History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

CHAPTER XI

BACKWARD GLANCES AT BENCH AND BAR
JUDGE CROFOOT'S RECOLLECTIONS-BENCH AND BAR PRIOR TO I840 (BY
JUDGE BALDWIN) —CHIEF JUSTICE MOORE'S PICTURES-AARON
PERRY'S CONTRIBUTIONS.
At the risk even of repetition, the editor presents for this chapter a
number of papers sketching various personages and phases of both the
bench and bar of Oakland county. By blending such mental pictures
one may obtain a rich and lifelike view of the field, while the harvest
of developed judicial systems and finished lawyers was yet in the ear.
JUDGE CROFOOT'S RECOLLECTIONS
Following are extracts from the sketch of Judge M. E. Crofoot,
delivered at the dedication of the "old second courthouse" in 1858:
"That old and dilapidated temple now tottering on its foundation,
with its crumbling walls tumbling about it, its covering fluttering like
the tattered garments of the old man represented as the personification
of poverty, was reared (we are told), upon its present locality in 1823,
where it has stood 'wasting its sweetness on the desert air' for the last
thirty-five years.
"But ancient as it appears, it was not the first building to welcome
the expounder and legal adjudicator of the law for Oakland county.
The ground where a portion of the Ogle House now stands, became
(firstly) the seat of justice.
"There, in July, I820, those clothed with judicial honors-Chief Justice Thompson, Bagley and Bronson, associate justices-assembled in
an old log building, where the free breath of heaven wafted without
interruption of those useless modern appendages-a door, floor or chimney, and where too, assembled the grand jurors of the county, at this,
the first session of a court of record in our county.
"One man was licensed as an attorney and two were licensed to keep
tavern, thus keeping up the proper equilibrium of power which is so
essential for all new countries. The officers of the court were: Daniel
LeRoy, prosecuting attorney; William Morris, sheriff; Sidney Dole,
clerk.
"Whereupon, the grand jury were discharged, and all business before the court (that above stated) having been transacted, and the law
properly expounded and interpreted, the court adjourned.
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