Talk:Stephen Johnson Field

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This article should contain something about the incident where someone attempted to murder Justice Field on a train and was shot dead. I am not qualified to add to the Wikipedia article, but I know it was a very controversial incident when it happened.

[edit] Retirement or resignation?

On List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, it says resignation. On this page, it says people asked him to resign and nothing else. Did he retire or resign? -- Toytoy July 2, 2005 03:41 (UTC)

According to Harvard Law Review of Nov. 25, 1897 he resigned.

"The judicial service of Mr. Justice Field, now ended with his resignation from the Supremem Court of the United States."

Mr. Justice Field's Retirement Harvard Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Nov. 25, 1897), pp. 259-260. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0017-811X%2818971125%2911%3A4%3C259%3AMJFR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V --138.92.223.119 03:42, 8 December 2006 (UTC)G10

The distinction between "retirement" and "resignation" that we make today with respect to Supreme Court Justices did not exist in the nineteenth century. The two words were treated as basically synonyms at that time. Field did serve long enough to be eligible for a pension under the legislation then in effect, so by modern standards we would say he retired. Newyorkbrad 00:53, 22 January 2007 (UTC)