THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY.
By John Whitehead, Esq.
III.
JAMES SCHUREMAN NEVIUS be came an Associate Justice in 1838. He was born In Somerset County in 1786. His ancestry, both paternal and maternal, were to be found among the patriots of the Revolution. He graduated from Princeton College in 18 16, was licensed as an attor ney in 1819, as a counsellor in 1823, and was appointed serjeant-at-law in 1837. He resided, after he came to the bar, and practised his profession at New Brunswick. At the death of Judge Thomas C. Ryerson, he was elected an Associate Justice, which position he held for fourteen years. In 1852 the office was in the gift of the Gov ernor, under the new Constitution. That officer, when Judge Nevius's second term expired, was opposed to him in politics; and according to the custom of those days, the Governor selected a gentleman of his own political party to fill the vacancy. Fortu nately for the jurisprudence of the State, that custom is not now followed; and to this, in some measure, is due the high character of the judiciary of New Jersey. Judge Nevius was a highly respectable judge, and many of his opinions were very strong. There however was no judge on the bench who was so often found dissenting from the other judges, and the bar did not place the fullest confidence in his decisions. He had the honesty to avow, and sometimes very pointedly and strongly to express, his ad verse sentiments He will always be remembered by the few who now survive his time and recollect him, as the fun-loving Judge, full of wit, quick at repartee, abounding in anecdote, and who was always the life of any circle, wher ever he might be found. His love of humor sometimes placed him in most unpleasant positions. This story is told of him : He 59
was on a North River steamboat, and stepped up to the office to pay his fare. Between him and the captain stood, as he supposed, a well-known friend, with his back toward him. His supposed friend had laid his pocket-book in front of him and was set tling his fare. The Judge passed his hand over the shoulder of the owner of the pocketbook, seized it, and quietly passed it behind his own back. His consternation must be imagined, it certainly cannot be described, when the face of an entire stranger was dis closed. Expostulation, explanation, and en treaty were all in vain. The stranger demanded that the thief should be instantly arrested and held in custody, until he could be delivered to the proper authorities for punishment. Fortunately some mutual friends were present, who, after enjoying the situation at the expense of the practical joker caught in his own trap, explained matters, and the judge was released from his embarrassing position. It is very doubtful whether the lesson learned on this occasion taught him caution. His love of humor never deserted him, and nothing delighted him more than to gather with friends and with quirp and jest pass away an hour. With all this he was a man of dignity, and could, whenever circumstances required it, preside at a court with all the solemnity befitting the time and his high office. Upon his withdrawal from the bench, Judge Nevius removed to Jersey City and attempted to resume his practice there; but he was not successful. His health soon failed, and he died in 1859. Ira Condict Whitehead was a Morris County man, born near Morristown, April 8, 1798. In early youth he showed a strong bias for literary pursuits. His father was a farmer, of rather moderate means, but, anx
