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The Spike or Victoria University College Review September 1924

Sir John Salmond — An Appreciation

Sir John Salmond

An Appreciation

The year 1906 was a memorable one for those of us who were, at that time, students of Law at Victoria College, for in that year Professor John William Salmond (as he then was) entered upon his duties in the Chair of Law. He came with a reputation as a legal scholar. Four years previously, his "Jurisprudence, or the Theory of the Law," had been published. It was acknowledged to be a great work. Yet mere scholarship awakens but little anticipatory interest on the part of the student. The brilliant scholar is by no means always a gifted instructor or an efficient or inspiring guide. Hence, the lucidity, the grasp, the wit, the kindliness, and the all-embracing scholarship of the man, so evident from his first Lecture, acted with tonic effect upon his students. Nor was he merely Professor: he was Tutor also. His room and his house were at our disposal. Over a pipe or a cup of tea he helped to solve the problems of probing minds which he had himself stirred into activity. Without the aid of manifested enthusiasms or any artifices, he inspired in his students an intense interest in their work, and a deep affection for himself—their Professor, Tutor, and friend.

Professor Salmond believed that the world owes most to those who extend the boundaries of knowledge, not to those who are apt in organisation and administration, and he himself remained, throughout his life, a Research Student. Witness his "Law of Torts," published in 1907, now recognised as a unique treatise of the highest authority throughout the English-speaking world. After the fashion of scientific men, he sought the truth in his own department of knowledge, and the implements of his pursuit were page 44 a logical and powerful mind, combined with an unsurpassed capacity for terse and lucid expression.

This is not the place for an appreciation of Sir John Salmond's brilliant career of service to the State (and of distinction to himself) which followed his retirement from the Chair of Law in 1908. Rather may I attempt some short estimate of the effect of the man upon his students. He was not an emotional man—although beneath his polished courtesy there beat a kindly and courageous heart. He recognised, I think, that even if the fate of the Race might be its ultimate extinction upon a frozen planet, it was well worth while that human life should be an ordered process in which all disputes should be settled by the exercise of judicial functions. He set no limit of time or place to the need for that exercise. He believed that some day the settlement of all human disputes would depend upon judicial decision, based upon Law. Some of us will remember his public lecture on "International Law" in the barren top floor of the College building, when, arrayed in gown and hood (something of an innovation), he reviewed the tragedies of the past, and proclaimed his firm belief that the Reign of Law would ultimately control the international passions of men, just as it had mastered their domestic rivalries. Being firm in this faith, he believed that a true and scholarly grasp of the theory and practice of the Law on the part of lawyers was a duty which they owed both to the State and to themselves. He believed that thereby they would be best equipped to serve their day and genera tion. His own life is a monument to the greatness of the service which can thus be rendered to human kind. His works will live after him: and to those who knew him, the influence of his life will ever be a powerful inspiration, cherished with reverence and affection.

D.S.S.