628 HORACE GRAY. 



wonderful capacity for research, the instinct which, when some interest- 

 ing question of law was up, would direct Gray's thumb and finger to some 

 obscure volume of English Reports of Law or Equit}', was almost like the 

 scent of a wild animal or a bird of prey. When any one of the great 

 lawyers of Massachusetts was arguing or was waiting to argue a great 

 case, the young reporter would often appear to him with a case which the 

 counsel had not discovered, and was pat to the question. So, although he 

 was hardly out of his boyhood, they all got to like him as a companion, 

 and to respect him as a lawyer. When Gushing died, most of these 

 lawyers joined in a recommendation for the appointment of Gray, who 

 was then but twenty-six years old." lie was reporter for six years, 

 being also engaged in practice during the time. For about two years he 

 was a partner of Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, afterwards his associate 

 in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts and Attorney-General of the 

 United States. Later he was in partnership with Wilder Dwight and 

 Charles F. Blake. Mr. Gray's practice at the bar was considerable, 

 though not very large; the cases which he argued were more important 

 than numerous. He was appointed by Governor Andrew associate jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, August 23, 1864 ; 

 chief justice of the same court by Governor Washburn, September 5, 

 1873; and finally was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court 

 of the United States by President Arthur, December 20, 1881. He 

 resigned that office August, 1902, and died at Nahant on the fifteenth 

 day of September, in that year. 



Law is more than justice. Its administration seeks something more 

 than justice between man and man in the particular case before the court. 

 It is order as well as justice, established that the citizen may know, surely 

 and beforehand, what will be the consequence of his acts, so that he may 

 direct them accordingly. In not a few matters, it is better that the law 

 should be settled than that it should be right. If given words have an 

 interpretation absolutely fixed, for example, they can be used with safety, 

 however absurd may have been the interpretation originally reached ; 

 l)ut if they are interpreted now in one sense and now in another, no man 

 is safe. 



Horace Gray had a strong sense of order. He had a great memory, 

 and its order was even more remarkable than its extent and its accuracy. 

 His learning was ready for use, so arranged that everything which 

 related to the subject he was considering could be produced without 

 admixture of the irrelevant. His mental index was so perfect that 

 nothing was found under the wrong heading. The orderly administration 



