Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/705

 M1. justice Darling its majestic supremacy, because it is based upon the people's will." Mr. Justice Darling is of extremely youthful appearance, and possesses a mind as active as his body. He belongs to that limited number of judges who temper their knowledge of law with knowledge of human nature and letters. First and foremost comes Lord Bacon,

whose genius did not stand in need of posterity robbing Shakspere of his laurels to add to his; then Lord Mans

ﬁeld, of whom Pope wrote, How sweet an Ovid was in Murray lost;

671

written by him while still a Junior, he gives us a clue of his favorites among judges. In a chapter on "Judges” he quotes the judgments

in

extenso of

Lord Coleridge, Lord Justice James, and Chief Baron Kelly. Lord Coleridge's‘ judgment in a case where the defendant had called

the

plaintiff a villain is a model of irony. We can only quote the concluding sen tence: “The defendant must have judg ment with costs, if he can get them.” “My dear Garrick," said Lord Mansﬁeld to his friend, the actor, "a judge on the

bench is now and then in your whimsical Lord Brougham, of whom a cynic remarked that if Brougham had known a little law he would have known a little of everything; Lord Campbell,

situation between tragedy and comedy: inclination drawing one way, and a long

who by his Lives of the Lord Chancellors

forcefully than in reading the judgment

added

Justice Talfourd, the friend of Charles

of Lord Justice James re John Sinister, deceased. This ﬁne judge was of the

Lamb and the author of “Ion,” who died on the bench at Stafford just after addressing the grand jury:

went of

a

new terror to

death;

Mr.

Gone to its God was the soul-—and borne back a corpse to the Lodgings. Naked the one as it came; robed the rest in the scarlet and ermine.‘

The late

Lord Justice

Bowen,

the

translator of “Virgil," was the greatest

of all our

literary judges.

William

Wilberforce wrote of Lord Kenyon’l that he brought cases home, as another man would crack walnuts when

sitting téte-d-téte with Lady Kenyon after dinner. Lord Mansﬁeld, in spite of his literary tastes, used to look up

cases while his guests were playing cards. “I play my rubbers at this work," he once remarked.

Mr. Justice

Darling is too catholic in his tastes and too sensible to be blind to the uses

of

leisure.

In his "Scintillw

Jan's,”

,The house in which the Judge'is lodged when traveling on circuit is called his Lodgings. Oxford Circuit," by Mr. Justice Darling.

string of precedents the other.” We never felt the truth of these words more

Falstaff physique, and so far as humor

the Knight's mind.

As a

member of the Judicature Commission

he urged the total abolition of pleadings. The facts in re Sinister were extremely simple, though out of the common. William Saltire had a natural son,

called

John

Sinister.

John

Sinister

made his will, leaving certain property to "my father.” John Sinister died, leaving William Saltire him surviving. Litigation arose as to whether William Saltire, was entitled to the bequest as the “father" of John Sinister. Mr. Vice Chancellor

decided in favor of William Saltire. The other side appealed and in the Court of Appeal Lord Justice James

delivered the judgment of the Court, allowing the appeal and disallowing the claim of William Saltire. His judgment is a model of perspicacity and pathos. "It is gratifying, most gratifying to know," concludes Lord

"On the

' Lord Chief Justice of England from 1788 to 1802.

‘Lord Chief Justice of England and father of the present Lord Coleridge, a Judge of the High Court.