Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/787

 ^0. VEEDER: A CENTURY OF JUDICATURE 773 attraction to his desk. And behind them he would sit with his wig on the back of his head, plunging his short-sighted eyes into one and another, firing off questions in quick succes- sion at counsel on both sides, raising difficulties and objec- tions, and at last, when the point was cleared, handing the conclusive document to the Lord Chief Justice, who, mean- while, had often been leaning back in his chair in amused enjoyment of the scene, but, always ready to intervene at the psychological moment and bear off the honors of a point, or to enforce the conclusion in a judgment of inimitable force and diction." It is obvious that the law reports furnish no adequate memorial of the services of such a judge. Yet the volume of his work is immense. His name appears in almost every case, and, although his opinions are often admirably terse, he hardly ever simply concurred ; on the other hand, he delivered the judgment of the court oftener than any of the puisnes. When he does undertake to formulate his views he gives fully the process by which he reaches his conclusion. While not so profuse in the use of authorities as Willes, his review of the cases is always thorough and interesting. He had no graces of style or flashes of imagination, but every conclusion is worked out with the hard headed and closely knit logic of his race. With a mind as vigorous as Jessel's, and a humor, when called for, as caustic, he was always conscientiously scrupulous in the discharge of his judicial functions. Turner V. Walker, 1 Q. B. 118, illustrates his candor. It is impracticable to give within brief limits more than an illustration of Blackburn's vast contributions to the law. In mere volume his work was equalled during the century by Parke alone. There are more than six hundred cases in the reports in which he formulated in detail the reasons which influenced his judgment, and in more than one-quarter of these cases he delivered the unanimous opinion of the court. The list * of cases cited in the note will give some indication Q. B. 185; Lloyd v. Guibert, 33-241, etc.; Burges v. Wickham, 33-17; Coe V. Wise, 33-281; Moody v. Corbett, 34-166; Maurpoice v. Westley, 34-229; Wilson v. Bank of Victoria, 36-89; Fleet v. Perrins, 37-223; Allen V. Graves, 39-157; Godard v. Gray, 40-62; lonides v. Pacific In».
 * In the Court of Queen's Bench: Campbell v. Spottiswoode, 32 L. J.,