Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/204

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The Supreme Court of Vermont. conferred upon him by Middlebury College and his alma mater. He practiced at Irasburgh from his ad mission in 1838 to 1848; represented his town and county in the Legislature, and in the latter year removed to Montpelier. He took high rank in his profession, was advisor and director in many important cor porations. He was of dignified and courtly

bearing, of great fair ness and candor. During his profes sional life at Mont pelier, he was often as sociated in jury trials with the late Paul Dillingham, who, when the testimony was closed, would remark to Redfield, "Now, Timothy, you preach, while I, Paul, will pray." He ap preciated wit and humor in others and had an abundant fund of droll and interest ing stories of the early Bar and Bench. He was a fine clas sical scholar, exceed ingly accurate in the RUSSELL repetition of anything that another had said or of what he had read. He was voted for, for judge, at the elections in 1857. He would have rendered better service to the State had he been elected then or in 1860, when he would have willingly accepted the place upon the retirement of his brother, the Chief Judge, but at the latter date, Judge Peck, the greatest Vermont jurist, was a member of the Legislature and his standing was such with the members that his election went without question. In 1870, when Judge Steele retired, he was elected his successor and served until

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he voluntarily retired in 1884. In 1883, on account of poor health, he visited Europe; after his return his health to some extent gave way, affecting his mind slightly, and he declined, further service. He was a more concise writer in his opinions than his brother, the Chief Judge, but he resembled him in many particulars. He had a tenacious and most accurate memory of the cases, and seldom misap plied them in their application to the case at hand. It is not for me to write of the pres ent members of the court. They are all, save Judge Rowell, natives of the State, and he has been a resident since child hood. They have all represented their respective towns in the General Assem bly, and all save Judge Tyler been members of the State Senate, and he rep resented his district in Congress. S. TAFT. It may be that it is for the reason that they have had so much legislative experi ence that they can evidently divine what the intention of the Legislature in enacting a statute is, although such intention is not expressed in the words of the act, as in Legg v. Britton, 64 Vt. 652. Judges Munson and Thompson have been judges of the probate court, and all have been State attorneys, with the exception of Judge Munson. Their average age, at their first election was forty-five years; at the present time (December, 1893), fiftyfour.