presumption to be rebutted by proof. He may be said to have codified the law on these subjects in Virginia, for these cases have never been questioned. His early death was a great loss to the State. In all of his relations his character was without spot or blemish. He was the father of Col. John B. Baldwin, one of the greatest orators the State ever produced, who at the beginning of the late war between the States, though he was no believer in the doctrine of secession, went with the State out of the Union, because of his love for his own people. Judge William Daniel was born in Cum berland County, Va., Nov. 26, 1806; educated at Hampden-Sidney College, he studied law in 1827-28, and, it is said, was licensed and practised before he was twenty-one, and was also elected a member of the Legislature and served while he was yet a minor. On Dec. 15, 1846, he was elected a judge of the Court of Appeals; was re-elected by the people after the adoption of the Constitution of 1851, and served until 1865. His first wife was Miss Sarah A. Warwick, a daughter of Major John M. Warwick, of Lynchburg. She was the mother of United States Senator John W. Daniel, the famous author of " Daniel on Negotiable Instruments." Judge Daniel died at Farmville, Va., March 28, 1873. He was a very manly and gen erous man, as his father, who was also a judge, was before him. The reports do not show it; but tradition says that while he was on the Supreme Bench engaged in hearing argu ment in an aggravated case of assault, he said that the d d lie was equivalent to the first blow. It is universally believed that he so ruled, and it has since always been regarded as the correct doctrine in Vir ginia. No one questions its soundness, and in actual life it is accepted as the settled law of the Commonwealth. One of the most celebrated cases which he decided was that of Baker v. Wise, Governor, 16 Gratt. 139. The constitutionality of an act of the Virginia Legislature of March 17,
1856, entitled " An Act providing additional protection for the slave property of citizens of the Commonwealth," was drawn in ques tion. Levi Baker was captain of a schooner called the " Nymphus C. Hall." The act im posed a penalty for any vessel not owned by Virginians " about to sail or steam from any port or place in this State for any port or place north of and beyond the capes of Virginia, to depart from the waters of this Commonwealth until said vessel has under gone the inspection hereinafter provided for in this act, and received a certificate to that effect." The penalty was §500 fine on the captain or owner of the vessel, and it was to prevent the escape of fugitive slaves. The action was brought for the benefit of the State by Henry A. Wise, Governor. The defendant pleaded Nil debet, on which issue was joined. The jury found for the plaintiff, and brought in a special verdict setting out the question of the constitutionality of the act, and submitting the matters to the court for decision. The case was very ably argued: a gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. John
- son, appearing, along with a number of resi
| dent lawyers of distinction, for Baker. But the court held the act to be constitutional, and within the police powers of the State. Any one who will read the decision even on that vexed question will concede that it is ably reasoned and sound. Says Daniel, Judge: — "The search is required in the case of a vessel bound north, not merely because of its being so bound, but because by reason of such destination the danger of attempted escapes through the instru mentality of the vessel is enhanced. The discrimi nation proceeds upon no preference of the ships or ports of one State over those of another, but upon motives of State necessity, actually existing or fairly supposed to exist, in the judgment of the Legislature."
The opinion was rendered at the April Term, 186 1. R. C. L. Moncure, of a distinguished family, came to the bar at the early age of twenty.
