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Bits of Harvard History
history of a legal system has fallen to the lot of very few. It is not too much to compare him in this respect with the great Roman jurists of the third century and with the great doctors of the revival of Roman law, with Pothier and with Savigny. In the Common Law perhaps no one but Coke has had an equal opportunity.[1]
Probably few members of the school realized at the time the greatness of their privilege in listening to such a man. The obvious and fascinating thing about him was his prodigious vitality. Henry Ware, LL.B. 1847, sketches with appropriate vigor the judge’s daily routine in Cambridge:
The most punctual of men, as the bell rang he was to be seen crossing the street to the law school (passing the students with a beaming countenance and a most cordial and friendly greeting) with rapid steps to the lecture-room. You heard the door slam behind him, and in a moment he was in his place. Almost before seating himself, he opened the book, put a question to some student near him, scarcely giving time for an answer, impatient as it seemed to pour out his own opinion on the matter in hand, and boiling over, as it were, with anxiety to deliver his views; and as if availing himself of a long-deferred opportunity, he proceeded to discourse for an hour with a fluency and eloquence that were simply marvelous. All his resources were perfectly at his command. Facts, arguments, theories, authorities, history, illustrations, everything seemed to be at his tongue’s command—not superficially or crudely, but his words came from the studied results of long experience, vast learning, and an intense love of his profession. The bell announcing the expiration of the hour would stop him in the full tide of his eloquence,
- ↑ Centennial Hist. Harv. Law School, 260.
