from 1806 to 1851 143

The number of cases decided by the court in
each of the last few years before 1851 did not run
over eighty. In 1849, the number for the whole
year was seventy-nine; in 1850, sixty-three. The
decisions at the December term were much the
more numerous, over four times as many as those
of the June term in 1849, and over twice as many
in 1850. Decisions at the June term usually ran
under twenty: Small though the number decided
may seem in comparison with the number decided
today,²⁴ the work of the judges was felt to be
heavy. For this we have a statement made by
Judge Chambers in the constitutional convention
of 1851. Judge Chambers sat on the court from
1834 to 1851, and was one of its strong men. He
had been a United States Senator from 1826 to
1834. The daily sessions of the court, he said,
were now six hours long.

To these tedious hours of daily session, must succeed after-
noons and nights of devoted exertion of mind and continued
confinement of body to investigate and compare authorities,
confer upon arguments and form satisfactory conclusions. He
had for a month together been so laboriously engaged as to
prevent him from putting his head to rest upon the pillow till
after midnight, and this after the fatigue of a full day's labor.

And he emphasized, as especially arduous, the
labor of putting opinions together, meaning, pre-
sumably, putting them together for filing before
the session adjourned. Judge Chambers was not
a little sensitive to suggestions that the judges
merely sat, and did no hard work. Judge Mason,
in his Life of McMahon,²⁵ tells a story that when

24. It must be remembered that before 1850 arguments in a single
case might consume four or five days.

25. Page 113.