655
The Editor's Bag The mind of Justice Harlan, like that
of the late Justices Brewer and Peck ham, was more rugged than keen, and
better fitted to cope with practical realities than with subtleties of legal reasoning and extinct lore of the books. This fact accounts for the simple, direct,
persuasive quality of his judicial opin ions, which were easily understood by the layman, and had a downrightness
that commanded the admiration of the bar for their vigor and independence. The frequency and energy of the late Judge's dissents has given rise to the
impression that he was more independ ent than most of his colleagues, but
manlier virtues.
as well as by the gentler His impressive personal pres
ence well befitted the dignity of the Court, and his past accomplishments as soldier and orator increased the re spect in which he was held. John Marshall Harlan was born June 1, 1833, of Quaker ancestry on his father's side, his father being one of the foremost members of the bar of Kentucky. Justice Harlan received his
early education in Kentucky, the state of his birth, and in 1861 removed to Louisville. He had hardly become settled before the war broke out. He raised a regiment and became colonel, but after
candor is pre-eminently a judicial char
fifteen months’ service in the Uniori
acteristic, and able judges who have the
Army the death of his father forced him to return home. He ran in 1871 and 1875 as Republican candidate for Governor of Kentucky, although he
courage of their convictions are rather the rule than the exception. It was not the fact that Justice Harlan had the courage of his convictions that distin guished him from his colleagues, but rather the tenacity with which he clung
knew beforehand in each case that he could not be elected. In the Republican convention of 1876
to his convictions, and the ruggedness of temperament which led him to ex press them with aggressive insistence.
he was the leader of the Kentucky dele
His was a mind less impressionable, less flexible than that of most of the
A few months after Hayes’s inaugura tion he was appointed to the Supreme
other members of the Court, less easily
bench.
tempted to modify its conclusions in response to the complicated considera tions entering into the determination had no interest in the theories of a
It was Justice Harlan's ambition to serve until next June, when he would have exceeded the service of any other man who ever sat on the Supreme bench. As it was his service was
changing Constitution, of an overlapping of governmental powers, or of a public policy determined by the dictates of
longer than that of any other Justice except Chief Justice Marshall and As sociate Justice Stephen J. Field.
of every great legal controversy.
public opinion.
He
gation, and it was by his efforts that Hayes was nominated for President.
He leaned to the doc
trine of strict literal construction of the Constitution, and adhered pretty closely to views on constitutional questions
formed early in his public career. Personally Justice Harlan was a bluff yet kindly Kentucky gentleman, con
siderate of all those with whom he had contact, yet winning admiration by the
A GHASTLY MISTAKE (From the Westminster Review) “
RRAT UM.—On page 200, in the August issue of the Westminster Review, instead of ‘Not in a single in stance during a quarter of a century, has a barrister-judge been concerned in fail ures of justice,’ read ‘civilian-j udge,’ etc."
