Mo. 383, Affirmed, 9 Wall. 282; Williams v. Carpenter, 42 Mo. 327; Glasgow v. Lindell, 50 Mo. 60; Glasgow v. Baker, 85 Mo. 559, Affirmed, 128 U. S. 560; Shepley v. Cowan, 52 Mo. 559, Affirmed, 91 U. S. 330; Langlois v. Crawford, 59 Mo. 456; Prior v. Lambeth, 78 Mo. 538; Widdicombe v. Childers, 84 Mo. 328, Affirmed, 124 U. S. 400; Hammond v. Johnston, 93 Mo. 198. Closely allied to these are notable cases involving questions of accretions, the statute of limitations, and the validity of common law and of Indian tribal marriages. As a border State, the subject of slavery was oftentimes considered. Grave constitutional questions were decided with a wealth of learning and a profoundness of ability which richly earned for the court its high rank in this department. A constantly increas ing commerce has given rise to important mercantile questions. Vast manufacturing interests, the operation of great transpor tation lines, and the making of expensive public improvements have combined to de mand countless decisions upon questions of negligence and eminent domain, and involv ing the relations of the enterprises named to the public. Full discussions of the rules governing trust relations and fraud in all its ramifications have been had. The al ways unsettled question of the rights and liabilities of married women, confused and perplexed by statutory provisions, has been learnedly elucidated. The plan formerly in vogue of incorporating cities and towns by special charters, each materially different from the other, has called for the solution of many problems in the law of municipal corporations. Added to these, is the multi tude of questions arising under the general head of contracts, bailments, agency, insur ance, equity jurisprudence, criminal law, conveyances, bills and notes, corporations, administrators and executors, taxation, judg ments, mortgages, partnership, evidence, wills, and the vast number of cases involv ing the construction of particular instru ments, and of constitutional and statutory
provisions, which naturally arose during sev enty years of the history of a busy people and of a constantly growing commonwealth. The result is published to the world in one hundred volumes of official reports of the Supreme Court decisions, and in forty vol umes of Missouri Appeal reports. It has ever been a source of deep gratification to the people of Missouri that her judges have been spotlessly pure and sincerely conscientious in the discharge of every duty. Not only has that honesty which should be the general attribute of every human being characterized these judges; but among them are noteworthy and shining examples of that higher and absolute integrity which makes its possessor an ideal minister of justice. Those of us who have learned to know these men and their works are proud to belong to their race and profession; we drink deeply and to our constant improve ment of the fountains of learning which mark the result of their labors; we cherish a gratefully affectionate regard for their many virtues, their industry and learning; and have for the memories of those who have been lard to rest a pious reverence. With these reflections is coupled a sincere opinion that, considering all things, and applying the exacting standard by which alone the matter should be measured, the Supreme Court of Missouri has earned for itself the esteem of the legal profession and of all lovers of an upright, laborious, intelli gent administration of the science of the law. Occasionally mistakes have been made, but the court has ever manifested a disposition to correct them cheerfully and promptly. At times an overwhelming public senti ment, the intense fierceness of which can scarcely be appreciated beyond the lim its of a war-scourged State, nor at all in the peaceful days which have succeeded that tempestuous epoch, may have swayed the decision of questions of a political aspect. But calmer minds and a judicial atmosphere soon steadied the tilted scales, and restored
