He manifested another remarkable
quality when he was on the Bench of Massachusetts. He was
an admirable _nisi-prius_ Judge. I think we rarely have had
a better. He possessed that faculty which made the jury,
in the old days, so admirable a mechanism for performing their
part in the administration of justice. He had the rare gift,
especially rare in men whose training has been chiefly upon
the Bench, of discerning the truth of the fact, in spite of
the apparent weight of the evidence. That Court, in his time,
had exclusive jurisdiction of divorces and other matters affecting
the marital relations. The Judge had to hear and deal with
transactions of humble life and of country life. It was surprising
how this man, bred in a city, in high social position, having
no opportunity to know the modes of thought and of life of
poor men and of rustics, would settle these interesting and
delicate questions, affecting so deeply the life of plain
men and country farmers, and with what unerring sagacity he
came to the wise and righteous result.
Judge Gray's opinions for the eighteen years during which
he sat on the Bench of Massachusetts constitute an important
body of jurisprudence, from which the student can learn the
whole range of the law as it rests on principle and on authority.
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