Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 04.pdf/624

 The Supreme Court of North Carolina. land for assets to pay the debts. Syme v. Riddle, lb. 463, rules that the husband is still entitled jure mariti to the services and earnings of the wife, and that this has not been altered by the constitution nor the "marriage act." Dougherty v. Sprinkle, lb. 300, holds that a married woman cannot be sued before a justice of the peace upon any liability incurred during coverture. ' He was strong in his convictions, and clear and for cible in his expression of his views. He had no superior as an advocate at the bar of North Carolina. In the legal tradi tions of the State, he and Judge Reade — heretofore mentioned — stand as advocates facile principes. He was exceedingly cour teous and winning in his manner; but when his duty or his interest required it, he could be a very thunderbolt. For some reason he never once sat for his portrait or photograph. Hence he is the only one of the judges an engraving of whom is not presented in these sketches. He married, early in life, Miss Mary Cain, of Hillsboro, and left her surviv ing him with three sons and a daughter. He died at Hillsboro, May 23, 1889. "He gave his honors to the world again, His blessed part to Heaven, and slept in peace." He was succeeded by A. S. Merrimon. Joseph John Davis was born, April 13, 1828, in that part of Franklin County which is now in Vance. His grandfather, William Davis, was a soldier of the Revolution. He . attended Wake Forest College one year, and subsequently went to the University of North Carolina, but did not graduate. He read law under Judge Battle, and was admitted to the bar in 1850, and located at Oxford, but three years lat.er removed to Louisburg. In 1862 he entered the army as Captain in the FortySeventh North Carolina Regiment. He was not one of those who, moved by ambition, went to " seek for glory in the smoky pur lieus of the cannon's mouth." With him then, as always, the controlling motive was a high sense of duty to the people among whom Providence had cast his lot. He was

587

captured in Pettigrew's charge at Gettys burg, July 3, 1863, and was a prisoner at Fort Delaware and Johnson's Island till paroled just before the close of the war. After the war he began the practice of his profession at Louisburg, where he resided henceforth till his death. He was elected to the legislature of 1866 from Franklin County. In 1874 he was elected a member of Con gress from the Raleigh district, and served for six years. He then resumed the prac tice of his profession till 1887, when upon the death of Judge Ashe, he was appointed by Governor Scales, February, 1887, to the vacancy upon the Supreme Court bench. In 1888 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected to the same post. The promotions to the Supreme bench in North Carolina, as elsewhere, have usually been from those who have seen service on the Superior Court bench. In the fifty years from the organization of the court till 1868 Judge Gaston was the only exception. In 1868, when the State passed into the control of a new political party, Judges Pearson and Reade only, out of the five elected to the Supreme Court, had served on the lower bench. When the State again passed back to the Democratic party in 1878, two of the three Supreme Court judges were taken from the bar. But since then all the judges of the Supreme Court have seen service on the Superior Court bench, excepting only Judges Davis and Burwell. His opinions will be found in fifteen vol umes, 96 N. C. to 110 N. C. inclusive. During the last three years of his life his health was impaired, but he strove with fidelity to discharge the important trust con fided to him. Among his opinions should be noted Hodge v. Powell, 96 N. C. 64, which holds that while a married woman cannot be estopped by a contract she will not be allowed to repudiate her acts, when to do so would permit her to perpetrate a fraud. Efland v. Efland, lb. 488, which recognizes that when an equitable element is involved the Superior Court at term has jurisdiction