RIGHT HON. SIR JOSHUA WILLIAMS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15970, 13 January 1914, Page 6

RIGHT HON. SIR JOSHUA WILLIAMS.

RETROSPECT AND APPRECIATION.

, A fitting climix. to a great judicial career! Such was my first impression on learning that Sir Joshua Williams had been promoted from tho New Zealand Bench to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. But other (and sadder) thoughts prevailed. I looked back through the long vista of some l<o yeans of professional lile, during which one hud come in close touch with "Judge Williams year by year, and almost day by day. The impressions that remained wero of his unfailing courtesy, his patience, his wisdom, his impartiality—in a word, hie constant striving to do justice to all men, without fear or favour. Jiven fools ho suffered, all too often, with resignation, if not with gladness! To the casual observer, indeed, it might appear that tho modest and unassuming manner of the learned judge was a sign tjf weakness; but those whotso privilege it was to appear constantly before him soon realised that beneath the velvet glove of courtesy there lay the iron hand of inflexible justice.

it goes without eaying that the departure of Sir Joshua Williams will be felt most severely by the Bar of Otago. The younger members of that Bar especially have much for which to thank him. To practise before him, indeed, might almost bo said to bo in itself, a liberal education. In the language of the late tiheriif Nicolson regarding a Scottish judge of the lxst generation; " A goodly sight it was to see The balance of .hie thought, Now swaying th:s way, and now that, As pro und con ho brought And laid them in the well-poised scales, Till, as they equal stem, The linal grains of common sense And justice turn the beam!" Of his legal attainments it would be almost an impertinence to epeak. In him heredity has been amply justified. From tho son of Williams on " Real Property' one would expect an accurate knowledge of the principles of the common law, while the brotlu-r of Williams on " Vendors and Purchasurs" could scarcely fail to display an adequate acquaintance with the doctrines of equity. I think, however, that in time tho crowning point of his career as a colonial judge will be iound to be the sagacious way m which he has helped to mouid the laws and institutions of this youthful nation, by grafting on to tho sturdy trunk of the common law o£ England tho green—and oftimes wayward—shoots that nourish in the Statute Book of New Zealand. His decisions on the law relating to gold mining alone are a storehouse of eound legal principles wedded to robust common sense. Tho written judgments of Williams J. have for nearly 40 years maintained, with rare consistency, a high level of literary as well as legal excellence. Their manner in fact is as perfect as their matter is tound. In tho wording of each of thorn is to be discerned tho touch of distinction that denotes the great gift of style. Not tho least among the services of S:r Joshua to this dominion is the fact that he has thus done 'so much in an ago of slang to maintain the purity of tho " Well of English unclofiled." Logical, lucid, convincing, many of his decisions will long remain as classics—embalmed in the pages of the Law Reports,—an example and an inspiration to Bench and Bar alike! Curing the pjist quarter of a century Dunedin has been .said with truth to have been the "nursery" of our New Zealand judges. Even now tho Chief Justice and a majority of his puisnes arc quondam Otago practitioners. The main reason for th's etare of things is not far to seek. It is that for more than a generation the name of tho head nurso here has been " Williams." By example more than by precept, has the distinguished jurist, whoso departure wo now deplore, made plain the path of judicial duty to those who come after him. In the apt words of Robert Browni ing in " Tho Lost Leader ":—

"We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,

Lived in hie mild and magnificent eye; Learned his great language, caught hie clear accent, Made him our pattern to live >.nd to die!"

Long after Judge Williams himself has left for London, his example will abide behind him here. It rests with us to keep his memory green at the Antipodes by doing our best to follow in hie footsteps, and striving to mail tin thic high standard ho Has set for tho Bench and Bar in this provincial district. In his wider (Sphere uf influence at the heart of our Empire, Sir Joshua may be trusted ably to fulfil his hiiyh office of ad vising the King in council When he takes his seat ae a member of the Court of Final Appeal for his Majesty's dominions, his ripe wisdom and wide knowledge of colonial life and jurisprudence will doubtless prove of value to hie distinguished colleagues, and should in fact assist in maintaining and strengthening the ties that bind our fcatttercd Empire to the British Crown. In this way our local lose may prove to be tho Empire's gain. At the same time, the underlying feeling still remains with us here that-, through tho removal of our beloved judge, tho people of Now Zealand, lawmen and lawyers a'Jko, are losing the services of a great magistrate, a great citizen, a great gentleman! W. C. M.