordinary laws of the land. The man who, by word or deed, creates disrespect and incites dis- regard for the judgment of a judge, arrived at con- scientiously in the due course of the administration of justice, commits, in my judgment, a still more D13 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY serious and a more dangerous offense, amounting to a crime against the nation at large, because it strikes at the very foundation of civil government. "But to return to my topic. Think not, my breth- ren, that the labors of these years have been onerous, or grievous, or irksome. No indeed. On the con- trary they have been joyous, exhilarating, and satis- fying, and they are now laid down solely because the infirmities of advancing years admonish me that my day of work is over and past and I am ready to say, 'Let thine aged servant depart in peace.' "No. I hold that the man who does not enjoy and love judicial work is not fit to sit in a judge's chair. That the best judges do enjoy and love their work is proven by the conduct of the Federal judges, who continue work long after the dates when they are en- titled by law to retire on full pay. I say the work is agreeable— particularly that of an equity judge. For what can be more delightful than to be able to disentangle the knots into which business affairs are sometimes involved by the working of modern com- plex business machinery and methods; to ascertain, segregate, and weigh the varying interests of each party, and give to each its due value in the judicial scale, and strike a just balance. Or to imravel and lay bare a fraud into which a crafty designer has lured an unwary and innocent victim, and to restore the victim to his rights. Or to relieve against acci- dent or mistake or forfeiture. Or to compel a con- tractor to perform his contract and not leave the [12:1 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY contractee to the uncertain remedy of damages for non-performance. Or to hold up to his duty a dis- honest or negligent trustee and compel him to re- store the estate of which he has despoiled his cestui que trust or to make good the losses which have arisen from his negligence. Or what more satisfac- tory than to be able to put forth the strong arm of the court and prevent threatened injury to person or property. These are the every-day work of an equity judge; and I am delighted to be assured that my work therein has not fallen behind that of my breth- ren, and has in some measure your approval. "But I must not forget that in this I have had the assistance, in all important causes, of able, faithful, and industrious counsel, without whose assistance my work would have been poor indeed : I believe that no court or judge in this or any other country ever lis- tened to more able, exhaustive, and ingenious, as well as instructive, arguments than have been addressed to me by some of those I see among you. And the credit of whatever excellence may in after years ap- pear in my judicial work must be divided with those great lawyers. "But the satisfying character of judicial work does not end with its completion. There is another ele- ment to be considered. To go back fifty-eight and more years, when I undertook the study of law, I found four small volumes of equity reports, Saxton and the three Greens, covering the work of Chan- cellor Vroom and Chancellor Pennington for thir- VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY teen years; and exquisite work it was indeed. In those four volumes those great judges laid the broad and solid foundation of the structure of equity illus- tratio7i in our State. I say — illustration — because that is, after all, what they amount to, and they amount to no more. The fundamental principles of equity do not change ; they are forever the same, and have been since Aristotle's time. They are illustrated merely by their application and adaptation to the ad- vance of human society and the progress of business affairs. "From that time — 1848 — I have watched the erec- tion of the superstructure of the beautiful temple of equity in our State, of which we are all so justly proud, and have seen it rising gradually under the hands of such master builders as Williamson, Green, and Zabriskie. They, like Vroom and Pennington, stood by the ancient ways shown by Hardwicke, El- don, Grant and Kent. I had the pleasure and honor of a personal acquaintance with each of those New Jersey Chancellors, and in reading over their judg- ments I feel I can almost see their faces and seem to be in actual converse with them. They, from time to time, added to the rules of practice as circumstances showed the necessity of improvement, but they were hampered by the old and fixed practice of producing evidence. In Chancellor Zabriskie's time — 1871 — a radical and most useful departure was made by the introduction into the legislature by that great judge, and by the adoption by that body, of the act provid- ing] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY ing for the appointment of a Vice Chancellor, and for the examination of witnesses orally in the pres- ence and under the direction of the judge who is to pass upon the merits of the case. "You who are too young to remember the old sys- tem can hardly realize the great improvement in the efficienc}" of the court and in the reliability of its re- sults and in the cheapness and velocity of its oper- ations which that change produced. In that change, as many of you know, I claim to have had a hand. Having personally experienced the evils of the old system of making proofs, and observing that the Chancellor was overworked in his endeavor to keep up with the increasing business of the court, of my own motion and without suggestion from any one, I prepared a legislative act and handed it to Chan- cellor Zabriskie, who adopted in the present act all its provisions, without change, except as to the character of the new judges found in the first section. From that time forward the rules of practice of the court have from time to time been improved as rapidly as warranted by safety, until now we have as perfect, as simple, as facile, and as flexible a practice as can be found in any English-speaking countrj^ "It is simply a slander to say of our system of practice that it is antiquated and out of date and not adapted to the wants of the hour. I hope and trust that no enthusiastic reformer, deluded, lionestly, no doubt, into the foolish notion that he can by legisla- tion make those things uniform and similar that are CIS] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY in their very natui'e variant and different, and that he can make those things simple that are in their very nature complex and involved, will ever lay his image- breaking hands upon it. No, my brethren, the best and safest improvements in this department of human affairs are those that come by degrees accord- ing to the law of evolution, and not those changes that are made ijer saltum and lead to reaction and rebound. "The general structure of the temple of equity it- self, as distinguished from the mere procedure, has been added to since Chancellor Zabriskie's time by Runyon, McGill, Van Fleet, Green, and Grey, who, in their prime of life, have been removed from us, and has also been added to by others of those still liv- ing, until it has attained its present beautiful and symmetrical proportion; ever growing and never finished, and each layer or course recording in unmis- takable and indelible script the current and ever- varying phases of the progress of human society, human unrest, human activity, human enterprise, and human endeavor. Now I ask you, my brethren, is it not indeed an honor to have added here and there a stone to that edifice, if indeed I may hope that some of these additions have not marred its beauty or disturbed its symmetry? "The satisfaction arising out of the mere doing of the work is a mere fading memory. The echoes of those joyous moments will die away, but those silent monuments will be seen and read by future [16] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY generations ; and whatever is worthless therein I hope will be forgiven, as it must be laid aside and forgot- ten, but whatever is good and valuable w^ll endure and keep the memory of their author green, and prove a monument more enduring than classic bronze or marble. Surely, my brethren, there is the true re- ward. — But enough. "Now one parting word to all, especially the younger of you my brethren — may I add my pupils — who are still pressing upward undaunted and un- discoiu'aged along the steeper reaches of that rugged path that leads at last to that commanding plain where a wide knowledge of man and his multiform affairs ; a full and accurate learning in the law, reach- ing to and attaining such a famiharity with the fun- damental principles of justice and equity, as causes them, like household words, to rise spontaneously at the least demand for their use ; a conscience fully cul- tivated, carefully cherished, not morbid, but healthy and yet tender and sensitive to a mere suspicion of wrongdoing; a judgment founded on that indescrib- able faculty, common sense, matured by experience, — these quahties, united with sterling and unsulUed integrity and unspotted purity of personal character, combine to make that most noble and useful member of society, the truly great and wise lawyer and jurist. "My wish and hope for each and every one of you is that you may achieve that glorious and truly honor- able level, and may live to be eighty years old; and that on your several eightieth birthdays you may each HON. ALTON B. PARKER deserve and receive at the hands of your brethren such an outpour, such a veritable cloudburst of love, respect, and honor as has this evening overtaken and overwhelmed your undeserving and truly grateful guest, and made this the very red letter day of his Hfetime." THE CHANCELLOR, AS TOAST MASTER "The relation of our judiciary to our system of gov- ernment, is a theme that may be well treated of be- fore an assemblage of lawyers, and no one can be bet- ter fitted to treat of it than the distinguished gentle- man who sits on my left, who by his services in the court of last resort of the State of New York has won a national reputation. I introduce to you the Hon- orable Alton B. Parker." MR. PARKER "Chancellor Magie, honored guest of the evening, members of the Bench, and gentlemen of the Bar of New Jersey, I beg at the outset that you will accept my assurance of the appreciation of the courtesy which you extended to me in inviting me to join with you to-night in this tribute of respect which you pay to the distinguished guest of the evening. It is a great pleasure to you, as I know from personal con- versation with many of you, that the reputation of [183 HON. ALTON B. PARKER the distinguished guest of this evening is as secure and as enduring, as long as courts of equity shall last, as is the reputation of our own great Chancellor of the past in this State. I thank you also for the privilege which you have given me to meet, as I have personally to-night, the members of the Bench gen- erally of your State. Throughout all its history New Jersey has been strong in the membership of its courts, and when I say it has been strong in its judi- ciary membership I at the same time pay a compli- ment to the Bar of New Jersey, for while a Bench may sink lower than the highest level of the Bar, it never can rise beyond it any more than a stream can rise beyond its source. "I have had additional pleasure to-night in meet- ing among the honored members of the Supreme Court Mr. Justice Fort, at one time a classmate and chum and fellow boarder at five dollars a week. "And now, gentlemen, thanking you again for the compliment of permitting me to join with you to- night in the honor which you do your distinguished guest, I proceed to consider the toast which you have assigned to me. "A government of laws, not of men, was the shib- boleth of the fathers of this republic. They were in large part descendants of the people who had de- vised, adopted, and enforced that palladium of Eng- lish liberty, the Magna Charta. They had inlierited a love of the liberty and of the equality before the law, that Englislimen had struggled for, achieved, C19] HON. ALTON B. PARKER and enjoyed. And their aim was to secure for them- selves and those who should come after them not only the right of self-government, but also the full benefit of that vast treasure-house of legal principles and precedents of both common law and equity, so pains- takingly applied and developed by England's judi- ciary — principles upon which they erected a system of law that protected alike the rich and the poor, measured their liabilities and responsibilities by the same standard, and secured both against official tyranny. "The fathers intended to assure beyond doubt to this people what Lord Chatham asserted to be en- joyed by the people of England: " 'The poorest man in his cottage bids defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail ; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter; but the King of England cannot enter. All his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.' "Lord Chatham's boast can be reiterated in those nations, and only those, where governmental power is limited by law, and the source of the law is the people. In full appreciation of this fact, the several constitutions were made by this people, and by them alone can these constitutions be changed. "They incorporated into the state constitutions generally the body of the common law, and specifi- cally those great principles of law which the lovers of the common law cherished : That no person be dis- HON. ALTON B. PARKER franchised or deprived of the rights and privileges of citizenship, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers; that trial by jury be in- violate ; that religious liberty be accorded to all ; that the writ of habeas corpus be not suspended except when the public safety demands; that no person be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor private property be taken for public use without just compensation, and that free- dom of speech and liberty of the press be not re- strained. "The powers of government they divided into three parts, executive, legislative, and judicial, each independent of the other in its own sphere. As the constitutions contain the supreme law of state and nation, the duty of preventing violations of consti- tutional provisions necessarily fell upon the judi- ciary. When Chief Justice Marshall, the great ex- pounder of the Constitution, with the concurrence of his associates, in a court which has proved to be the greatest in history, declared in Marburj^ vs. Madison that an act of Congress was null and void, because forbidden bj?- the supreme law of the people, the su- premacy of the law and the people as tlie source of law were established on firm foundations. ( In pass- ing it should be noted that twenty-four years before this decision was made the Supreme Court of New Jersey in Holmes vs. Walton had ruled that an act providing for a trial by a jury of six men was un- constitutional. ) 1:21] HON. ALTON B. PARKER "More than a century has passed away since the memorable day on which the Supreme Court handed down that opinion of Chief Justice Marshall, and every hour of it has borne witness to the wisdom of the fathers in placing the law above the will of man. "We have seen in that time Congress and state legislatures pass, and chief executives sign bills that offended against either the federal or a state constitu- tion. The courts, however, have not failed in the performance of their duty, when appealed to by the people. Common law has been wisely developed to meet the changes of business conditions. Equity has correspondingly expanded to remedy wrongs that the law cannot fully reach. And the confidence of the people in, and affection for, the judiciary, have grown steadier and stronger. That confidence and affection are fully justified. "Bryce, in his 'American Commonwealth,' says of our judicial system: 'Few American institutions are better worth studying than this intricate judicial ma- chinery; few more deserve approbation for the smoothness of their working; few have more con- tributed to the peace and welfare of the country.' "To say that the confidence and affection of the people are fully justified, is not to say that we have always made the best possible selections. Neither is it to say that every judge has measured up to the high average standard maintained by the judiciary of the country. But I am justified in saying, and do HON. ALTON B. PARKER say that there is no class of officials that maintain so high an average for character and ability. "Still other elements, however, have broadened and strengthened the confidence of the people. The freedom of the bench from partizan political bias, the traditions of judicial ofiSce, the environment of the com'ts, the restraining influence of high-minded lawyers, the association with brother judges, the careful study of the law, and the keen love of justice which grows and extends with its ministration, to- gether with the absence of political ambition, give to the judge calmness of mind with which to perceive the right in times of unhealthful public excitement, and the courage to do the right as he sees it, though the heavens fall. Time and again the judges have stayed the fury of a storm raised by the spirit which cries: 'Away with law! Lynch him! Lynch him!' Every time it has happened, every thoughtful man familiar with the situation has thanked God for the wisdom of the fathers in providing for the su- premacy of the law, by designating its proper minis- ters, the judges, to protect that supremacy. "Of late, however, there has been a marked ten- dency on the part of some Legislatures and of some executives to protest against decisions that did not help toward an expansion of the powers conferred by constitutions, or that enforced constitutional limita- tions fixed by the people themselves. Two judges recently held, as one of them is said to have expressed it, that an act of Congress fixing the hours of labor HON. ALTON B. PARKER on railroads is not interstate commerce. The result has been a severe personal criticism of those judges, said by the press to have emanated from members of Congress and administrative officials. Their de- cisions are treated as an unwarranted interference with the lawmaking power. To emphasize it, the public are invited to contrast them intellectually with certain great debaters of Congress who voted for the bill. "Now those judges had to decide the cases before them. After listening to and considering the argu- ments addressed to them, it was their duty to render such a decision as they deemed to be required by the Constitution. And, of course, they did. They may have erred. All men err. If they did err, however, the people have provided tribunals for the correction of their errors. Either in the Circuit Court of Ap- peals or the Supreme Court of the United States, their error, if there was one, will be corrected. And corrected in the constitutional method, in an orderly and respectful way. "What then is the purpose of unkind criticism of judges who happen to take a different view of some propositions of law than do members of the executive and legislative departments of government? Is it to arouse a public sentiment, which it is hoped will lead the courts to forget their duty under the Constitution and the people who made it and thus to expand leg- islative and executive powers, or both? The legisla- tive and executive intimation here and there is, that HON. ALTON B. PARKER more could be done for the people were it not for the courts. The burden of legislative and executive sins of commission and omission, is thus sought to be shifted to the shoulders of the judiciary. The un- fairness of this attempt is readily apparent. "From whence came the special privileges against which protest is raised? From the courts? No, not in a single instance. They came by statutes passed by legislators, and in most instances approved by a chief executive. From whence came the monopolies, abhorrent to the common law for centuries back? Not from the courts, whether federal or state. Some of them received their life and encouragement from statutes, but the great majoritj^ have grown and spread simply because the executive officers of state and nation failed to make even an attempt to check them. "Not one particle of criticism can justly be lev- elled at the Judiciary for the wrongs of which com- plaint is now made. That body has always stood, as it stands now, ready to enforce the law when properly moved. Its members can neither be persuaded nor driven by any power into a forgetfulness of their oath to support the constitution of their respective states and of the United States. In the performance of that duty, they are entitled to, and should have, the outspoken and manly support of the Bar. For lawyers more keenly appreciate than any other class of men, the importance to the people of the main- tenance in all its integrity of the supreme law of [25] CHANCELLOR MAGIE state and nation, as it is written in the constitutions adopted by the people. "These constitutions have been changed by the people, and can be again when they will it. But neither the executive, nor legislative, nor judicial department has the power. Nor have they all to- gether that power. And we should resist any and every attempt on the part of any department to take it away from the people." THE CHANCELLOR "A few weeks ago a member of the Bar kindly sent me the copy of a Western law joui'nal published, I think, in St. Louis, and directed my attention to an editorial article in it. The editorial writer was be- moaning the immense increase of the number of re- ports in the different States and Territories of our country. He ventured to express the opinion that it would be better for the Bench and the Bar if they were all burned up; but from this holocaust he said three sets of reports ought to be preserved, and they were the reports of the Supreme Court of the United States, the reports of the Supreme Court of Massa- chusetts, and the equity reports of New Jersey. "I have taken great pleasure in calling this edi- torial discrimination to the attention of my brethren of the Supreme Court. But of course you will ob- 1^61 HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON serve that what attracts attention to the equity re- ports of New Jersey from other States is that we are the only State which has retained a separate equity jurisdiction, and continued to report its decisions in separate reports. I do not say that other States are not reporting decisions on equity questions, but they are contained in their other reports. Now we venture to think that in our equity reports will be found the true spirit of equity, and if the distinguished gentle- man who is to respond to the next toast, 'The True Spirit of Chancery,' finds any other spirit than that we have, we will be obliged to him. I introduce to you the Honorable Hampton L. Carson, late Attor- ney General of Pennsylvania." MR. CARSON "Mr. Chancellor, learned members of the Bench, and gentlemen of the Bar of New Jersey, I bring the cordial salutations of the Bench and Bar of your sis- ter State of Pennsylvania, and offer our felicitations to your distinguished guest upon an occasion of so much honor to him, and of dignity and interest to the profession. "The Bench and the Bar of these two States are not strangers to each other. In history, in blood, in responsibilities, they have much in common, and I can listen with good nature to the pleasantries at our HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON expense, but when I heard your Chancellor in cold blood allude to the possible gain from the destruction of our books, and of the propriety of burning some of them, I could not but recall the colloquy between Mr. Dunning and Lord Mansfield, when Dunning advanced a proposition which the Lord Chief Justice disputed : 'Why, Mr. Dunning, if that be law I might as well burn my books.' 'Don't your Lordship think that you had better read them?' "Jurists of New Jersey, you have enjoyed an ex- perience, which was denied to us, in the possession of a separate Court of Chancery. For reasons unneces- sary to be here detailed, the Crown of England never would allow William Penn, or his successors in the Proprietary government, to establish a separate Court of Chancery; but we have endeavored from time to time to make contributions to your juris- prudence. The Chancellor has good-naturedly ral- lied us and challenged the ability of a Pennsylvanian to point out an instance of a charitable gift such as falls within the jurisdiction of Chancery. I may say that in looking along this table I find that I can point to evidence in this very room of your being donees of the charity of Pennsylvania. Your Supreme Court Justice, Charles G. Garrison, and I were classmates, in the same class for four years in the University of Pennsylvania. The learned judge has on numerous occasions displayed an astonishing knowledge of medicine and surgery, and I am happy to say that he was a personal pupil of my father, who was a doctor. HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON Your Vice Chancellor, Lindley ]M. Garrison, was my own personal law student; and a son of the distin- guished judge upon my left, Judge Hendrickson, was also a jiu^^il of mine at the Law School of the University; I have had some baldheaded pupils as well. So you see that, vicariously, I have contributed to the judicial strength and learning of New Jersey. "The Spirit of Chancery can be traced by any in- telligent student of legal history far back to days when the Romans invading England subjected the Britons to Imperial sway; when wave after wave of conquest submerged the little island, and, later, when Saxon and Dane in succession gave way to the arms of the Normans, and there was finally evolved out of the fermentation, strife, and chaos of twelve hundred years that system of law which we are proud to recog- nize as the very foundation of our liberties,— the British Common Law. Into its veins there was poured by transfusion the blood of Old Rome, so that drop by drop the vital fluid which had been ex- tracted from the wisdom of ages by the jurists of Roman days in the fifth century became mixed in that great alembic in which was distilled the prin- ciples of justice, until the most precious elixir of the English race ran clear into the cup. Later there arose a conviction that from the too rigid forms of the common law there should be relief; that there was a necessity for the introduction of some principle of equitable interposition and the establishment of ex- traordinary tribunals; and there followed applica- HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON tions to the Chancellor for a jurisdiction of grace. Then equity, conscience, confidence, suppression of fraud, and courage to enforce a trust, could be found. Finally there was built up, century by century, an edifice constructed by the sons of the Temple and Lincoln's Inn. The maxims of the Science fell from the lips of ISTottingham and Hardwicke, Talbot and Eldon, Jessel and Selborne, Herschell and Hatherly. In your own State you have had Zabriskie, Green, Runyon, Williamson and INIagie; in our State we boast of Tilghman, Gibson, Sharswood and Mit- chell; in New York they point to Kent and Wal- worth; in South Carolina to Dessassure. Every- where there is exhibited a long line of expanding and ever-brightening principles spangling the dark and storm-tossed nights of England and America with the light of the stars to illuminate the pathway of men as they struggle in search of better things. To- day, instead of being vexed with that spirit of delay and obstruction, of growing bills of costs and bills of remitter and detainer of which Dickens wrote so sarcastically, there has been breathed upon the mass the modern spirit of progress, an intrepidity of rec- titude in the application of equitable principles, and modern Chancery has become like surgery in modern days, a legal antiseptic intended to prevent, rather than to cure, the ills of society ; intended to arrest the wrongdoer before the wrong that he threatens be- comes irremediable, and, better and higher than all that, extending its jurisdiction by way of prevention [30] HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON so as to seize vast aggregations of capital, — the strongest creatures born of the loins of the sovereign states, — and subjecting giants of industry and com- binations of violence to the supreme control of the law. In this sense, matchless indeed in their making for peace and order are the deeds which have been done by Chancellors. "That which we on our side of the Delaware recog- nize as the crowning glory of the work of the guest of this evening is not his learning, not his gift for clearness of expression, not his industry, not his sagacity, but the unflinching courage with which he has faced the duties of his office. Let others talk about practical exhibitions of morality, but men of our profession can challenge the literature of the world, scientific, popular, or religious, for any higher exhibitions of moral courage than are to be found in the reports of Courts of Chancery. Into the im- perishable fabric of your jurisprudence will be woven in separate and then in commingled strands the judgments and decrees of the guest of this evening, to stand the strain of storm and circumstance when wrapped about him by the citizen of to-morrow as an segis of protection. No rotten threads or gaudy tinsel will there be found, but fibres as honest as the hands that spun them. It will be an incentive to the Chan- cellors and Vice Chancellors of the future when read- ing of what he has said and done, to labor as faith- fully, as diligently, as intelligently, with an eye as open to the truth, with an ear as attentive to tales of VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS wrong, with a heart as fixed upon the pole star of judicial truth, and with a head as wise as did this High Priest at the altar in your noblest Temple of Justice." THE CHANCELLOR "I have endeavored to express the sentiments of my associates upon the equity Bench, but it would ob- viously be a very unfortunate omission if they did not speak for themselves, and I call upon Vice Chancel- lor Stevens to speak for the Vice Chancellors." MR. STEVENS "The Vices of the Chancellor have become so numer- ous of late, that I suppose that it was thought that no counsel practising in the Court of Chancery would feel himself at liberty to speak of them in the way that they deserve; and, therefore, it was considered by the committee that in order to get a perfectly ac- curate portrayal recourse should be had to the Vice Chancellors themselves. It was argued, no doubt, that such is their love of what is equitable and just, that they would illustrate in practice what they preach from the Bench, and would negative the im- plication contained in those lines of Burns : " 'Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as ithers see us.' 1:323 VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS "Xot to disappoint this reasonable or unreason- able expectation, I will begin by admitting that the Vice Chancellors have faults, and that one of those faults is extreme youth. They were born, officially, of course, I mean, in the year 1871. If the Gov- ernor and the Bar Association have their way they are likely to die in the year 1909. I have said that they are young officially, but if our distinguished guest be a fair specimen I think they are young in other respects. Vice Chancellor Pitney eighty years young is more youthful than many a man forty years old. And our cousins, the English Vice Chan- cellors, died at a comparatively early age. They were ushered into the world by the statute 23 George 3d, I think, in the year 1813, by the appointment of Sir Thomas Plumer to be the first Vice Chancellor. The last Vice Chancellor, Sir James Bacon, expired, at least officially, in the year 1886. W^hen you con- sider that the Chief Justice and the Chancellor can trace back their pedigree through nine centuries, that is but a brief period. And so the Vice Chan- cellors cannot point to such commanding figures as Sir Edward Coke, or Lord Hale, or Lord Mansfield, or our own great Marshall, on the law side, nor to a Bacon, an Ellsmore, an Eldon, a Kent, or a Story, on the equity side; but among our modern contem- poraries I think we are at least respectable. Shad- well, Knight Bruce, Ijangdale, Page-Wood and Sir William James are no inconsiderable personalities in English legal history; and Vice Chancellor Dodd, C333 VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS our first Vice Chancellor, for talents and varied learning, and for all those qualities that go to make the accomplished equity judge, will yield to none of his English brethren. "Three of our Vice Chancellors have passed away. Vice Chancellor Green was a good governor, but a better Vice Chancellor. His patience, his legal learning, his wide experience, his sound judgment, all, combined to make him a most acceptable judge. And who that ever practised before Vice Chancellor Van Fleet will fail to remember that figure, strong and erect, that judge impatient of wrong and quick to denounce it, — that vigorous mind which expressed itself in thoughts incisive and lucid, with a logic that carried all before it. And then there was Vice Chan- cellor Grey, so lately gone. He was a most pains- taking and laborious student of the law; an en- gaging personality who strove to do his full share of the work of the court while laboring under the heavy burden of the disease which finally took him from us. No wonder that with judges like these, directed and unified in their work by the Chancellor, the Court of Chancery has found favor in these later days. It is not surprising, that although it may be desired to alter the form, it is not intended to change the substance, of equitable procedure. If the Bar have their way the Chancery division of the Supreme Court will still perpetuate what is valuable in a sys- tem that has stood the test of two hundred years. "It may be proper for me to advert very briefly to 1:34] VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS some of the causes which have contributed to the suc- cessful o^ieration of the court. As long as trial by jury shall last, and I hope that it may last a long time, law and equity will continue separate. They were separate under the Roman jurisprudence; they have continued separate wherever Anglo-Saxon in- stitutions prevail, and, even when administered by the same judge, they are distinct. Now, specializa- tion is the order of the day. We find it in science, in the arts, in the professions. The vast body of our jurisprudence, under the stimulus of invention, of commerce, of the world-wide intercourse of men and nations, is becoming more and more complex. What more reasonable, what more in accord with modern methods than that separate branches of the law should be assigned to separate judges. Given judges of equal capacity and industry, it is a matter of course that those who devote themselves to special subjects will become more proficient in those sub- jects; will dispose of their cases more easily and more rapidly, and, what is of more importance still, will give better reasons for their judgments. Multi- plicity of appeal is the invariable concomitant of lack of confidence in the judge below. "Now another reason why our Vice Chancellors have met mth some success lies in the method of their appointment. They have been selected by an expert whose sole aim it has been to secure for his assistants those who could best aid him in the administration of the law. It is the very system which has given to n353 VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS England its admirable judiciaiy, a judiciary which like our own has illustrated in practice the story told of Frederick the Great. The king desired for his garden the adjacent land of a miller. He sent his agent to purchase it. The miller refused to sell, and the agent said to him, 'Why, my good fellow, don't you know that the king can take it from you without paying you anything for it?' And the memorable reply was, 'Is there not a Kammergericht in Berlin?' In the Court of Chancery during the last two hun- dred years we have had a Kammergericht, a court which has been ever ready by injunction to protect the property and the property rights of the humblest citizen against the assaults of authority, of indi- viduals, of corporations, however powerful, and as long as that court confines itself to the protection of property rights, and refrains from interfering with rights that may be called political or personal : rights which are confided under our law and constitution to other tribunals, will every citizen of this State be able to exclaim, with the miller, 'Have we not a Kammer gericht in New Jersey?' "Now it is not my intention to weary an assem- blage of lawyers with pointing out the excellencies or the defects of the system of equity procedure as we now have it. I simply wish to call attention to a single thing, and that is this: that in our modern equity procedure we have combined with what is good in the jury sj^stem that which was excellent in our own. Witnesses are examined, as in jury trials, 1261 VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENS viva voce, but we have these advantages. In the first place, the evidence about whose admissibihty there is a real doubt, is received, and it stands before the court and before the court of appeal, so that either court can make a decision on the merits without fur- ther rehearing. Then again, it is the right of the equity judge, if he is dissatisfied with the evidence, to call for further proofs, and if during the progress of a trial witnesses fail to appear, either by reason of sickness or for some other reason, the case can be put over and taken up where it stopped. "I do not mean to assert that trial before a judge of questions of fact is superior to trial by jury. I have always thought, and still think, that where the case turns upon the veracity of witnesses or involves a question of unliquidated damages, the decision of an intelligent and unprejudiced jury is more satis- factory than the decision of a single judge. Each proceeding has its merits and each perhaps its de- merits. Whatever mistakes the Vice Chancellors may in the administration of the law have committed, I think I may say at least this for them, that they have always been willing to listen and to learn. Lord Eldon and Sir John Leach, the third Vice Chan- cellor, were contemporaries. Eldon was not only a great lawyer, but a most careful judge. It is said that upon one occasion he held a case for advisement twenty years, and at the end of that period began his judgment with the words, 'I doubt.' Sir John Leach, on the other hand, was impatient of the argu- [3t: CHANCELLOR MAGIE ments of counsel and decided his cases without tak- ing time to consider them ; and the lawyers of West- minster Hall came at length to mark the difference by dubbing Eldon's court 'The Court of Oyer sans Terminer,' and the court of Leach 'The court of Terminer sans Oyer.' The courts of the Vice Chan- cellors, I need not say, are courts of oyer a7id ter- miner. "One word more. The abilities and learning of a judge are reflected in his opinions. Those of Vice Chancellor Pitney are contained in twenty-eight vol- umes of the equity series; they touch upon almost every branch of equity law; they contain masterly and illuminating discussions of the subjects to which they relate; they are an enduring monument to his laborious researches, and they constitute in them- selves a strong argument why a separate equity court, or division, if you please so to term it, should continue to explain and apply the rules and prin- ciples of equity jurisprudence." THE CHANCELLOR "This function would be quite incomplete if we did not hear from the Supreme Court. We all know that the nine justices of that court sit in the court of last resort, from which, when they are dealing with equity cases, they carefully exclude every equity judge ; and it has been known that they have thought that they knew more about equity practice and equity prin- 1138:] JUSTICE FORT ciples than the judges of the court of equity. And they have sometimes ventured to reverse my decrees, even some when made on the advice of my brother Pitney. But I will venture to say that it is quite open to doubt whether they ever convinced him that he was wTong. "I call upon Mr. Justice Fort to respond for the Supreme Court." MR. FORT "Gentlemen of the New Jersey Bar, and that part of the audience which those who have preceded me have forgotten,— the ladies. It is indeed a great privilege to stand in this place upon this occasion, and to me the double honor comes in that I have a part in honoring the guest of the evening, and have been asked to speak for that, which must be at least modest to-night, — the great common law court, — the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey. "The guest of the evening became a member of the Bar of New Jersey the year before I was born, and yet, it is over a generation since I was admitted to the Bar of our State. At that time, Henry C. Pitney was a recognized leader of the New Jersey Bar; famed as an advocate of great force, and a lawyer of exceptional ability. During the past eighteen years, he has exhibited that same character of leadership upon the bench. 1291 JUSTICE FORT "As typical of the Vice Chancellor, I am con- strained to tell an incident. In about the year 1876, when a young man, I was employed to defend a suit in the Morris Circuit. The action was upon a money bond, under seal. I conceived the idea that, under the statute which had then lately been passed permit- ting the setting up of the defence of the partial fail- ure of consideration under the general issue, with a notice of set-off, that this could be done under a plea of non est factum^ with such a notice. Issue was joined on this plea, and, at the trial the plaintiff proved his bond and rested. The case was before Mr. Justice Dalrymple. I opened my defence, and the justice was inclined to overrule my defence on the ground that under my plea nothing was in issue ex- cept the denial of the making of the bond. It was near adjournment, and I argued the question until court rose. The next morning, the judge decided in my favor, and I went on with my defence and won my suit. That evening, as I left the court-house, I met Mr. Pitney, and he greeted me this way : 'Well, young man, I hear you won on your plea this morn- ing.' I said: 'Yes, sir.' 'I was in court yesterday,' he said, 'I heard your presentation of the matter, and I thought you were right, and that the liberal con- struction you contended for should be given to the statute, but it took me until one o'clock last night to convince the judge that he ought to decide that way.' Naturally, I have always had a tender spot in my heart for Mr. Pitney. 1:403 JUSTICE FORT "He has carried into the court over which he has presided, that same broad, Hberal spirit of construc- tion. He has never sacrificed the right of the matter to the form of the issue or the imperfection of the pleadings. If I were to formulate a definition of Justice, from Vice Chancellor Pitney's public utter- ances and judicial opinions, this would be the defini- tion: 'Justice is the determination of the issue be- tween the parties, in accordance with the very right of the controversy, without regard to either form or forum.' But I am not to talk about the guest of the evening, however delightful that might be, but 'The Supreme Court,' the great Court of Common Law of our State. "It is a leading principle of equity jurisprudence, that equity follows the law,— but, to-night, the order has been reversed ; we have heard much about equity, and now, at this late hour, we are asked to say a little about the law. But that is in keeping with the equity judges of our time and State. They no longer fol- low the law, but move on and reach out, and claim everything in legal sight, as either directly or con- structively within their jurisdiction. Their judicial motto is that of the telegram of Zack Chandler to Pitt Kellogg in the Louisiana election contest in 1876: 'Claim everything.' But the law courts for- give them, — they like it, and it does not harm us. "Jesting aside, however, the growth of Chancery litigation is indeed remarkable. Its encroachment upon the jurisdiction of the law courts is admitted. L4in JUSTICE FORT In our State, where the clear Hne of cleavage is still maintained, this fact is marked. But, through it all, it still remains true with us, that the line of demarka- tion between legal and equitable actions is distinct and carefully preserved. The cause, to a thoughtful observer, is not difficult of discernment. It, I think, lies in this : that our courts of first instance have been maintained as distinctly equitable or legal. There is no hybrid judge of anj^ court of first instance in New Jersey. The fountains of law and equity are pure with us, while our court of last resort hears and de- termines both classes of appeals. We then are able to hold a straight course in the division line between the jurisdiction of law and equity. "It has been sometimes said, by the unthoughtful, that equity principles suffered in our Court of Er- rors, owing to the predominance of law court judges. But tlie record will not bear out the truth of that statement. I make this statement, without fear of successful challenge, that the law judges in the ap- pellate court have extended equity principles and jurisdiction, by broad and liberal decisions, when the equity judges of first instance liave either denied or questioned that the remedy was in equity. "Probably no judge ever sat in any court of law whose mental characteristics were thought by the Bar to be more of the rigid common law character, than the late Justice Dixon. A great common law lawyer and judge. Few of his generation, or of any past generation, in our State, or elsewhere, surpassed [42: JUSTICE FORT him. Aiid yet, it was this judge who wrote the de- cision in Hart vs. Leonard, in 1886, in his early judi- cial career, and Boice vs. Conover, in 1901, in his later service. The same thing could be truthfully said of some of the opinions of the late Chief Justice Depue, and of former Justice Van Syckel. Take the Court of Chancery itself. No greater judges ever sat in that court than Henry W. Green, Ab- raham V. Van Fleet, and Henry C. Pitney. And yet, these three were all great common law lawyers, — distinctively so, in their practice. "Equity is the correction of that wherein the law, by reason of its universality, is deficient; and a law- yer, whose chief practice has been upon the common law side of the court, sees more clearly the defects in the common law in the administration of j ustice, than another might. "It is true that that great jurist. Chief Justice Beasley, was at times jealous of the encroachment of equity upon the jurisdiction of the courts of law. In Palys vs. Jewett he stopped them on the threshold of their entry upon the assumption of jurisdiction in cases of ejectment and tort, — and in Lembeck vs. Jersey City, he said, 'No,' to their taking from the Supreme Court its exclusive right to review muni- cipal action by the prerogative writ of certiorari. Each of these opinions are masterpieces, and have been universally deemed by the Bar to be rightly decided. "It would be a great relief to the Supreme Court, JUSTICE FORT in these days, if equity could only tackle a few tort trials. They ought to be thankful to the great chief justice for relieving them of them, if only in re- ceivership cases. "Prior to 1844, our Court of Chancery might be called half governor and half judge. It has grown to be a real court since then, with all this array of equity judges I see about me to-night. "In the 'Register and Calendar,' printed in Phila- delphia in 1774, a roster of the parliament of Great Britain and of all the officials of the Colonies is given, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey is stated to consist of Hon. Frederick Smyth, Chief Justice, Hon. Charles Reed, and Hon. David Ogden, Jus- tices, and it defines what this court is in this way: 'This is a Court of Kings Bench Common Pleas and Exchequer.' We are still all that, as it is known to the British law. "I cannot well speak of the Supreme Coui't since 1900, as I have been a part of it, but what a court it has been since 1844, as well as before. There has never been a time when a Jerseyman has had to blush for the court or its members. "Have you ever thought of the fact that there were but six chief justices in ninety-six years in the State of New Jersey, during the century that has preceded this? These chief justices were: Andrew Kirkpatrick, twenty-one years ; Charles Ewing, eight years ; Joseph C. Hornblower, fourteen years ; Henry W. Green, fourteen years; Edward W. Whelpley, JUSTICE FORT four years, and Mercer Beasley, thirty-three years. Six greater judges never sat in any court of any State. From 1860 to 1900 there were only twenty- four justices of the Supreme Court in the State of New Jersey. They averaged twenty years of ser- vice, and during all that period not one of them was ever refused a reappointment. Let me say to you this,— I think I can say it probably without offence: I honor one thing in the long rule of the party in ISTew Jersey to which I do not belong. For thirty years that party, notwithstanding it had all the con- trol and power in the government of our State, main- tained the Supreme Court of the State non-partizan. "Let me close by running off from my subject with a thought that came to me largely since I have been here. This occasion, if it has any basis at all, is based in friendship, and friendship is said by one to be 'the best thing that God can bestow upon us. It enhances every joy; it mitigates every pain.' Plato said: 'True friendship between man and man is in- finite and immortal.' I believe in immortality. It is not all of life to live, nor all of death to die. There is a hjinn somewhere which you all have frequently heard, which says of heaven that it is the place 'where friend holds fellowship with friend.' Occasions like this are but a foretaste, it seems to me, of that im- mortal fellowship. How delightful it is to gather here in heartfelt tribute to the guest of the evening while he is alive. The trouble with us is, that in the onrush of life we forget the men who are about us CHANCELLOR MAGIE and we wait until they are gone to praise their good works. We give them flowers in profusion after they are dead — wreaths and garlands and roses about their bier. But I say to you, my friends and breth- ren of the Bar, it is better to hand to the Vice Chan- cellor to-night a single rose while he is alive, in honor of what he has done for his State, for its people, and the Bar, than to fill a room with flowers after he has gone. "We do not do enough of these things; we do not gather in this way as frequently as we should. It is a splendid thing to recall the beauties of friendship, and to-night— though I speak them but feebly — I am sure I express the sentiments of my brethren of the Supreme Court when I say to Vice Chancellor Pitney, whom every one of us honors for his integrity and great learning, that we extend to him our felici- tations, and our all hail, as he rounds out his magnifi- cent eightieth year." THE CHAXCELLOR "The Bar of New Jersey cannot be better represented than by the distinguished gentleman who after at- taining the front rank of the profession in New Jer- sey was made Attorney General of the United States, and so became ex officio the head of the Bar of the country. I call upon the Honorable Jolm W. Griggs." :46: HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS MR. GRIGGS "May it please j^our honors, brethren of the Bar of New Jersey in which I am included, I would gladly address you as the ideal Bar of the world, had I not recently read of another Bar which strikes me as really ideal. In the United States Court recently established at Shanghai they had an examination a short time ago for members of the Bar. Eight candi- dates presented themselves, and out of the eight the judges admitted just two. In my opinion that creates an ideal Bar, and I understand that it is the opinion of some studious young gentlemen of the State that the examiners for admission to the Bar of New Jersey are trying to emulate the example of the court in Shanghai. "I do not mean to pronounce anj^ eulogy upon the Bar to-night. Not that they are not worthy of it, but I have observed that eulogies on the Bar or its mem- bers are left until thej^ are dead or have ascended to the Bench. "There is a good fellowship among the members of the Bar that is both commendable and admirable. There is no bond of fraternal unity in any of the guilds of London that is more strong and real and affectionate than that that exists among the brethren of the Bar. In fact, I think the church can hardly rival it, although they tell of a certain Bishop of the Episcopal church in the early days of this country who riding alone in his carriage through an unsettled 1:47] HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS section of the country was held up by a highwayman and was commanded to dehver up his money, and he protested and said: 'Why, I am a Bishop of the Episcopal church.' 'Oh,' said the highwayman, 'that is my church; drive right on.' "Many years ago an observant traveler wrote from France, — it was in the time of Louis 15th, — thus: 'The lawyers of France have displayed more just and manly sentiments of government and have made nobler struggle against despotic power than any set of men in the Kingdom. It has, therefore, often affected me with surprise and indignation to observe the attempts to bring this body of men into ridicule.' What was true in that day is true in our day. I never could understand — I have n't made a philo- sophical analysis of it — why it is that the Bar as a body is a butt for ridicule, an object of jealousy or resentment to the populace. It seems to be so. Mr. Joseph H. Choate thinks that part of it is due to the fact that some lawyers take cases for contingent fees. Some of it may be due to the higher plea of neces- sity, and those that offend in this way may have the excuse of Falstaff : 'I, sometimes, leaving the fear of God on my left hand, and hiding mine honor in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch.' "But whatever the reason and whatever the cause of this unfavorable sentiment, it does not reach to the members of the Bar individually. You cannot find among any profession in any business or any trade so many men so much respected, so profoundly [48] HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS trusted, to whom men so universally look for leader- ship in all affairs of a public nature as the individual members of the Bar. They certainly are not worse than the other professions. I have heard it expressed something this way; Are you a lawyer? Win or lose, you get your pay. Are you a doctor? Kill or cure, you get yom* pay. Ai*e you a priest? Heaven or hell, you get your pay. "I do not propose to enlarge or extend my re- marks into the moral and ethical and legal domain that has been so fully and ably trodden to-night by the speakers that have preceded me. As to that I can only utter a wish similar in purport but not in text to the prayer with which a young clergyman closed some religious exercises. He said: 'If these exercises have kindled any spark of grace, Oh Lord, we pray thee water that spark.' "It is the Bar that furnishes the material for the Bench, and whatever credit and renown these judges or their predecessors have reflected upon the juris- prudence of New Jersy is a credit likewise to the Bar of that State. It is the Bar that stands forth as the guardians of the liberties of the people that are preserved and embodied in the constitutions of our country. When you enter upon yom* profession you take a solemn oath to uphold the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of your own State, and it is summoning the rights guaranteed by those instruments that the lawyer appears before these tribunals and demands in the interests of vested HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS rights the judgment of the court for his client ac- cording to the principles of these constitutions. And it is the glory and the pride and the honor of the Bar that they speak not words of revolution, but words that are intended to bring the judgment of the court squarely upon the fundamental platform of their country's constitution; and of all these judges none has been more independent, none has recognized more fully the absolute power of the Bench to decide without public blame or censure, if the decision be simply honest, — why, my friends, the Bar don't mean to permit their particular prerogative of criticising the Bench to be enjoyed by the general public. "Shall I give you what I think is the finest de- claration of what the independent judge should be that I have ever read in the English language? It was what Rufus Choate said in his great speech in favor of an elective judiciary in Massachusetts: 'He shall know nothing about the parties, everjrthing about the cause. He shall do everything for justice, nothing for himself, nothing for his patron, nothing for his friend, nothing for his sovereign. If on one side is the executive power, and the legislature, and the public,— the givers of his power, — the sources of his daity bread, — and on the other an individual, nameless or odious, his eye is to see neither, tending only to the trepidations of the balance; if a law is passed by a unanimous legislature, clamored for by the general voice of the public, and a case is before him on it in which the whole community is on one HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS side, and an individual, nameless or odious, on the other, and he beheve it to be against the constitution, he must so declare, or there is no judge. If Athens comes there demanding that the cup of hemlock be put to the lips of her wisest citizen, and he believes that he has not corrupted the youth, nor omitted to worship the Gods of the city, nor introduced new divinities of his own, he must deliver him, though the thunders light on the unterrified brow.' Such a judge has been our friend. Lubricationes viginti annorum, Blackstone said, is the period that should be necessary to fit a lawyer to be a judge; but here is our friend with his sixty years,— threescore years of experience as a student of jurisprudence; and now with his fourscore years he lays his bur- den down. Is he not entitled with the Apostle to say, 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; I have kept the faith!' And we say to him henceforth through his hfe (which we hope shall be long), there is a crown of glory and honor and veneration and love for him on the part of the Bar of New Jersey which shall never fade away, and in the world to come a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give him in that day." [Si: PROCEEDINGS AND ADDRESSES ON THE OCCASION OF THE ACTUAL RETIREMENT OF VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY FROM THE BENCH ON APRIL 8, 1907 At the Chancery Chambers in Jersey City on Mon- day, April 8, 1907, this being a regular motion day, Mr. Pitney sat as Vice Chancellor for the last time, his resignation from office taking effect the next day. At the opening of court Mr. Gilbert Collins said : "If the Court please, I have a motion to make ; and this being the closing day of Vice Chancellor Pit- ney's service it is especially addressed to him. It will not be litigated. Indeed I have reason to think that it will be unanimously supported by the mem- bers of the Bar here assembled. "For a long time, sir, you have graced the equity bench. The committee has asked me to say a few words on your retirement; and it is surely a very great pleasure so to do. "The years slip rapidly away. It seems to me but yesterday— and yet it is nearly forty years ago— that seven applicants for admission to the Bar were examined as to their qualifications, in the presence of the Court, by three practitioners of whom one was yourself. With one exception, and he no longer resident within the State, you and I, of judges, examiners and novitiates, alone survive. The leaders of the Bar of that time, and even those of a later day, are mostly gone ; the names of but five living persons i:-55: HON. GILBERT COLLINS precede yours on the rolL You look as vigorous as ever, presenting an example of that ripe maturity that a well-spent life will bring to one blessed with a strong, sound constitution. We look forward to many years of association with you. We are gratified that you do not have to preface yoiu' farewell to us with 'moriturusf You have not waited until de- crepitude has come upon you, but in full strength of mind, and body, as far as is perceptible, have seen fit to step aside for younger men. Retirement with you will mean, I think, continued labor, but of a different character from that you have so long performed. Except in the concluding of causes that may be pending, your judicial work will cease. Your friends feel that they cannot let the occasion pass without formally expressing a tribute of their re- gard. "You have been a great judge. Your judicial opinions will form a firm foundation for many yet to come. You have been a faithful, courageous judge. You have been a kind judge; for, although some of us have thought that your name should, perhaps, have been Boanerges, we have known that the thun- der was harmless, and simply the product of the in- tense nature and ardent temperament that make you what you are. Certainly at the end of your career you have the entire confidence and affection of the Bar. Your work, I have said, will endure. Where it has not met the approval of those whose duty it was to pass in review upon it, that has not been be- [56: HON. GILBERT COLLINS cause of a lack of legal knowledge or exhaustive study on your part, but has been rather, in most cases, because of the conservatism that rests in num- bers. The Court of last resort has not always been w^illing to take the step in advance that to you seemed proper. While you have been resolute and firm, you have never been opinionated. No judge has been more open to argument — no judge more willing to change his mind uj^on presentation of new aspects of a case. I have been a witness more than once of your coming into court after an argument on a preceding day when you had expressed yourself as adverse to a contention, and with the utmost frankness saying that you had seen that you were wrong. No judge can carry in his mind the whole body of the law, or, especially, of the equity jurisprudence which we have inlierited and developed in this State. The marvel to us has been that you apprehended it as nearly as you did; that you could at the close of the argument of an important cause dictate your con- clusions so completely as to need little or no revision. We have all wondered; we have all been proud of you. "The committee having charge of the banquet tendered you some little time ago, determined to embody the sentiment then expressed in something permanent that you and your children and your chil- dren's children might prize ; and this beautiful clock has been selected. It is not a 'horologe of eternity' ; but, as compared with human life, it is enduring. It [57] VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENSON will 'tick out the little lives of men' ; and as it meas- ures the remaining years, days, hours, aye seconds of the earthly life that may remain to you, it will, we trust, be a constant reminder of the affection that prompted its bestowal. Its chimes are those of Westminster Abbey reproduced. As they sound they will bring to your mind those courts of Westminster Hall, nearby, to whose judgments you have looked as the source of many of your own decisions; and their melody will be a symbol of our love. "My motion is that you accept this gift of Bench and Bar. I can speak only for the Bar — one of your colleagues will speak for the Bench. And let me add that during the remainder of the time, which we hope may be not short, that you are spared, we shall be your loyal friends, supporters, and admirers." VICE CHANCELLOR STEVENSON "Vice Chancellor Pitney, and brethren of the New Jersey Bar, I do not recall any occasion in my life- time when I desired more to find utterance than now, or any occasion when I felt less able to find adequate expression. I was asked ten or fifteen minutes ago to say something on this most interesting occasion, to represent in a measure and try to speak for the Bench of New Jersey. "I am unable to stand before you in such a repre- sentative capacity. I can only speak for myself. I do not venture to address Vice Chancellor Pitney. [58] HON. WILLIAM M. JOHNSON What I have to say I shall speak to you, my brethren of the Bar. "I have been on the Bench by the side of Vice Chancellor Pitney, virtually by his side, for just six years. During the first five years, as many of you know, I was associated with him here from day to day and week to week. I cannot tell you how gently, how considerately he received me and how enor- mously useful to me was my association with him from day to day. It cannot be possible that any new member of the law bench or the equity bench in the State can have greater advantages at the start of his judicial career than I had on account of my constant association with our venerable and beloved friend. He goes from the Bench followed by the love and esteem of all his brethren. We all regard him as a great and shining example of judicial success, and I am sure that he will carry into private life, if he goes into private life, the earnest wishes of all our hearts, that he will live many, many years, and that all those years will be crowned with happiness and peace." HON. WILLIAM M. JOHNSON "Mr. Vice Chancellor, it would be impossible to add effectively an}i;hing to that which has been said here and elsewhere in regard to your remarkable profes- sional and judicial career. You know without any additional words of mine of the esteem in which you [159] HON. WILLIAM M. JOHNSON are held by the members of the Bar. I do not know that this expression of their regard is at all necessary to assure you of the affection in which you have been held and will be held, sir, as long as life is spared you. "I think this is a day not so much of sadness, al- though we regret your departure from this position which you have graced so long. It is rather a day for congratulation that after a life of successful pro- fessional activity, after a life of judicial service, re- markable in many ways, and highly honorable, you are able voluntarily to retire from this position with full vigor of mind, with activities and powers of body almost unimpaired, with the capacity to enjoy life, and with the capacity to retain and meet the friends which you have made in all these years. I think you are to be congratulated, sir, that you are able to retire under such circumstances. "It is difficult to address you or to say a word in this presence without appearing to use the language of flattery ; but I may sincerely say that in your life and career is an inspiring example to the younger men of the profession. As they consider and study your earlier life, your professional earnestness and vigor, and the success with which you have dis- charged 3^our judicial duties, guided as you have been by the strongest desire to do justice, by a pas- sion for equity which has ever animated you in your official duties, — when these things are considered, Mr. Vice Chancellor, you appear an inspiring ex- [60] MR. FRANK BERGEN ample and an encouragement to those of the profes- sion who are following in your footsteps. So that you have the satisfaction of knowing that you have lived a life of usefulness, of great activity, which has been of value to the jurisprudence of the State, to the people of our Commonwealth and to the members of the profession. And we wish for you many happy years in the retirement of your home, where we are assured that you will not be idle, but where you can enjoy such activities as may please you and as may be found to be agreeable to your natural taste and inclination. And so, Mr. Vice Chancellor, we ex- press our regrets that you are leaving the Bench which you have long adorned and we give you our best wishes for your happiness and prosperity in the years to come." MR. FRANK BERGEN "One word more. As chairman of the General Com- mittee having charge of the ceremonies and fes- tivities designed to express to your Honor and to the public the appreciation of the Bench and Bar of your career as a jurist on the Bench, an advocate at the Bar, and as a citizen of the State, I rise simply to sec- ond the motion made by my friend, Judge Collins. I can add nothing to what has been said by those who have preceded me, and I am sure I can say nothing to express adequately the admiration and esteem of your fellow citizens." 1611 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY "My friends, I confess that I am entirely unprepared for this ; though I was informed by Mr. Bergen that something of this kind was to be done this morning, I did not expect all this — and I do not know what to say after what has been said to me this morning. "I did think that after my birthday ceremonies— I did think that my heart was full and my cup was running over. I did not think there was any room for any more; but I am not sure that there is any limit to human love, human respect, and human gratitude. I hope my gratitude is equal to your love. I feel as if it is, and yet I don't know— I don't know that I am capable of feeling all I ought to feel to- wards you. I cannot believe you have been flatter- ing me; I must believe that this is all earnest and truthful and sincere. And, if it is, how must I feel, and what can I say? "I have just been through something like this quite unexpectedly in Philadelphia at the annual dinner of the Camden Bar last Saturday night. I was there as an ordinary guest without expecting anything more than the treatment due to such, but they made the occasion almost like that birthday din- ner in New York. "Now I do wish to say something and I will repeat something that I said at Philadelphia. "There are young men here and there are old men here. I say to the members of the Bar, old and 1621 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY young, your individual characters for probity, your individual characters for straightforwardness, your individual characters as lawyers, are your capital. Your individual character in the community, and your having the confidence of the community as up- right men, as men faithful to your clients, as men who do not live by trickery practised on the court or on the jury, but as merely desiring to see justice done to your clients — your character for all that; the confidence and belief of the community that you are an honest man, and a faithful man, is your capital; that capital cannot be taken away from you. "And I wish to impress it on the young men that you should not start out in life as lawyers feeling that you must succeed by hook or by crook, but start out to build yourselves up on that sure foundation I have alluded to, that will last as long as you live. "When I was a young man studying law with old Judge Whitehead, he said to me: 'Henrj^ a good, faithful lawyer will always be taken care of by the community; the people want him; and thej'- will keep him, and they will take care of him,' and I have lived to see it. "I have said to a great many young men, and I will repeat it to the Bar generally, don't encourage young men to go into the law unless they are pre- pared by a proper preliminary education. A great many boys sixteen, eighteen, twenty years old feel as if they would like to be lawyers. Don't discour- age that feeling, but discourage their attempting it 1631 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY unless they have a proper preHminary education. Because where there is one in a hundred not properly prepared that will succeed, the other ninety-nine don't succeed, and they are hampered all their life- time for want of a proper preliminary education. By that I mean an expansion and strengthening of the mind by exercise, and by the accumulation of infor- mation generally, to fit them for the Bar. "I have said further, don't be in a hurry to get to trying cases except as juniors; and the remark is prompted by an act I saw somebody prepared to in- troduce in the legislature— something like what was called the Five Counsellors Act— providing that young attorneys who are licensed as attorneys merely might be permitted to appear in the higher courts as counsellors on the certificate of some ten or fifteen gentlemen of the bar. Now, don't try that. Don't try to instruct a court until you know something about instructing a court. That is the business of counsel — to instruct the court. You may prepare as well as you can, you may study your case, and you must study it, and you may, as you think, have every fact, and you may have, as you think, all the law ap- plicable to that state of facts, and have it all in a brief before you — and when you get to the trial or argu- ment some little change in the facts will change the whole character of the case, and you will be lost if you have n't sufficient general information of the law, and general readiness born of experience to meet it. VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY "Those two remarks I made to the West Jersey Bar, and I made another remark to j^omig men that I will repeat here. I don't see many young men here, but I do want to reach young men. Never make a statement of fact to a court or to a judge that you are not pretty sure is accurate. Never try to get a temporary advantage by little misrepre- sentations to the court. You are sure to be found out ; and you have n't any idea how soon the court learns upon what individual lawyers they may rely — upon whose statement they may rely, and how it facilitates business ; how much easier it is to get along by having the court understand that when you rise to make some statement of fact they can rely on you. "Now, I make these remarks, not because I think that they are particularly needed, but because they are fundamental, and they are the basis of good law- yers and successful lawyers. "You have spoken of my career; and I will in an- swer repeat what I said to those gentlemen at Phila- delphia Saturday night. I said: 'I have been look- ing this thing over for sixty years and I think you may take what I say as founded somewhat on ex- perience, and I wish to say that since I came upon the Bench of New Jersey and came into such close acquaintance with the Bar, both of West Jersey and East Jersey, I have observed with great pleasure and satisfaction a decided improvement — a decided im- provement, and when I say it I mean it— in the gen- eral tone and character of the Bar. And it is one of 1165] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY the gratifying thoughts arising out of my experience as a judge, that the Bar of New Jersey has improved under my eyes ; and it is to-day a greater and a better Bar than it was eighteen years ago. It is due to you to say that much, and it should be an encouragement to continue in that improvement and elevation — gen- eral elevation of the character of the Bar. It is no flattery. Young men are making better law;y^ers, they are studying harder; they are trying to live up to the standard of a high class of lawyers— better than they were when I came to the Bar. "There were giants in the earlier days; there are giants now at our Bar. These are men that are men, and they are men because they work. "I was asked on Saturday night by a judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals who sat by me at the table why I did not undertake to print some impres- sions, some of my impressions of the English Bench and Bar. I told him I could not do that. "But I will say now that the difference between the English Bar and our Bar is this, that the labor of the American barrister is a great deal heavier than that of the English barrister in that the former has such a wide field of authorities to go through. The leading English barrister often has a yomig briefless barrister, who is ambitious and has money to live on, to work for him, called a devil. The barrister has a great brief handed to him— and the brief there is not what the brief is here: it is a history of the case, a statement of the facts, and all that sort of thing. 1661 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY Well, that barrister is a fifty or one hundred guinea man ; he doesn't open his lips unless well paid. He has not time to study all the brief and hunt up the law — although the range of authority is small as compared with ours — so he hands that over to his devil. The devil goes to work and hunts up all the authorities for him and receives no other compensation than his own personal improvement as a lawyer. And then the great barrister never prepares and takes into court any such arguments as you do here. You will see the great barristers there go into court with three or four sheets of paper pinned together at the corners and their whole argmiient is made from that. "You will find in the reminiscences of Sir Charles Russell, afterwards Lord Russell of Killowen, fac- simile reproductions of arguments, notes of famous arguments, all on note paper. "I sat in the House of Lords two or three days wait- ing to hear Sir Charles Russell argue a cause — waiting for his turn to be reached — and when he rose to speak he had three or fom- sheets of paper pinned together. 'Xow,' he says, 'My Lords' — they all sat around, each in a great chair with a little table before it, and every one had a good-sized blank book where he took notes of argument — he commenced: 'Now, your Lordships, I make so many points in this case. IMy first point is so and so' ; and then he looked around to see when they had all written it down and waited un- til it was all down before he would go on. 'My sec- ond point, your Lordships, is so and so' ; and looked VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY around to see that every one of them wrote it down. 'My third point is so and so.' When he got through with that prehminary he began to talk a little, then the judges began to talk. It was then a mere con- versation across the table between gentlemen ; that is all, and that is the ordinary style of argument over there. "And English judges, except in the House of Lords— all the judges in the intermediate courts- are expected in more than ninety-nine out of a hun- dred cases, to deliver their judgments at once; and during the argument the authorities are brought in and examined. Nobody is in a hurry. You would suppose there was never to be another cause argued. Limitation of time for argument is something that would be considered— well, I don't know how to characterize it. You all know what I think of it. But I want to say to you that in England the counsel limit themselves. They are paid to make their argu- ment, and when they are through they quit and the quicker they can get through the better for them ; and I assure you that a lawyer in those courts that does n't talk to the point finds it out very soon. The court has a way of indicating very plainly when counsel wander and waste time. "I received a very fine compliment this morning from your first speaker about some oral opinions that I don't think I deserve. The English judges are expected to decide at once and this practice af- fects the character of their opinions. They are not nes] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY such fine opinions as we get in this country. The EngHsh judges don't have time or opportunity to consider their cases except in the court-room during the argument ; the books are brought in before them ; they stop the argument while they read the cases. That plan has its advantages in the way of expedit- ing business, but its disadvantage is that the judges don't have time or opportunity to put their reasons carefully in writing, and it means a great deal of loose language, in a sense, inaccurate language, used by those great English judges. But they are all highly educated and drilled men ; they are all drilled to think and talk like a book, and it is perfectly won- derful to hear them deliver oral opinions. They are admirable; but the results are not equal to the best opinions in this country, nor are their arguments equal to our arguments, because they are oral, they are offhand, and they have not studied the case as our lawyers study them. "I was once with a lawyer in London talking and I remarked : 'You have got great barristers here that can talk like a book, but there are some scrawny fel- lows in the United States who can hardly speak that will print an argument that will beat your best.' That is where the Bench of the United States has a decided advantage over the English Bench. It is that you are compelled by the rules of the court to print your arguments as well as your case, and the result is that there is a more thorough examina- tion of every case, as there ought to be with such [69] VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY a variety and great scope of conflicting thoughts from different States in this country. It follows that our Bar is in a sense a higher class here than in England and the Bench is in a sense a higher class than in England. But the English Bench is made up with the utmost care and they are the ablest men undoubtedly, or they would not be able to do the business. They receive high salaries, so that the very greatest and strongest-minded lawyers seek positions on the Bench. "The English courts are able to accomplish much more business in the same time than ours. But why? One reason I have already given. In almost all the cases they give the case but one consideration. An- other is that a cause is never postponed on account of the absence of counsel. The court there is like the car of Juggernaut. When a cause is reached it trav- els right over it and if the senior counsel is not pres- ent the junior counsel must do the best he can. The argument and consideration proceeds. Another rea- son is that a great many steps in an English cause, especially on the equity side, which in our courts come before the judges, are decided over there by a class of judges called chief clerks who are a sort of under- study to the regular judges, so that the latter spend their time wholly in disposing of the very merits of the case, and the lawyers And it to their interest to present those questions as briefly, as rapidly, and as carefully as they can. "But while it is true that the English judges are VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY able to dispose of more business in the same time than our courts can with great respect, I do not think they do it as well. But enough of that. It has served my purpose if I have been enabled by it to relieve myself in any degree of the embarrassment I felt at the re- ception I have just received at your hands. "I must believe you are sincere, and I really can- not express my appreciation. I feel as if I had lived for something. It is something to have acquired the love, and respect, and honor, of such a set of men as the Bar and the Bench of New Jersey ; and I ^vish I could make you believe and feel that I appreciate it, but language fails me. I cannot do it. "Now as I rode along in the car this morning after I had read the morning paper, I thought — what shall I say about that clock, for I knew it was to be a clock, and the thought went through my mind just as it came from the lips of your speaker. I thought — a clock will remind me how much faster time goes with an old man than a young man ; how I am approach- ing the end. And then there will be the chimes. When I hear them I can think of the gentlemen who gave me that clock; and then I can hope — that is what passed through my mind — I can hope that it will never go out of the State of New Jersey ; I can hope that it will always be in the possession of some descendant of mine — there is a prospect of several — and that it will never be in the possession of anybody, any descendant of mine that anybody in New Jersey will be ashamed of, and that he or she may point to it n7i3 VICE CHANCELLOR PITNEY and say with pride, there is something that my grand- father, or great grandfather, received from the Bench and Bar of New Jersey as a mark of their love and esteem. Oh, that is my hope, and, my friends, I beheve it is your hope. I will place it where I shall see it and hear it every day as long as I have sight and hearing, and every time I shall see or hear it I shall think of you. And I shall teach my children to remember whence it came without open- ing the door to see the inscription on it ; and I hope they won't be any the worse for it; and, I repeat, I hope there won't any of you be ashamed of any of them that may be in possession of that monument. "Now all I can say to you is farewell. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the beautiful things that you have said and done for me ; for all the assistance you have been to me in the labor that I have performed here as a judge; for all the kindness you have shown; for all the forbearance with my foibles and weaknesses ; and for all that you have said this morning; and for all you have here done, and now may I say with farewell — God bless every one of you. I love you all and respect you all, and wish the very best for every one of you. I hope you believe that. Farewell." [72: