The Supreme Court of North Carolina.
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THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA. By Walter Clark. II. JOSEPH JOHN DANIEL was a resi dent of Halifax County, in which he was born Nov. 13, 1784. He entered the University in 1804, but left after a brief stay, and studied law under Gen. William R. Davie at Halifax. He represented that borough town in the legislature in the years 1807 and 181 5, and the county in the same body 1811 and 1812. He was elected a judge of the Superior Court in 18 16, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Leonard Henderson. This posi tion he filled with fidelity sixteen years, and at June Term, 1820, of the Supreme Court, sat in a few cases in that court by special commission, as already mentioned in the sketch of Judge Murphey. In 1832, upon the resignation of Judge Hall, he was elected to succeed him upon the Supreme Court bench. He discharged the duties of that post till his death, which took place at Raleigh, Feb. 10, 1848. While in service on the bench he was a member from Halifax of the Constitutional Convention of 1835, in which his colleague, Judge Gaston, was also a member. Judge Daniel's opinions have always been great favorites with the profession. They are the shortest to be found in our reports, yet they are clear, to the point, and dispose of the whole subject in hand. Wheeler in his History says of him : " He was re markable for his patience, profound legal knowledge, and general learning, especially in history. His character was one of in nocent eccentricity, and if he possessed the ' wisdom of the serpent,' truly, it might well be said, the ' harmlessness of the dove ' also belonged to him. The elevation of office and the dignity of position never changed the native simplicity of his char66
acter and the unadulterated purity of his republican principles." Upon Judge Daniel's death in 1848, Chief-Justice Ruffin, who had been so intimately associated with him for sixteen years, said of him, " He had a love of learning, an inquiring mind, and a memory uncommonly tenacious; and he had acquired and retained a stock of varied and exten sive knowledge, and especially became well versed in the History and Principles of the Law. He was without arrogance or ostenta tion, even of his learning; he had the most unaffected and charming simplicity and mildness of manners, and no other purpose in office than to ' execute justice and main tain truth.' " But he needs no tongue or pen to praise him. His eulogy was written by his own hand in the judicial opinions which still remain to instruct us. It is not uncommon to be fulsome in speaking of the dead, seeking the favor of the living rather than the cool impartial award of history, and presenting a fancy sketch for which the delineator is " indebted to his imagination for his facts, and to his memory for his wit." Nothing was more foreign to the character of Judge Daniel. He knew himself how to speak truly and to the point, and to stop when he had made himself understood. Like Cromwell, he would have said, " Paint me as I am." He made no pretensions to greatness. He was a strong man and a just judge. He was a good lawyer, and deservedly ranks high up in the legal pantheon. Unlike Ruffin, he had no spheres of activ ity off the bench; though possessed of a great memory and an accurate knowledge of history, unlike Murphey, he has left us noth ing from his pen except his decisions, and, unlike Gaston, he did not achieve eminence
