Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 07.pdf/265

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The Green Bag.

as President Judge of the Common Pleas Court of that county, which position he held until the year 1849, at which time he was elected by the Legislature a judge of Supreme Court, and was re-elected by the people under the new Constitution. In 1854, he resigned from the Supreme Court Bench and returned to his practice in Cincinnati. The strongest points about the make-up of Judge Caldwell were his good nature and his unerring judgment of human nature; he seemed to read men as most men do books, with perfect ease. All his life long he was a close student. He was straightforward and manly in all his dealing and intercourse with others. The opinions written by Judge Cald well are found in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth Ohio Reports, and in the three first Ohio State Reports. He was much lamented, after death, by those who had had the good fortune to know him in life. Robert B. Warden was one of the early reporters of the Supreme Court, coming from Cincinnati. Upon the resignation of Judge Corwin, he was, while acting as re porter, appointed judge of the Supreme Court, serving only about a year. He was only twenty-eight years of age when appointed, and hence the youngest man to occupy a position upon the Supreme bench. He was a man of exceptional ability, but did not possess the power to use it to the best advantage. He was the author of a book entitled " Forensic View of Man and Law." He practiced law in various places in Ohio, finally removing to Washington, D.C., where he died several years ago. William Kennon was born May 13, 1798, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. His father, with his family, removed to Bel mont County, Ohio, in 1804, where the Judge continued to reside until his death, November 2, 1881, at his residence in St. Clairsville, Ohio. He attended Franklin College for a short time, then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1824, and

began practice at St. Clairsville. He was elected a member of Congress in 1828; in 1840 he was appointed, by the Legislature, President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the 13th District; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850; in 1851 he was appointed a member of the Codifying Commission, which framed the Civil Code of Procedure; in 1854 he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court. His opinions are found in volumes 3, 4, and 5, Ohio State Reports. As a public man his every act was marked with ability and honesty. He stood for many years at the head of the profession in Ohio; was elo quent, and as a leader had few equals, per haps none who surpassed him in the power to convince the mind of either judge or jury of the correctness of his position. He retained his mental strength up to a late day in life, beginning the study of the He brew language at the age of seventy-five, and in a very short time was able to read the Old Testament in the original. Joseph R. Swan was born December 28, 1802, in Oneida County, New York. He received an academical education at Aurora in that State, where he began the study of law; he came to Columbus, Ohio, in 1824, and entered the office of his uncle, Judge Gustavus Swan (who was looked upon as one of Ohio's ablest lawyers), and shortly thereafter was admitted to the bar. He immediately entered into the practice of law in Franklin County, and soon obtained a high position as a lawyer. The Common Pleas Court of Franklin County, recognizing his worth and ability, and having full con fidence in his integrity, appointed him to the office of Prosecuting Attorney in the year 1830. In 1833 the General Assembly passed an act providing for the election of prosecutor by a vote of the people, and in October of that year Judge.Swan was Prosecuting Attor ney. He performed the duties of that of fice until 1834", when the General Assembly