"When, in addition, it is considered that an unprecedented
number of contracts, and an amount of business without
parallel, had been made and done in hot haste, with the utmost
carelessness; that legislation was accomplished in the same
way, and presented the crudest and most incongruous materials
for construction; that the whole scheme and organization of
the government, and the relation of the departments to each
other, had to be adjusted by judicial construction--it may
well be conceived what task even the ablest jurist would
take upon himself when he assumed this office. It is no small
compliment to say that Judge Field entered upon the duties of
this great trust with his usual zeal and energy, and that he
leaves the office not only with greatly increased reputation,
but that he has raised the character of the jurisprudence
of the State. He has more than any other man given tone,
consistency, and system to our judicature, and laid broad and
deep the foundation of our civil and criminal law. The land
titles of the State--the most important and permanent of the
interests of a great commonwealth--have received from his hand
their permanent protection, and this alone should entitle him
to the lasting gratitude of the bar and the people.

"His opinions, whether for their learning, logic, or diction,
will compare favorably, in the judgment of some of our best
lawyers, with those of any judge upon the Supreme Bench of the
Union. It is true what he has accomplished has been done with
labor; but this is so much more to his praise, for such work
was not to be hastily done, and it was proper that the
time spent in perfecting the work should bear some little