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 The Green Bag Volume XXIII

April, 1911

'

Number 4

Francis Cabot Lowell HE death of Judge Francis Cabot Lowell, at an age when men are usually in their prime, is deeply re

and other magazines, and had written a valuable life of Joan of Arc, in which he was the ﬁrst to analyze her trial

grettable as depriving the federal bench

from a lawyer's point of view.

of one of its best equipped members as regards character and ability. Judge Lowell was an admirable type of the painstaking, learned and upright judge. The ailment which hastened his death was undoubtedly due in large

also deeply interested in his alma mater, serving ﬁrst as an Overseer and subse

measure to the earnestness with which he applied himself to his judicial labors.

A man of books, plentifully endowed with the traits of one of the most gifted families of Massachusetts, he willingly took upon himself burdens of the kind

almost certain to break men of sensitive

He was

quently as a Fellow of Harvard Uni versity. He was also interested in the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, of which he was president of

the Board of Trustees. He had also made notable contributions to the litera ture of Unitarianism. The traces of this breadth of sympathy are seen in all his judicial work. As his friend Mr. Roosevelt said, “He was a judge with

As Major Henry L. I-ligginson

great legal learning and ability, who never for one moment permitted learn ing and technique of the law to dim his clear understanding of the fact that a

has said, “The Lowells always cared more to serve than to earn," and it was

judge must be much more than a law yer." The quality of his work, in fact,

Judge Lowell's keen sense of public

was such as to verify Bagehot’s con tention that a thorough soundness of judgment cannot exist in the absence of a wide range of delicately cultivated sensibilities. His decision holding Armenians

organization, though they may rest more lightly on rougher and brawnier shoul

ders.

duty which exacted a heavier toll than

he could bear and prematurely exhausted his powers.

Zealous in protecting the rights of the less favored litigant, unfailing in courtesy, and of a ﬁne impartiality of mind, he won the universal respect of the bar for his fairness in dispensing even-handed justice. Judge Lowell's activities were mainly conﬁned to the legal sphere. He had, however, con tributed articles to the Atlantic Monthly

proper subjects for naturalization, within

the "free white persons” clause, was characteristic of a Lowell.l

There was

nothing remarkable about the ruling, for Armenians, Syrians and Turks had lSee 22 Green Bag 135.