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Home > Journals > Michigan Law Review > MLR > Volume 5 > Issue 5 (1907)

 

Abstract

In the early fifties, there were four young men practicing at the bar of the State of Michigan who became so influential during the formative period in the jurisprudence of the state that we cannot name one of them without thinking of the others. James V. Campbell, Isaac P. Christiancy, Thomas M. Cooley arid Benjamin F. Graves came from New York parentage and from New England stock. The three last name received their education in the primary schools and academies of New York. As young men seeking their future they came west and settled in different parts of this state. Mr. Campbell's parents had moved from Buffalo to Detroit when he was three years old, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death. On Jan. 1st, 1868, these four, then comparatively young men, sat together for the first time as the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan. For a long series of years they continued together, and as the term of one after another expired he was reelected as a matter of course. Such was the confidence of the people in their judgments. Today they are frequently spoken of as "The Big Four" of our Supreme Court. This is perhaps not so much because of their preeminence over others who have filled the bench, but because of the eminent fitness of each for the place. They frequently differed in their beliefs and decisions. Each was an independent reasoner of unusual power of expression. Their discussion of cases among themselves was undoubtedly candid, but must have been earnest and at times spirited. They formed a combination of checks and balances that gave to litigants an assurance that the right thing would be done.

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