APPENDIX. 69 



ftrong and fure ground, he was not eafily tempted to abandon 1,01'dTrendent 



Miller. 

 It. 



To the fame conftitution of mind, he was indebted for his 

 particular eminence in that article, wherein perhaps lies the 

 main difficulty of the Judge's tafk, — the difcovering the pre- 

 cife application, or the inapplicability, of the general pre- 

 cepts of law to the particular cafe in hand. He was nowife 

 apt to haften to a fentence, but patiently fufpended his opinion 

 till the due inveftigations had fully ripened the cafe for judg- 

 ment ; which neceffary preparation once made, he then earneft- 

 ly applied himfelf to underftand, and get pofTeffion of, the pe- 

 culiar circumftances and proper complexion of that cafe. 

 Whence it came, that in the courfe of the many years he fat 

 upon the Bench, the number of his judgments as an Ordinary, 

 that were altered on review of the whole fcCourt, was almoft 

 incredibly fmall, and that, in a great proportion of the caufes 

 brought before him, the unfuccefsful party acquiefced in his 

 opinion, and carried the fuit no farther. 



Hence alfo, in the deliberations of the whole Court, it often 

 happened, (as many who now hear me remember), that, by 

 detailing the caufe to the Bench, (which he did with great 

 force and perfpicuity), and fixing upon fpecial circumftances 

 which others had overlooked, or lefs attentively confidered, he 

 was able to turn the tide of argument, and win his brethren 

 over to his opinion. 



Yet, though this was perhaps his peculiar excellence, he was 

 the very reverfe of a minute or unfteady lawyer. He had, on 

 the contrary, the firmeft hold of the principles and fpirit of 

 the law in every department, and on all occafions that gave 

 fcope for general reafoning, ever drew his opinion, not from 

 the authority of books and precedents, (which hardly any Judge 

 ever dealt lefs in quoting), but from the fource and fountain- 

 head of the law, — the ftrain of our ftatutes, and the reafon and 

 fubftance of the thing. 



But 



