LORD JUSTICE THESIGER.
THE death of the oldest of the Judges has been followed with startling rapidity by the death of the youngest. It is barely a month since we attempted an estimate of the late Sir Fitzroy Kelly, and now the premature termination of what promised to be a long and useful life, invites us to per- form the same task for the son of his successful rival. No two careers could well have been more dissimilar. Both the deceased Judges gained distinguished success at the Bar, and reached the Bench ; but when that has been said, almost their only feature of resemblance has been stated. In all other respects, the disparity between them was even more striking than the distance of forty years which separated them in point of age. The one fought his way inch by inch, en- dured through long years the bitterness of hope deferred, and only obtained promotion at a time of life when most men would have ceased to desire it. The other had his path smoothed before him by fortune, hardly encountered an obstacle or a difficulty, and had received one of the great prizes of the profession when the most gifted and industrious of his contemporaries were just beginning to come to the front. The ruinous election contests and the uncongenial Parliamentary drudgery by which Sir Fitzroy Kelly won from his party a tardy recognition of his claims were quite un- necessary to Mr. Thesiger. the son of one Chancellor and the protege of another. To compare the way in which they dis- charged their judicial duties would be invidious and unfair. The one was battling throughout with the growing infirmities of age ; the other was in the full prime of powers at once fresh and mature. Both were students of manner, and punc- tilious in their observance of the etiquette by which the dignity of Courts of justice is maintained. But even here there was a marked difference between the stately and rather cumbrous politeness of the Lord Chief Baron, and the quiet, business-like courtesy of the Lord Justice. But we need not pursue the contrast further. Both alike died in harness, the one full of years, the other on the threshold of middle life, having done good service to the public, and earned the grati- tude of their country.
If Lord Justice Thesiger may be called the favourite of fortune, he certainly never abused her kindness. Few men have worked harder or more conscientiously in the profession, which he entered under the most promising auspices. He himself said that from the time he was called to the Bar, he never knew what it was to be without a brief. He knew nothing of the weariness of long waiting which has paralysed for life the powers of many gifted men, and with which even our most successful advocates usually commence their professional course. But he never suc- cumbed to the demoralising tendency of rapid success. He was a conspicuous exception to the rule that men who begin by being busy practitioners generally end by becoming bad lawyers. Patient in acquiring and exact in stating the facts of the cases in which he was engaged, he always exhi- bited a complete mastery of the law relating to them, which could only have been obtained by one who had so little unem- ployed leisure, at the cost of much wearying labour. From some of the temptations to dispense with legal knowledge which beset a prosperous forensic career, it must be admitted
that he was free. He had not in him the making of an orator. His style of speaking was lucid and dignified, but he had neither the humour nor the imagination which are essential to a popular advocate. He had the good-sense to recognise the limitation of his powers in this direction, and his sober but persuasive rhetoric never aimed at unattainable flights of fancy, or bursts of would-be eloquence. Hence, his name is associated with few, if any, of the causes cglAres which create a nine days' sensation, and make the skilful cross-examiner and the successful verdict- winner the heroes of the populace. But his practice, though not showy, was of a substantial and lucrative kind, and became increasingly so after he took silk, at the early age of thirty-four. He is believed to have made as much as £14,000 in a single year—a very large sum in these days, when business is so much divided, and the Common-Law Bar, at which he practised, is so well off for able men. But, with all his success, the work of advocacy was not altogether congenial to him ; and, as he had no ambition for political life, he no doubt looked forward with eagerness to the comparative serenity of the Bench.
The so-called " scandal" of Mr. Thesiger's appointment to a seat in the Court of Appeal is still fresh in the public re- collection. At such a moment as this, it would not be be- coming to reopen the controversy which raged bitterly at the time. But that controversy had one feature which may be recalled with satisfaction by all who took part in it. No com- petent critic of Lord Cairns' exercise of his right of patronage took exception to the selection of Mr. Thesiger on the ground of his personal unfitness for the post. The appointment was attacked not because Mr. Thesiger's capacity was questioned, but in the interests of the eminent Judges whose claims seemed to have been slightingly passed over, and be- cause the precedent was deemed to be a bad one for the future. Some objections were, doubtless, raised on the score of the youth of the new Lord Justice, who was nearly twenty years younger than the youngest of his colleagues. But the general opinion was that this, so far as it went, was a decided recommendation, and much was said of the probable value to the new Judge and the public of the long judicial experience which he seemed destined to acquire. Frustrated hopes are always bitter memories, but in this case it is con- soling to reflect that the expectations which were formed had more than justified themselves before they were finally disappointed. Lord Justice Thesiger long ago vindicated his claims to the promotion which he gained so suddenly. It is no idle flattery to say of the present Court of Appeal that it is in an exceptional degree what lawyers call " a strong Court." To become a member of it and share its duties without previous judicial experience of any kind, would be a severe test of any man's capabilities. Lord Justice Thesiger was found from the first to be on a level with his colleagues, and in course of time his opinion came to be recognised as inferior to none in soundness and learn- ing. Though bred to the Common Law, he had thoroughly familiarised himself with the rules of Equity, and he gave equal satisfaction whether he sat at Westminster or Lincoln's Inn. He was, probably, not a man of brilliant powers, nor, so far as outsiders could discern, of very varied interests ; but he had certain qualities which go far to make a great Judge, and some of which are more useful on the Bench than at the Bar. He had a most judicial temper of mind, and neither impatience nor vanity was ever known to disturb the even balance of his judgment. He seemed to have no tempta- tion to the irritability and the love of display which give birth in some Courts to perpetual interruptions and un- dignified pleasantries. His learning, while never ostenta- tiously exhibited, was wide and exact. He apprehended facts rapidly, and was very acute in perceiving their rela- tive bearings. His powers of expression were considerable, and though his style was apt to be diffuse, his judgments were never obscure, and rarely failed to be exhaustive. His courtesy was unvarying, and notwithstanding his youth and the circumstances of his appointment, he very speedily ac- quired, and retained till his death, the unreserved respect and confidence of the Bar.
This is not the place to dwell on his private character. It is.enough to say that he lived and died without fear and with- out reproach. His chivalrous defence of his brother, Lord Chelms- ford, after the disaster of Isandlana, will be remembered by every one. To say that his loss is irreparable would be an exaggeration,
but it will not be easy to replace him by a fit successor. Even to those who knew him only by repute, the sudden eclipse in its full meridian of an unclouded career cannot but lend a.
pathetic interest to the story of his life. To the great profes- sion which had learned to esteem and honour him, his name will always recall the memory of an accomplished lawyer, an upright advocate, and an exemplary Judge. And those whom his untimely death has robbed of a friend and kinsman, may find some solace in the thought that the short space allotted to him was well filled, that his reputation will live and grow, and that his works follow him.
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