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 The Supreme Court of Vermont. He did much towards tempering the rules of the common law by an infusion of equity principles. He was thoroughly acquainted with the course of decisions, both English and American; and while he followed the cases, he questioned the authority of those which controverted sound principles or led to unjust judgments. He looked upon the law as a broad and noble science, not a mass of arbitrary rules.

He was not cir cumscribed by the narrowness of a case, but making himself familiar with the rea sons, its history and morality, rendered such judgments as the law required. He regarded prece dent not as law, but merely as an evidence of what the law ought to be. He probab'y did as much in determin ing the great ques tions that arose dur ing the development of the railroad sys- ' tem in America as' any other judge in K. H. the country. Dur ing his services upon the Bench, he published his " Law of Rail ways," and after his services ended, he published several editions of the same work, a treatise upon the law of wills, on carriers and bailments, besides edit ing leading cases upon the law of rail ways and wills, several of Judge Story's works, and Greenleaf's " Law of Evidence." For many years he was one of the editors of the "American Law Register," and many of the leading articles in that magazine were from his pen. At the time of the reorganization of the

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court in 1857, the name of Judge Poland was actively pressed for the Chief Judgeship, and Mr. Redfield was elected by a vote of 128 to 115. In 1860, having served a quar ter of a century, and fond of his work as a law author and editor, he retired from judi cial service. His withdrawal occasioned sincere and genuine regret; the Bar of the State adopted, at the time, a series of very cordial and compli mentary resolutions, which were present ed in court and responded to appro priately by Judge Redfield (36 Vt. 762). He took up his res idence in Boston, and was soon called to act in conjunction with Caleb dishing as special counsel for the United States in England in respect to claims and suits in the English equity courts, relative to Confederate property remaining in Eng land, and in the dis charge of such duties STEELE resided in England for two years. He was counsel for the government with reference to the claims against Great Britain for the heavy losses sustained by privateers fitted out in England. No one was better quali fied to manage these questions than Judge Redfield; his residence in England was a delightful one to him, and he acquired the respect and admiration of all those who came in contact with him there. Of unfail ing courtesy, great tact and moderation, his services were praiseworthy and in a high degree creditable to the government. Judge Redfield's opinions are not so con