Augustus Noble Hand

Abstract

When I came to the Court of Appeals in 1939 the two Judges Hand were already of massive and imposing reputation. I had had very little direct contact with either of them except as I had assisted in the separate awards of honorary degrees to them at the hands of my university. I approached my first sittings with not a little fear and trembling because of the supposedly dread character of these famed judges and the profound traditions of our court. But I need have had no worry, for I discovered both of them to be the most human of persons, to whom the adjective "stuffy" was the least correct description conceivable. Some one has said that "one need not be pompous to be a good judge, but it does help." No such prescription can be found at all useful for the Hand make-up. Both of them abhorred pretentiousness and were quick to appreciate and to pounce joyously on any tendencies toward it.