IN MEMORIAM

THE CLERK: The United States Tax Court is now in special session for the purpose of conducting a memorial proceeding for the late Judge J. Edgar Murdock. Chief Judge Howard A. Dawson, Jr., is presiding. Please be seated.

CHIEF JUDGE DAWSON: We are gathered here today to pay tribute and respect to our late, beloved colleague, Judge J. Edgar Murdock, and to honor his memory.

Judge Murdock died May 2, 1977. At this moment the flag in front of this Courthouse flies at half-staff in his honor. The Judges who are seated with me on the Bench are those who had the privilege of serving as active Judges with Ned Murdock. From your left to your right they are Judge William M. Drennen, Judge Craig S. Atkins, Judge Norman O. Tietjens, Judge Bolon B. Turner, Judge Bruce M. Forrester, Judge Arnold Raum, Judge Russell E. Train, and Judge Irene F. Scott. Unfortunately Judges J. Gregory Bruce, Graydon G. Withey, Allin H. Pierce, and John E. Mulroney could not join us today. But each has expressed his deep sense of loss that is, of course, shared by everyone who knew Judge Murdock.

For all of the Judges of the Court I express our heartfelt sympathy to the daughters of Judge Murdock, Mrs. Joseph L. Bolster, Jr., and Mrs. Richard T. Matsch, their husbands, Mr. Bolster and United States District Court Judge Richard Matsch, his daughter-in-law, Mrs. J. Edgar Murdock, Jr., his 21 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren, some of whom are here in the Courtroom.

We are also pleased by the presence of the other Judges, members of the Bar, former law clerks of Judge Murdock, attorneys from the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue Service, friends of Judge Murdock, and employees and former employees of the United States Tax Court.

IX

Judge Murdock's background was varied and colorful. His distinguished career was devoted to a lifetime of public service. A native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Princeton University in 1916 and served as a Captain in the United States Army in France during World War I. He was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action. After receiving his law degree from the University of Pittsburg and being admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1921, he served as First Assistant District Attorney for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from 1922 to 1926. On June 9, 1926, President Coolidge appointed Ned Murdock to a 6-year term on the Board of Tax Appeals. Then age 32, he was the youngest person in the Court's history ever to be appointed Judge. He was reappointed for three additional 12-year terms. He served as Chairman of the Board of Tax Appeals in 1941 and 1942, as Presiding Judge of the Tax Court of the United States from 1942 to 1945, and again as Chief Judge from July 1, 1955, to June 30, 1961, when he retired. However, he continued to serve on recall until December 31, 1968. For many years he was also chairman of the Court's important Rules Committee. Every Court, like every nation, has a father figure. Ned Murdock was the father of the Tax Court. He was first in promoting and imparting judicial excellence to this body, first in providing it with strong leadership, and first in the respect and admiration of his fellow Judges. He was predominant as the Court's most influential member.

Judge Murdock was noted for his brevity, as reflected in his terse opinions. His first was Burch v. Commissioner, 4 B.T.A. 604, written July 30, 1926. It covered one page. There were seven lines in the findings of fact. There were ten lines in the opinion. His last opinion was written November 7, 1968, in Adolf Coors Co. v. Commissioner, 27 T.C.M. 1351, 37 P-H Memo. T.C. par. 68, 256. It, too, was brief, considering the length of the record. In all, he wrote over 2,000 opinions: 645 are in the Board of Tax Appeals Reports; 507 are in the Tax Court Reports. The remainder were memorandum opinions. Many were landmark opinions of this Court, such as Corn Products Refining Co. v. Commissioner, 16 T.C. 395; Lawrence v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 713; and Sullenger v. Commissioner, 11 T.C. 1076. I have found some short statements which give the real flavor of Judge Murdock's writing.

In Gensinger v. Commissioner, 18 T.C. 122, 133, Judge Murdock wrote, "It seems incongruous to hold the corporation and the petitioner to greater knowledge of the tax law than the Commissioner himself has demonstrated in this case."

In D'Alise v. Commissioner, 21 T.C. 511, appears the most succinct headnote in all the Tax Court reports. It reads: "Fraud-Proof woefully inadequate."

In Marlor v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 624, 626, Judge Murdock said, "Education of this kind is personal and its cost is not a deductible expense of this petitioner any more than would be the cost of fattening himself if he were too thin physically instead of intellectually."

In Suggestions Written for the Benefit of New Tax Court Judges, Judge Murdock wrote:

It is thus necessary that each Judge operate in harmony and in accordance with the practice and policies of this integrated Court, and not indulge in his own idiosyncrasies.

The Judges of the Court, by diligent effort, have established for it an enviable record. It is up to you to help protect and enhance that record. Your colleagues want to help you become as good a Judge as is within your abilities. Their criticism in conferences and elsewhere is intended to be constructive and helpful, not as a personal affront. Plan to profit by it without hurt feelings.

Most people prefer to learn only from experience, their own experience. Indeed, it is doubtful whether experience can be communicated successfully. Certainly advice is more gladly and more frequently given than followed on this Court.

The finest tribute to Judge Murdock appears in the case of American Coast Line v. Commissioner, 159 F.2d 665, 669, an opinion written by the late Judge Learned Hand of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He said:

It is of course not our province to fix the distribution of judicial power; least of all are we in a position to measure the higher authority which the Tax Court's constant occupation in its special field should give to its rulings, as distinct from ours in our sprawling jurisdiction. We can think of no legal question as to which we ought more readily yield than that at bar; in that thicket of verbiage, through which we have been forced to cut a way, it must surely be an advantage to have been familiar with other tangles of the same general sort; and, while it is the pleasure of Congress to express itself, we may well be grateful that we are permitted to put our hand into those of accredited pathfinders.

Judge Murdock wrote the opinion in this Court. He was indeed a "pathfinder" with a pioneering spirit.