Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/783

 so. VEEDER: A CENTURY OF JUDICATURE 769 a public trust. . . . But there is a consideration far higher than that. It is the satisfaction of your own internal sense of duty, the satisfaction of your own conscience, the knowl- edge that you are following the promptings of that still, small voice which never, if we listen honestly to its dictates, misleads or deceives — that still, small voice whose approval upholds us even though men should condemn us, and whose approval is far more precious than the honor or applause we may derive, no matter from what source." ^ By way of disparagement, it was said that Cockburn ac- quired his knowledge of legal principles while sitting on the bench beside Blackburn. Beyond doubt Blackburn's vigor- ous intellect was the ruling power in the Queen's Bench throughout Cockburn's service; but, with his great natural acquisitive powers and assiduous application, Cockburn cer- tainly acquired a firm grasp of the fundamental principles of the law. If the scope and activity of his intelligence, and the variety of his pursuits, to some extent impaired the fulness and accuracy of his knowledge of its details, his keen Insight and knowledge of the world, acquired through cultivation, travel and extensive intercourse with all classes of men, fre- quently saved him from pitfalls into which less worldly men would have fallen.. On the whole, his influence has perhaps been felt more in the impulse and direction which he gave to certain topics than in any direct contribution to its formal contents. The doctrine of partial insanity may be directly traced to his efforts. This doctrine was formulated by him in de- fending M'Naghten, in 1843, and the advisory opinions ren-- dered by the judges to the House of Lords in a subsequent investigation of the case lent support to his theory. In the subsequent case of Banks v. Goodfellow, 5 Q. B. 549, he ap- plied the doctrine to testamentary cases in terms which have since been generally accepted. His reasoning is that what- ever may be the psychological theory as to the indivisibility will case; the Wainwright murder case, a leading case on circumstan- tial evidence; the convent case of Saurin v. Starr, an action by a sister of mercy against her mother superior for assault, and Reg. v. Gurney, a famous case of fraud conspiracy.
 * Among other causes c4Uhres in which he presided were the Matlock