which reference could be made in case of doubt. Without any other guide, he felt at liberty to exercise such powers of the English chancery as he deemed applicable under the Constitution and laws of the State, subject to the correction of the Court of Errors, on appeal.

cause.

The causes before the court were managed by a few lawyers. He opened wide its doors; and his kindness and affability, his known habits of business and promptitude of decision, attracted many to the court. The number of causes rapidly increased, and it soon required the strenuous and unceasing efforts of his active mind to hear and decide the cases brought before him. Besides his attendance during the regular terms of the court, he was at all times easy of access at his chambers; so that no one ever complained of delay in the hearing or decision of his He considered the cases in the order in which they were presented or argued, and did not leave one until he was fully prepared to deliver his judgment upon it. He read the pleadings and depositions with the greatest attention, carefully abstracting from them every material fact; and having become familiar with the merits of the cause, he was able, unless some technical or artificial rule was interposed, by his own clear moral perception to discover where lay the equity of the case. Not content, however, with satisfying his conscience as to the justice of his decision, he was studious to demonstrate that his judgment was supported by the well established principles of equity to be found in the decisions of the courts of the country from which our laws have been derived. His researches on every point were so full as to leave little or nothing to be supplied by those who might afterward wish to have his decisions re-examined or to test the correctness of his conclusions.

Accustomed to take a large view of jurisprudence, and considering law not as a connection of arbitrary and disconnected rules, but rather as a science founded on general principles of justice and equity, to be applied to the actions of men in the diversified relations of civil society, he was not deterred, but animated, by the novelty and intricacy of a case; and while his mind was warmly engaged in the general subject, he sought

rather than avoided difficult points, even when the discussion of them was not essential to the decision of the main question between the parties; so that nothing was suffered to pass without examination. His judicial opinions are, therefore, uncommonly interesting and instructive to all, but especially to those who have commenced the study of the law, and aspire to eminence in that profession. The decisions in chancery are contained in seven volumes of Reports.

On the 31st of July, 1823, having attained the age of sixty years, the period limited by the Constitution for the tenure of his office, he retired from the court, after hearing and deciding every case that had been brought before him. On this occasion, the members of the bar residing in the City of New York, presented him an address. After speaking of the inestimable benefits conferred on the community by his judicial labors for five and twenty years, they say:

"During this long course of services, so useful and honorable, and which will form the most brilliant period in our judicial history, you have, by a series of decisions, in law and equity, distinguished alike for practical wisdom, profound learning, deep research and accurate discrimination, contributed to establish the fabric of our jurisprudence on those sound principles that have been sanctioned by the experience of mankind, and expounded by the enlightened and venerable sages of the law. Though others may hereafter enlarge and adorn the edifice whose deep and solid foundations were laid by the wise and patriotic framers of our government, in that common law which they claimed for the people as their noblest inheritance, your labors on this magnificent structure will forever remain eminently conspicuous, commanding the applause of the present generation, and exciting the admiration and gratitude of future ages."

A similar address was presented to him by the members of the bar in Albany, and also by those from the different counties of the State, attending the Supreme Court in Utica, in August following. In the latter, reference was made to the entire revolution which had been accomplished in the administration of equity; and it was compared to a similar revolution

in the English chancery, affected by Sir Heneage Finch, afterward Earl of Nottingham, who became chancellor in 1673.

In the same address, they refer to their intercourse with him as a judge to his personal kindness, his pureness and gentleness of heart, and the uniform and uninterrupted course of generous, candid and polite treatment which had marked his intercourse with the bar.

In these addresses, the bar were led to express a doubt as to the wisdom of that clause in the political constitution of the State, which "compelled him, in the full enjoyment of his intellectual faculties, to relinquish a station he had filled with such consummate ability."

In August, he visited the Eastern States, and soon afterward determined to remove to the City of New York, open a law school and act as chamber counsel. The trustees of the college again offered him the professorship of law in that institution, which he accepted; and in 1824, he prepared and delivered a series of law lectures on a more comprehensive plan than that pursued in his former course. He also gave private instruction to students who resorted to him from various parts of the United States. His parental kindness toward the young, and the frankness and affability of his manners, won their affection without diminishing their respect; and his conversation and example could not fail to inspire that ardor and emulation so conducive to their progress and success.

His high reputation as a judge, induced many, not only in the city, but in distant places, to consult him on difficult and important questions, and, instead of the brief answers usually returned by counsel, he gave full and argumentative opinions. Many causes actually pending in court were, by the agreement of parties, submitted to his final decision. He had continued, for some years, thus usefully and agreeably occupied, when, having discontinued his law lectures, he began to revise and enlarge them for publication; and in November, 1826, appeared the first volume of the "Commentaries on American Law." This volume includes three parts: the law of nations, the government and constitutional jurisprudence of the United States, and the various sources of municipal law. The second

volume was published in November, 1827, the third in 1828, and the fourth in 1830. The last three comprise the law concerning the rights of persons, and personal and real property.

He treated the several subjects comprised under these extensive and most important titles-the rights of person and the rights of property-in a manner more full and satisfactory than Blackstone; and introduced many others not found in the work of that author, with numerous references, quotations and illustrations, the result of his various and extensive reading, highly pleasing and instructive to the student. The subjects of private and public wrongs, which occupy the third and fourth volumes of the English commentator, Chancellor Kent left untouched.

The work of Sir William Blackstone, by the elegance of its style, its lucid arrangement and finished execution, is so well adapted to render the study of the law attractive, that it has been for many years very properly placed in the hands of every student. But an American work, exhibiting our own Constitution, laws, institutions, usages, and civil relatior had long been wanted. In the full maturity of his understanding, with a mind long habituated to legal investigations and researches, and with sound and enlightened views of jurisprudence, he was fitted, better, perhaps, than any other man of his age, to execute such a work.

The first edition of the Commentaries having been exhausted, he published a second in April, 1832, carefully revised and much enlarged.

Having been elected President of the New York Historical Society, he delivered, by request, a public discourse, at their anniversary meeting, on the 6th of December, 1828. In this elegant and instructive address, he noticed the principal events in the history of the colony and State of New York, to the end of the Revolution.

At the request of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Yale College, a literary association formed in 1780, of which he was an original member, and comprising the most distinguished graduates of that institution, he delivered a public address, at the anniversary meeting, September 13, 1831. This discourse, in

which he takes a historical review of the college from its origin in the beginning of the last century, and sketches the characters of its pious and learned founders, supporters and instructors, is replete with generous feelings and just sentiments on literature and education. Alluding, toward the close, to his own class, of whom twelve (out of twenty-five) were then living, and most of those present, he said:

"Star after star has fallen from its sphere. A few bright lights are still visible; but the constellation itself has become dim, and almost ceases to shed its radiance around me. What a severe lesson of mortality does such a retrospect teach! What a startling rebuke to human pride! How brief the drama! How insignificant the honors and fiery chase of ambition,' except as mental discipline for beings destined for immortality."

Chancellor Kent had four children, one of whom, a son, was also a lawyer. One died in early life. He was happy in his family, amiable, modest, and candid in his social intercourse. With a sound constitution, strengthened and preserved by temperance and moderate exercise, he enjoyed almost entirely uninterrupted health to the close of his career.

He died December 12, 1847, at the advanced age of eightyfour. Few men have left a more valuable legacy to the world.