Now in youth's buoyant merry round,
With quickened pulse my steps advance;
Where music, wine and wit abound,
And blushing beauty leads the dance.
Let me pass.

Now blest with children, wife and friends,
Ambition urging to the van,

I strive to walk where duty tends,
With love to God, good will to man.
Let me pass.

And now my better home draws nigh,
Free from presumption and despair ;
But weary, faint, I wait to die,

And leave this world with all its care.
Let me pass.

JUDICIAL TENURE AND COMPENSATION OF Judges.

ADDRESS BY

BENJAMIN F. FIFIELD,

PRESIDENT.

DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1884.

Gentlemen of the Bar Association:

Of the three branches of Government the Judicial is by far the most important, and so long as it is able and learned and independent, the administration of justice will be kept pure, and the affairs of the public will be taken care of.

The executive may be corrupt or weak-no serious consequences will follow. The Legislature may be hasty or injudicious in action-no great permanent harm will come of it; and, I repeat, so long as the administration of justice is in the hands of men, conscientious and strong, the best purposes of Government will be accomplished. And the reason is plain enough. The judiciary do not make the laws-they do not execute the laws, and yet they hold its entire administration in their hands. They are brought into daily contact with the affairs of men; they settle their disputes in analogy to rules of law that have been established for a long series of years. They daily administer the law where life, liberty and property are at stake, and as they pronounce the law to be, so it is.

If men were perfect there would be no need of government; there would be no need of Courts, or of a Legislature or an

Executive. It is because men are selfish and imperfect that government is necessary. It is because men are unjust to each other that disputes arise, and government is instituted to regulate these matters. When disputes arise there must be some tribunal to determine the right; and thus it is that Courts are brought into requisition for this purpose. Why it is, then, that the judiciary should be of the highest order, will easily occur to anyone. It is that branch of government toward which we have the highest respect, and upon which we depend for all that is best in affairs.

The Courts of Vermont have always been of the highest character, respected and honored by the people, and the judgments which they have pronounced have been acquiesced in with the utmost respect. Our Judges are elected biennially by the Legislature, and their compensation is $2,500 each. Seven Judges perform the whole circuit duty of the State; each Judge is Chancellor, and administers equity law in any part of the State, and all the Judges sit in banc, as the Supreme Court, with the exception of the one whose decision is reviewed.

The system has worked well, as a rule, and it has not been difficult to find eminent gentlemen in the profession, willing to take the dignity and honors of the place, with the compensation provided by law. It is not more than just to the Legislature to say that it has re-elected and kept in place Judges who have demonstrated their fitness for the position; that it has done this, too, without respect to the politics of the candidate. Experience is the best test, as a rule, of what is wise and best, but it is not infallible, and a few thoughts are ventured for the consideration of this Association on the tenure of office and compensation of the Judiciary.

Judges, like all other men, love security and independence, and, it is to be presumed, appreciate the comforts of life. If they did not they would hardly be fit for Judges. They feel

the difference between the security which follows life tenure, and a tenure dependent upon an election once in two years. They feel the difference between compensation that is permanent, and that which may suddenly leave them without position and without practice.

And this being so it is but natural to suppose that services rendered will be in some measure commensurate with the benefit received.

If the tenure is brief and the compensation small the service rendered may be imperfect and the duties but poorly attended to. But if the position is permanent and the compensation liberal, competition is invited and the service will be well and thoroughly done.

I think that the judiciary should be appointed by the Executive for life or during good behavior, subject to confirmation by the Senate and subject to removal for cause, and that the compensation should be so generous as to allow them to live. handsomely, though not extravagantly, while performing their judicial functions, permitting the laying aside of such surplus as that when the eve of life comes on it shall be attended by that independence which is becoming to such servants of the State. And I say this not on their account alone, but in the interest of the public also.

It may be well to inquire what makes a good judge? He must be able and learned in the law, of course. But more than that he must be brave and firm in its administration. He must know no favorites, no enemies. He must have a single eye to the main purpose, that justice is done between litigants, and to this end he must have an instinctive sense of what is right himself. His intellectual make-up and methods must be direct, and his bearing dignified as well as courteous. Above all must he possess acknowledged independence and a general character rendering it unquestionable. He must be entirely above reproach or suspicion. Having

no favors to grant he has none to ask. His duty is to know the law and, knowing, pronounce it, though the heavens fall. Such a man is not easily found. Such a man is not easily retained when other fields of labor offer higher attractions. Can it be done under our present system? Surely not by making his tenure of office uncertain. Surely not by making his compensation ungenerous. Such a policy is but to be penny wise and pound foolish.

Let us trace the course of a young man ambitious for professional or judicial honors. He enters College at the age of eighteen years; four years of laborious study are before him. Latin and Greek must be known; mathematics must be mastered and the wide field of English literature must be plowed and harrowed. Considerable money must be expended in this preliminary education. At twenty-two he graduates, buoyant, hopeful and ambitious, and looks about him for that profession which is most honorable and satisfactory to himself. He selects the law. He learns that three years more of study are necessary before he can be admitted to the Bar, and that this is but a preparatory course; that when the three years are ended he is but a fledgling, and that long years of practice, experience and drill are necessary before he can occupy an elevated position at the Bar, much less perform the high functions of judicial position. Yet he observes the estimation given to high professional position and the respect which is accorded to our judges, and he commences his course. Blackstone is learned by heart. Chitty is a, b, c to him, all elementary works are thoroughly mastered, and at the end of three years a learned committee at the Bar pronounce him fit to become their associate. But his troubles have only begun. The great volume of jurisprudence has yet to be examined. The immense mass of reports which now crowd the library of every first-class lawyer hold the treasures which only shall sustain him. The rebuffs of his