Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/600

 The Green Bag

560 bridge A. Field, Oliver M. P. Knowlton-will bar of the state as fit. cial temperament and of the law."

Wendell Holmes and be recognized by the He possesses the judi an excellent knowedge

It has been remarked that an eminent member of the Suffolk bar, shortly after

Mr. Rugg's appointment to the Supreme Court, prophesied that he would one day be made Chief Justice.

He discerned in

the new judge the capacity and disposi tion to take pains, to be thorough, to work hard, and to elaborate his work to a

high measure of perfection. The retirement of Chief Justice Knowl

ton, on account of failing eyesight, has been deeply regretted. His work on the Supreme bench, marked by untiring in

dustry, a quick and accurate mental grasp, and an unusual faculty for lucid

expression, have stamped him as one of

the Court's great Chief Justices. A man of robust constitution, he is forced to give up his judicial duties at the age of seventy-two by an affliction brought about by the very intensity of the labors

which his good general health has en abled him to perform. The vacancy due to Chief Justice Rugg's promotion has been ﬁlled by the

elevation of Justice Charles Ambrose De Courcy from the Superior to the Su preme bench.

A successful advocate

before he was made a Superior Court judge nine years ago,of ﬁne mental pow ers and eminently judicial qualities, and possessing literary and oratorical gifts as well, he is considered as worthy as any

one who could have been chosen from the Superior bench for this honor.

The Progress of the Law in the United States‘ By FREDERICK N. Juosou, or THE 51‘. LOUIS BAR E LIVE in a progressive age and in a progressive country, and the law in such an age and such a country should certainly be a progressive science.

When we consider the science of juris prudence apart from the practical admin istration of the law, we can not hesitate in saying that it is a progressive, develop ing science, adapting itself to the ever

changing and developing features of our industrial civilization. We are told by Sir Henry Maine that even in the pro gressive races of mankind, social ne cessities and social opinion are always more or less in advance of law, and that legislation is the ﬁnal agency by which

law is brought into harmony with so ‘Annual address before the Colorado Bar Asso ciation, delivered June 30, 1911.

ciety. At no time and in no country has legislation been so active, at least in

attempting to adjust the positive law to the social needs, as it is in our own

time and country, and we may add that at no time has public opinion, the mighty

force by which the world is governed, been as effective as it is now in investi

gating social needs and in searching for adequate remedies. But apart from this legislative activ ity of our time,

we have impressive

illustrations of the developing power of our jurisprudence to meet the new and complex conditions of a progressive civil ization. In our own country, under what Mr. Bryce terms our rigid written Constitution, the power to regulate com

merce granted to the federal Govern