It Is The Ligament

"Justice, sir, is the greatest interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together. Wherever her temple stands, and so long as it is duly honored, there is a foundation for Social Security, general happiness and the improvement and progress of our race.

"And whoever labors on this edifice with usefulness and distinction, whoever clear as its foundations, strengthens its pillars, adorns its entablatures, or contributes to raise its august dome still higher in the skies, connects himself, in name and fame and character, with that which is and must be as durable as the frame of human society."

Daniel Webster made these famous remarks in regards to the law upon the occasion of the funeral of Justice Joseph Story (1779-1845) on September 12, 1845.

Story had died in his beloved Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 10th at the age of 66. He had been a law professor at Harvard and a celebrated legal writer.

Story sat on the United Supreme Court from 1811 to his death being the youngest appointee ever to the Court when, at the age of 32, he was appointed in 1811. He gave the Court's decision in the slavery case of United States v Amistad.

Justice Story was well-known and universally admired, especially as a man who loved the law. His heirs were buried in mountains of letters and eulogies but none so fair of he of the golden pen, Daniel Webster (1782-1852).

As a famous attorney, Webster had argued many cases before Story and the judge was known to have been fond of the attorney.