Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 04.pdf/432

 The

Vol. IV.

No. 9.

Green

BOSTON.

Bag.

September, 1892.

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK (1855). ALTHOUGH of only local jurisdiction, the Superior Court of the city of New York, established in 1828, is one of the most famous in this country; and its deci sions, promulgated in a long series of reports, are of eminent authority in all the States, — especially upon questions of commercial law. A distinguished judge and legal author of the West has recently told the writer that, judged by their opinions, this court, when Oakley and Duer sat in it, was in his opinion the ablest ever known in this country. Benjamin D. Silliman says : " They have by their deci sions largely fixed commercial law with almost the force of statutory legislation." Oakley and Duer were certainly legal giants. Of them, as well as of their associates, there is comparatively little in the form of biography or published reminiscences, and their fame is mainly traditional. Thomas J. Oakley was "a great nisi prius lawyer and judge, independent of the books." "His charge to the jury was like the sun, dispelling all clouds," says Mr. Silliman. He argued the historic cause of Gibbons v. Ogden with Thomas Addis Emmett, against Webster and Wirt. He was AttorneyGeneral, and served three terms in Con gress. In 18 18, as member of the Assembly, he introduced the bill for founding the State Library. He seems to have had rugged, unadorned strength. He was very religious, and an insatiate novel-reader. A memorial of him is in 1 Robertson's Reports. John Duer was born in Albany, served two years in the United States army, and studied law with Alexander Hamilton. He was mainly self-educated, and became a pro s'

ficient scholar in Latin, French, and Italian. (He wrote the beautiful Latin epitaph on the monument of Thomas Addis Emmett, in St. Paul's churchyard, New York.) He was one of the three revisers who prepared the New York Statutes of 1830. He was the author of a work on Marine Insurance. He was the reporter of his court. He pro nounced a discourse on Kent before the bar of New York City. He was an earnest Churchman. Among his pall-bearers were Washington Irving and Gulian C. Verplanck; and James T. Brady pronounced a eulogy on him, which is in the memorial in 6 Duer's Reports. The charming orator said : — "It is true that his mind caught from the dis cussion, which elicited sparks of flashing intelli gence from the members of the bar, many a ray of party-colored light. In that respect the gem set within his soul suggested a close comparison to another jewel, highly prized among men. It could give back all the tints cast, but it remained still the diamond, — brilliant in its pure integrity, with its singleness of color and its capacity to diffuse more light than its face received." Charles O'Conor said that he regarded Duer as the ablest jurist of his time in America. "Lofty, learned, and accom plished," says Mr. Silliman. Some inter esting reminiscences of him may be found in William Allen Butler's history of " The Revision and the Revisers." Murray Hoffman was the author of works on Chancery Practice, Provisional Remedies under the Code, Laws of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States; compiled a volume of Laws relating to the