So his decisions in cases where the questions
raised are narrow and unimportant are often most valuable
contributions to jurisprudence. He seldom passed over any
point or suggestion without remark. He went to the bottom
of the case with great patience and incredible industry. The
counsel who lost his case felt not only that he had had the
opinion of a great and just magistrate, but that every consideration
he could urge for his client was respectfully treated and
either yielded to or answered. Some of his ablest and most
far-reaching decisions were written after he was eighty years
old.
He possessed, beyond any other American Judge, save Marshall,
what may be termed the statesmanship of jurisprudence. He
never undertook to make law upon the Bench, but he perceived
with a far-sighted vision what rule of law was likely to operate
beneficially or hurtfully to the Republic. He was watchful
to lay down no doctrine which would not stand this test. His
great judgments stand among our great securities, like the
provisions of the Bill of Rights.
The Chief Justice was a tower of strength to the Massachusetts
judiciary.
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