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Memoir of the Life of the Honorable William Blowers Bliss - Page 33 |
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story, or anything of the kind in my presence I will order your committal for contempt." From these anecdotes one would infer that he was a very severe, and stern Judge—unpopular with the Bar, and the people. Such however was not the case, as we know from tradition, from the press of the day and from addresses presented to him. On the contrary he was universally esteemed, and beloved by all who came in contact with him. His standard of life was high, and occupying the high position he did, he deemed it his duty to impress upon all those who came under his influence the same spirit and rule of conduct. I have tried to get other anecdotes of incidents happening on trials before Judge Bliss, but without success, as those who could have related them are all gone. The few I have given were characteristic, and help us to form some idea of his methods in conducting trials which took place in the Courts before him. The record of the judicial career of Judge Bliss is principally to be found in the Nova Scotia Law Reports. Notices of trials in which he was engaged occasionally appears in the press of the day, but hardly full enough to convey any correct idea of the manner in which he dealt with the case before him. It appears from one of these notices that he first took his seat on the Bench after his appointment in a criminal trial with the Chief Justice, and Judge Wilkins in May, 1834. There were no Court reporters at that time, nor for some years after his elevation, so that with some few exceptions we know little of his early decisions between 1834 and 1853. About the latter date, the late James Thompson, a barrister of the Court, gathered some of the Judgments of the Supreme Court given in past years, and published them in a volume now known as No. i Supreme Court Reports. Amongst these are several from Mr. Justice Bliss, and from that time onward until he resigned his judgments are included in all the reports terminating in the second volume of Oldright. In a brief |
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