University of Michigan Law School - Quad Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 62 text:

i f 5 a 1 4 S F acquaintances to meet him and to exchange an agreeable Word as Opportunity Offered, He was ready in conversation, he had anec- dgteg cf the primitive days in Michigan which he made instructive, and he seldom parted from even the casual caller ,without his visi- tor taking with him some reminiscence which it would be a pleasure for him to call to mind afterwards. He spoke from the Professor's chair with the same ease as he would read from a book, he had his subject thoroughly at command, and he neither 'hesitated for a word nor made use of one that did not seem exactly adapted to the place. Explanations when they seemed called for were ready and clear, and no one felt any embarrassment in calling for them when anything he had spoken of seemed to be left in any degree of uncertainty. i 'f i From what has already been stated, it will be seen that Pro- fessor Campbell was called very early to the service of the State in conspicuous positions, and as he continued to fill them while health permitted, he was for much the larger part of his mature life, a Justice of the Supreme Court, and an instructor in the law, I s n in the University. In both ' t posi ions the service was eminently satisfactory to those he served. A model of judicial dignity and propriety, and won universal respect. He was always accessible and col his way to win public applause or to attract in any manner the commendation that did not come natur regular and customary discharge of the duties of his official place. He was modest and unassuming everywhere, and more inclined to avoid than to seek the public notice when duty did not make it imperative. But nowhere was the greatness of the man more con- spicuous than- in his family relations Th s a fudge his deportment was a irteous, but he never went out of ally and properly from the . ere was one place in which those who were to look to him for guidance and example were to 'witness no unbecoming conduct, no outbursts of passion, hear no profane and no foul words. He never made parade even of the facts of lifeamost worthy of respect and remembrance, but the decencies of life, in which I would include as among the first an avoidance of whatever is ' f - pro ane, weie so natural to him that contemplate the possibility of his des- cending to the use of profanit ture hall listened to his words an no one could for a moment y. Of the thousands who in the lec- d were instructed by him not-one 7 went away carrying with him the recollection of an unbecoming word.

Page 61 text:

l cannot say that ludge Campbell did not desire one or both of these positions, but I can say with great conhdence that he did not seek either in the ways now too common in respect to places of similar importance and dignity, and that if in any way he allowed it to be known in advance that he was willing to accept it, he did so becausehe knew there was a public duty to be performed which the State had a right to call upon any competentcitizen to erform, and of which in the particular case, the popular will P desired his acceptance. He took it therefore without hesitation, though in doing so he was consenting to accept remuneration which for the two positions must have been very considerably smaller than that which his practice-was already bringing him. But he was not an avaricious man, he was modest in his habits of life and expenditure, he was content where others might have made vigorous complaint, and to the last day of his public service he accepted as of course the reward which those whose duty it was under the law to name it had prescribed. It is a pleasure to speak of the characteristics of one so beloved in public and in private life, because in whatever relation it was considered, it was seen to be always beautiful and always useful. But it will be emphasized in what 'follows as that of a teacher, not merely because onf the University campus we were brought in that special capacity into relations withhim, but because his life and character were of themselves lessons of great and abiding value to every one who came to him to be taught. Every stran er who took him by the handknew instinctively that it was . 3 the hand of a man of great heart and noble impulses, and whoever listened to his addresses from the professoris chair, felt that he sat before one who was not merely dealing with technical rules of government, but was making plain the rules of justice and right, which so far as is possible in the every-day life of the people should be made to dominate everywhere. Laborious as were the tasks which were imposed upon Profes- sor Campbell he found time to prepare and publish a book of some 6oo pages which he entitled ff Outlines of the Political History of Michigan , and which was particularly valuable as concerned the early days of territorial life. Professor Campbell was fortunate in the possession of a sunny disposition which made it pleasant for others, whether strangers oi 7

Page 63 text:

Fortune brought Professor Campbell to the bench at a time that cast upon him the necessity of passing opinions upon two questions of great difficulty and delicacy, which no doubt he would gladly have avoided had not necessity made it imperative that he speak. One of these concerned the right of the soldier righting the battles of his country in limits dominated by the rebellion to have a voice in the election of public ofhcers. The constitution of the State required that the ballots should be cast in the town- ships or ,wards of the elector's residence, but this had been adopted before the rebellion had broken out, and it was so manifestly wrong and unjust that absence from home exposing one's life to risk in defense of his country should be a reason for depriving him of suf- frage, that the legislature did not hesitate to declare that he should possess it, and sent special agents into the insurgent territory to collect and bring home the ballots. It was with great unwilling- ness that it was decided by the Court that these ballots could not be received. Nothing seemed to be plainer than that under a wholly unexpected contingency, 'the constitution of the State if strictly applied must prohibit what common justice demanded should be permitted, and the number was large who would have applied the maxim that Hamid wars laws are silent , and made even so vital a provision as that regulating the suffrage to stand aside before the existing emergency. But the law was plain and the judges would have been false to their oath of office if they had failed to apply it. Another case which came at an early day -before the Court was more difficult, because the rule of decision must .necessarily be found in general principles, upon which great differences of opin- ion had already been developed. A definite law had never been laid down in the State Constitution, and the time had come which with entire propriety might be called a craze, in which every little community, by the mere going through with the form of voting a tax, seemed to expect riches to flow in upon it and add greatly not only to the value of whatever they possessed but to the conven- iences and comforts of life also. This was to be done by voting aid in the construction of railroads. A madness seemed to have seized upon the people, every railroad that could be constructed was to be a source of wealth to the country it would serve, and if townships and counties could be allowed to vote taxes in aid of