JOEL PARKER. 337 



Though a close and earnest student all his life, and constantly busy 

 with his pen, unfortunately for the permanency of his fame as an 

 author, he left no considerable work upon any one topic, which is the 

 more to be regretted, wlien what he did leave shows such unquestion- 

 able ability to do ample justice to any subject which he might have 

 undertaken. His legal opinions, as a judge, extend through thirteen 

 volumes of the New Hampshire Reports, and will be lasting memorials 

 of his learning, diligence, judicial afcumen, and independent judgment. 

 Many -of them were upon new and important questions, and evince a 

 remarkable skill at analysis and profound discrimination, wliich were 

 marked characteristics of his mind. Among them will be found the 

 memorable discussion of certain questions growing out of the construc- 

 tion to be given to the word " lien," made use of in the United States 

 Bankrupt Law of 1841, upon which Judge Story had given able and 

 elaborate opinions, which he projjosed to enforce in opposition to those 

 entertained by Chief Justice Parker. It is sufficient for the purposes 

 of this notice to say that, upon tlie final determination of these ques- 

 tions by the Supreme Court of the United States, the positions 

 assumed by Judge Parker, and which he was equally resolute with 

 his distinguished antagonist to maintain, were fully sustained. His 

 publications, aside from his judicial opinions, consisted of lectures, 

 addresses, literary and historical, and essays and discussions upon 

 questions of constitutional law, which, if collected, would form a large 

 volume replete with learning and profound thought, suited as well to 

 the future as to the then condition of the country which called them 

 out. No one who should read them would need to be told that he 

 was not only a bold and independent thinker, but that he never tem- 

 porized in his course where he thought ^jublic duty led the way. 



If, now, we pass from a consideration of his public life to the quali- 

 ties for which he was distinguished within the precincts of his own 

 home, it may be remarked that his wife, who survives him, was the 

 daughter of Elijah Parker, Esq., his former professional partner. 

 They had three children, of whom a son and a daughter now survive 

 him. With all his habits of close and severe thought and study in the 

 performance of his official duties, he was eminently domestic in his 

 tastes and occupations. He loved to make his home pleasant by its 

 surroundings. He indulged in the culture of flowers, the reading of 

 his favorite poets, and the free and familiar converse with his family 

 and friends, characterized, as it often was, by a vein of genial and play- 

 ful humor which broke down every tiling like stiffness or reserve in 

 his intercourse in domestic life. 



VOL. XI. (n. s. III.) 22 



