County. Subsequently he studied in the office of Mark H. Sibley in Canandaigua, and in that of Isaac Seeley in Cherry Valley. He was admitted to practice in May, 1829, at New York City, and settled in Jamestown, where he resided for many years. In 1835 he was elected to the assembly, and in 1836 ami 1838 was chosen to represent the thirty-first district in Congress, serving through out the whole of Van Buren's administration. While in Washington he was admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of the United States, on mo tion of Daniel Webster. In 1846 Mr. Marvin was a member of the convention that prepared a new constitution for the State. Among those who served with him were Ira Harris, Charles O'Conor, and Samuel J. Tilden; and Mr. Marvin was almost the last, if not indeed absolutely the last, survivor of that famous body. In 1847 Mr. Marvin was elected a justice of the Supreme Court. In January, 1855, he was appointed to the Court of Appeals. In No vember of that same year he was re-elected to the Supreme Court, and in 1863 he was reappointed to the Court of Appeals. In 1863 he was elected for a third time to the Supreme Court, serving until 1873. Altogether he was on the bench something over twenty-four years.
William C. Ruger, Chief-Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, died at his home in Syra cuse, N. Y., on January 14. He was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1824. His father came to Syracuse about 1850, bringing his son William with him; and the father and son practised law together until the ^father's death. William then formed a partnership with Edward Jenney, being a member of the State Committee, and with W. J. Wallace, now Judge of the United States Circuit Court. The firm did a large business. He was elected Chief-Judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1882, and filled the position in a most able manner. (An excellent portrait of Judge Ruger was pub lished in the " Green Bag,-' August, 1890.) Hon. George Vail Howk, Judge of the Floyd Circuit Court, and ex-Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, died at his home in New Albany, In diana, on January 13. Judge Howk was of pioneer stock, his father, Isaac Howk, having been one of the early attor
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neys of Indiana when a Territory. He was born at Charlestown, Clark County, Sept. 21, 1824, and was therefore in his sixty-eighth year at the time of his death. He attended Ashbury University, now DePauw University, at Greencastle, and was graduated from that institution in 1846. He then studied law in the office of Judge Charles Dewey, one of the early Judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and was admitted to the bar at Charlestown, then the county seat of Clark County. The public services of Judge Howk were many and varied, and in every position he so conducted himself as to merit and receive the approval of his fellow-citizens. For two years he was City Judge of New Albany; during fourteen continu ous years he represented the people of his ward in the Common Council of that city; he was Judge of the Court of* Common Pleas for two years : two terms were passed as State Senator from Floyd and Clark Counties, and one term as Representative from Floyd County. In 1876 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, and held that posi tion for two consecutive terms, — twelve years in all. He was renominated in 1888, but was de feated in the general election, after which he re turned to New Albany, and re-entered the practice of law. Last year he was appointed by Governor Hovey, an old classmate and friend, to the Judge ship of the Floyd Circuit Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the sudden death of George A. Bicknell.
The people in the central-western part of Ohio were shocked at the sudden death, from apoplexy, of ex-Judge Charles M. Hughes at his home in Lima, Ohio, on the 11th of January. He had been attending to the duties of his practice only the day before, full of vigor and apparent health. His demise removes from the Ohio Bar one of its ablest members, who had something more than a local habitation and a name. His life was a busy one. Born in the city where he died, he was ad mitted to the bar, served gallantly through the War of the Rebellion, was twice elected prosecuting attorney, and twice probate judge of his native county. In 1878 he was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court of the first subdivision of the third judicial district of Ohio, and served as such for two terms. He was a natural-born judge. Perhaps no one had fewer decisions overruled or modified. Well grounded in the principles of the
