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 The Court of Appeals of Kentucky. of congress. He was twice re-elected,WILLIAM each time without opposition, and he declined to stand for further election. Presidents Jefferson and Madison repeat edly tendered him important Federal posi tions but his love of quiet life and aversion to political office impelled him to decline them. In 1808, President Madison offered to make him first Governor of Illinois but he

refused the honor and the place was given to N i n i a n Edwards. On April i, 1809, he was appointed associate justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. This position, was con genial to his tastes and he at once ac cepted it. On March 20, 1810, he was commissioned chief justice to suc ceed George M. Bibb and he presided over the court until No vember 8, 1826, when he resigned. Immediately up on his resignation, he was made judge of the United States District Court for Kentucky, succeeding Robert Trimble who had been appointed to a place on the Supreme Bench. Chief Justice Boyle was an able jurist as the official reports of his court from i st Bibb to 3d T. B. Monroe abundantly prove. His opinions to-day are of the highest authority in the courts of Kentucky and only in rare instances have they after seventy-five years been modified or overruled. He was the first judge of any " back-woods " court whose opinions were ever cited in Westminster

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tribute that speaks volumes of praise. To wisdom of decision and absolute in tegrity of purpose, he added a firmness of character that made him a tower of strength to his court and made the court the very bulwark of constitutional government in Kentucky. In an article published in the "Green Bag" in April, 1899, the writer un dertook to give an account of what is known in Kentucky as the " Old Court—New Court Controversy." Dur ing the excitement of that с о n fl i с t, when the executive and the legislative departments united in open attack upon the judiciary, Chief Justice Boyle with his associates, Judges Owsley and Mills, stood four square to every as sault and declined to surrender one jot or tittle of the rights secured to the court and to the people by the Constitution. It is related of Chief Justice Boyle that during this con flict, Henry Clay whose sympathies were with the " Old compromise Court " camewith to him the with a proposition to "New Court " partisans. The proposal roused the judge's wrath and he turned on the "Great Pacifi cator" with an oath telling him that he con sidered such a measure disgraceful and though he valued his friendship highly, he would treat it as broken if the proposition was ever repeated. It was never repeated. The final vindication of the "Old Court" was a memorable triumph of law and con stitutional liberty as well. Not until that