Judge Walter P, Stacy

THE STATE, MAY

1a (24)

There are times when every lawyer would like to express his opinion ahout some cer=- tain judge. Mr. Lawrence takes advantage of the opportunity to tell what he thinks of our Chief Justice.

abandoned the burden of the Bar,

I can say what I like about the judiciary — a license I long have craved. And I can do it without fear of being found guilty of lese majesty, contumacy or contempt—with which latter term I am quite familiar, hav- ing been once attached for indulging in that mild diversion along with my brethren of the Robeson Bar. But if T should be so accused, I can blame it on the other fellow as did the litigant from Winston. One morning in the midst of the trial of his case, he told his lawyer that the case was in the bag—just as good as won—as he had sent a present to the Judge. “What!” exclaimed the horrified lawyer, “you have sent a present to the Judge?’ “Oh don’t worry yourself” said his client calmly, “I put the other fellow’s card in the package.”

Ne that I have temporarily

Circuit-riding Father

One of the most absorbing of all novels is the “Circuit Rider’s Wife” of Corra Harris, as it portrays in the language of inspiration the joys and sorrows of life in the Methodist itin- eracy, and paints a portrait of the cir- cuit rider worthy of the brush of a Gainsborough or a Sir Joshua Rey- nolds. And it fits as a glove the life lived by Reverend L. E. Stacy who for years went up and down Carolina filling many of the hardest and least remunerative of circuit riding assign- ments. He is remembered in many parts of the state for the quality of his preaching, and all over Carolina for the quality of his sons—who rose to prominence through sheer power of in- tellect—bare brains, if you please.

There was his son Marvin H., one of the most distinguished and bril- liant educators our State has produced

—Dean of the University — a man

who would have been its president had not his young life ended almost be- fore it was begun. And whatever the attainments of the other Stacys, we of Robeson know that we possess the ~ really big Stacy in our own Horace E., who has just as much brain, just as ~ big an intellect, and would grace just

By R. C. LAWRENCE

as high a bench as his better known brother.

Then comes Walter P. Stacy— Joshua of Judges—Chief Justice of North Carolina. Where was he born? That brings on another story. The late Judge B. F. Long of Statesville had quite a hankering to be on the Su- preme Court, and when defeated in that aspiration by Justice Stacy, gloomily remarked: “You can’t suc- cessfully contend against a man who was born in every county in the state.” The canny Judge thought the success of his opponent was due to the pro- clivity of the Methodist brethren in voting for those of their itineracy. In fact Anson has that honor—county of the brilliant James A. Lockhart, and that unique jurist, Risden Tyler Bennett.

Medals for Oratory He attended the University where he was intercollegiate debater and winner of the Willie P. Mangum medal for oratory, a medal likewise

Chief Justice: Walter P. Stacy, of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

won by his brothers, Marvin H. and Horace E.—three in a row! Upon his graduation in 1908 he went to Wil- mington to engage in the practice, represent the county in the legislature, and to take part in a variety of public activities, until at the ripe age of thirty he was appointed by Governor Craig to the bench of the Superior Court, a choice ratified by the elec- torate. Thereafter he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, and on March 17, 1925, he was appointed by Governor McLean as Chief Jus- tice — the youngest of those who have filled that high office. This choice was likewise ratified by the people, and on this bench he has since remained, and will remain until (as many hope) he is called to a field of even wider : service upon the nation’s highest tri- bunal in Washington. ;

A Born Judge

I once heard a great lawyer and

jurist say that the first essential of a great Judge was that intangible yet necessary quality known to lawyers as judicial temperament. If to that there is added those other qualities of infinite patience, careful searching

for truth, and a broad basis of high

culture — then I would say Justice Stacy is a born Judge, for he possesses all these qualities in a marked degree, I presume no analysis of his legal learning, no review of his opinions,

no discussion of his dissents, other

than to say that he can stand quite alone when and if necessary, and when he does so stand, the quality of hig

dissent is shared only by the late Jus-

tice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Hig po- sition as primate (that’s the word) of the North Carolina Bar is secure;

and the acclaim of those in the front ranks of the national Bar attest his

rank among the great legal minds‘of :

~ America. Ess 2d He is one of the best exemplars of

that school of thought which believes that the law is a progressive science, which must be constantly fashioned and shaped to meet the ever changing

needs and conditions of a rapidly pro.

gressing civilization; and yet who be.