Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 02.pdf/166

 The Green Bag.

Vol. II. No. 4.

BOSTON. April, 1890.

ABRAHAM CLARK FREEMAN.

WE have been fortunate in being able to present to our readers, in pre vious numbers, portraits of some of our best- known law-book writers. In the present

number we have the pleasure of introducing as the subject of this sketch one whose name is familiar to, and respected by, the legal profession throughout America and England. Abraham Clark Freeman was born in Hancock County, Ill., not far from the town of Warsaw, on the 15th day of May, 1843. At an early age he manifested a love for study, and with such facilities only as the time and the location afforded, he was able to fit himself for the position of a teacher of one of the schools in his native county at the early age of seventeen.

In 1861 his father decided to remove to California, and young Freeman accompanied him.

Arriving in California in September, 1861, the father settled at Elk Grove, and the boy found employment in teaching a district school in San Joaquin County during the winter of 1861-1862. He had, however, little taste for this work; from his earliest recollection it had been his intention to be a lawyer. At the close of school he went to his father's farm, remaining there until September, 1863, when he went to Sacramento and found employment in the office of Hon. Morris M. Estee, who was then District Attorney of Sacramento County. He remained in that office during the remaining two years of Mr. Estee's term, and the four years of his successor, Hon. James C. Goods. He was admitted to the bar on examination by the Supreme Court of California in July, 1864, only nine months after he entered Mr. Estee's office, and six weeks after he reached the age of twenty-one years. Before his connection with the District Attorney's office was severed, he had formed a partnership with Hon. Thomas H. Clunie, and later, in 1872, with Hon. J. K. Alexander, now judge of one of the Superior Courts of California, and in 1879, with G. E. Bates, with whom he removed to San Francisco, in November, 1886. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1878-1879, and in the latter year was appointed by the Governor commissioner to suggest amendments to the Codes, to adapt them to the new Constitution.

Mr. Freeman's first book, on the " Law of Judgments," was published in 1873, and was the first national treatise written or published in California. Its recognition and success were unprecedented.

Surprise at the fact that a law treatise should be both written and published in the extreme West grew to astonishment as the high character of the work came to be known and understood. The "American Law Review "said of it:—

"It seems impossible for a young lawyer to have composed so good a book in so good a manner; yet it seems also impossible that, if old in law, so able a lawyer should not long since have become familiar to the profession every where; and we confess to a painful doubt lest he turn out to be some eminent barrister, whom not to know is only to confess our own ignorance."

Encouraged by the prompt and complete recognition of the legal journalists, Mr. Free-