Ош*
First Supreme Court
It wa* compost-tl of Taylor. Hall and Hen¬
derson. with the first-named serving as
Chief Justice.
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three were men of un¬
usual ability.
WHEN our judicial system was
first established, no appellate
tribunal was provided fur. but
the decision of tin* superior court wa*
final. In 1799. the neo*»j.ity for a
court of appeal* wa* realized. and an
act *u pawed directing the judge.* of
the superior court to meet twice each
year in hear appeal», the tribunal to
be known a* the "Court of Confer¬
ence." The name wa* changed by tin-
act of IMt:. to that of the Supreme
Court, but it* menile-r» *t ill consisted
of the .uperior court judges.
It was not until the passage of the
act of 1818 that the
ммн
court
judge* were relieved of their duty of
hearing
пр|и>а1*. Л
new court eonsti-
tuto*l of I lira* strictly np|4-lhite
judges, under the title of the Supreme
Court of North Carolina, being tin-
court a* now constituted, began it*
work January I. 1819. A glimpse
into the lire* and character* of the
men who composed this first high
court should he of inlen-*t.
Taylor Born in London
The fir«t Chief .In. lie.- wa* John
I»ui*
Та
dor. Hr wa* born in I»mlon
in
17Г.11.
but at an early age emigrated
to this country, when* he received hit
«ducal ion a I the Colhge of William
and Mary in Virginia, thereafter
coming to the bar ami moving to this
State, when be at fir-t Milled at
Farctteville. Hi* out. landing legal
ability, hi* attractive and magnetic
personality, hi* power an an orator,
and the ii liability of hi* manner*, soon
made him an outslaiuling ligure at
the bar, and he had not been at
Fayetteville two years before he wa*
elected from that Borough town to
the House of Common* for three
successive term*. No doubt such
legi'lutivr service would have con¬
tinued. but for hi. Wnval to New
Bern, where he resided until 1*1 1,
when he moved hi* residence to Ra¬
leigh, which hcncef«irlh became his
home until his death.
In 1798. when he had hern at the
bar Ime than ten year*, he wa* elected
a* a judge of the Sutwrior Court, a
position which ho tilh-d with «lis-
tingui«hed ability until ho was elected
ав
our first Chief •lu*lice, in wliieh
By H. C. L AWK i:\ce
capacity he served until his death
ten years later.
Judge Taylor was not only a learned
lawyer, hut a man of groat literary
gifts, and if he had devoted himself
entirely to literature he would have
made a lasting name in that field.
His opinion, show that he possessed
not only legal ability, but a facility
of exp re*. ion and literary talent of
no mean order, and some of hi*
opinions may he justly considered a*
models of jmlicial eloquence.
Was Also First Reporter
He wn* not only the first Chief
Justice, hut ho was also the first Re¬
porter of the Supreme Court, and
published several volumes of its de¬
cision* known as “Taylor's Reports,”
“North Carolina Law Repository”
and ‘‘Taylor’s Term Reports.” In
1 S 1 7. prior to his eloctioii as Chief
Justice, he was selceNd by the legis¬
lature a* a member of a commission
consisting of himself, and Federal
Judge Henry Potter of Fayetteville
and Bartlett Yancey of Caswell
County, to prepare a Rovisal of tin-
statute law of the State, which upon
publication was given the name of
"Potter's Revieal" Several year*
later a Mipplenu-ntal edition was pub-
lislied, «uibodying additional changes
and aiiieiidmi-nts, this l*-iiig known a*
"Taylor's Rovisal.” He was also the
author of a textbook on Executors and
Administrators, ami other literary
work of n legal nature.
Hi* out. landing ability n- a South¬
ern lawyer was recognized when
Georgetown University conferred
upon him a doctorate <»f laws, a just
recognition not only of his legal but
GOLFatPINEHURST
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«г
any wtrk dty and
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at Pin»b*r>l. N
«*
Xo ad.aaro arraas»ia»aU
armury.
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»»«y trip. Slay U yoo
• I* II I*
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a.
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>• n Ian far
nrry porkrttmok Th» dry rlim.l. will i«-p ,oo
tip rnjor Oik aiinilliUl rcaoo -Mck lia. h»l|>*d
mala North Carolina aurld-fninou*. I’olo, Sun
day aflrrnooni.
also of hi* literary attainments. Out¬
side the pale of the law, hi* favorite
avocation wn* Masonry, and he twice
served a* flraud Master, each period
of such service covering several years,
and be was as highly regarded in
fraternal circles as he was with the
bench and liar of our State.
During hi* residence in Raleigh he
lived in a house on HilNhoro Street
which he built, ami which after hi*
death became the residence of his
distinguished father-in-law, Judge
William Gaston, the author of the
"Old North State, " himself I «coming
n member of the Supremo Court in
luter year*; ami later the property
wa* convoy
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I to Judge Romulus M.
Saunders. What legal memories must
Ik- stored within the wall* where lived
throe of the ablest judge* in the history
of our Stale I In later years it became
the home of Captain Samuel A. Ashe,
la.t surviving officer of the Con¬
federacy.
Justice Hall
Associate Justice John Hall was a
native of Virginia, where he wa* born
in 1767. A* wa. Chief Justice Taylor.
Judge Hall was a product of the
College of William and Mary, where
one of hi* els-.inatc* wa* John Stark
Ravcuserofl, who in later vean was
to become the Kpiscopal bishop of
North Carolina. In bi* early man¬
hood, Jmlge Ilall moved to Warren-
ton, where he soon became prominent
at the bar of that section. He did not
possess a magnetic personality, nor
was ho an attractive public speaker,
but he did have an excellent legal
mind, and he wa. such a diligent and
lal-orious worker that he soon at¬
tracted a clientele which embraced not
only the county of Warren but that
entire section of the Stale. He was
known, moreover, for his sterling in¬
tegrity and high sense of duty and
obligation.
A* early a* 1800, his legal ability
wa* *o well recognized that he was
elected by tin- General Assembly as
a member of the Superior Court bench,
and thus he had been a jmlge nearly
twenty years when he was elected as
one of the first associate justices of
the Supremo Court. Ili* rich store
(Coni in mill on page nineteen)