Arkansas Supcmc Court Historic;]1 Socicry
Noteworthy Arkansas Jurists: Justice George Rose Smith By Patsy Bailin
At his retirement ceremony in 1986, Justice George Rose Smith co ncluded his career by saying, "So I will Ict those be my final wo rds: H ave faith in efFo rr. " When co nsidering the declicarjoll with which he endowed his exceptio nal professional career, one realizes that Justice George Rose Smith nor only practiced what he preached. bur should be recognized as the archetype of his
exa mple. The efron and carc with which Justice Smith wo rked and lived provides an hono rabl e exa mpl e for all to foll ow, and the respect, app rec iation, an d gra titude so many felt for him can on ly leave one with a sense of the highest admira tio n. One may also say that th ese adm irabl e characteri st ics were appa rent from th e beginning. Justi ce George Rose Smith was born in 19 11 in Little Rock, Arkansas, into a large and disti nguished family whu!it: lim:: had already produced {'\vo renowned lawyers and several other notable relation s. including U .S. Arrorney General U.M Rose. He graduated first in hi s class at both Litcle Rock High School (now Linle Rock Ce ntral High School), and his law school, the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. from which he received his law degree in 1933. Upon graduation he joined his uncle, George B. Rose, at his law firm of Rose, H emingway, Cantrell and Loughborough (a.k.a. the Rose L1.w Fi rm) in Little Rock where. bur for three and a half years of milirary se rvice, he worked unril his election (0 the Arka nsas Sup reme Court in 1948. A shy, reserved man, George Rose Smith preferred the role of indispensable researcher and brief writer to that of trial Ia\vye r, and his uncanny ability to remember and synthesize great volumes of information played 30 TIle Arkans(Js L(J\\)fcr
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no small part in making him a key member of the fi rm . It likewise made him well suited to the role he undertook as the protecto r of the right thro ugh intellectual honesty. When he won a sea r on the Arkansas Supreme Cou rt. thanks ro the suppo rt of ad miring lawye rs across the stare and the energetic campaigning of hi s most charming wife, Peg Newro n, Justice Smith became its IllOs{ junior member ar rhe age of thirtyseve n (ironi cally, he left as irs most senio r, at the age of seventy-five). He was sworn in 0 11 January I , 1949, and settl ed easily inro th e routin e he maimained throughout his thirry-eight years on the bench - a routin e ma rked by efficiency. orderliness. and pun ctuality. H e prided himself on his so und judgment, his thorough prepa ration , his jud icial integrity, and his consistent ab ili ty 10 write till;: ~ h u n cst opinions on [he Court. Over the co urse of his career, Justice Smith penned more than 2,000 op in ions. distinctive for th eir succinct and si mpl e language. He also wrote a number of law review arti cles, and twO books on Arka nsas law. Thanks to his imelligence and clarity of tho ught and language, his inAuence on the law of Arka nsas has bee n a lasting one. His reputation as an appellate jurist has brought Arkansas natio nal prestige. Whi le his achievemenrs in the areas of law and justice are exrrao rdinary. it is Justice George Rose Smith's mo re persona l qualities that are poss ibly his most striking. H e had an unusually wide variety of hobbies ranging from carpentry to word games. As his fr iend and fellow Rose Law Firm partner Phillip Carroll sa id ••, He was the kind of man who could pick up anything and do it well. " Justice Sm ith enjoyed creating his own crossword puzzles, approx imately fifty of
wh ich were published during th e last twenty yea rs of hi s life. His dry hu mor, graciousness, and love of words are wa rmly remembered, especially in {'\yo Apri l Fool's jokes. two opinions (h at managed to slip into th e Arkansas Law Review. Poisson v. d'Avri~ 22 A rk Lmu Review 74 1 (1969), Jusrice Smith's ow n favorite, had the Supreme Cou rt autho ritatively declar ing that the Arkansas Legislature had repealed every starure on cl1e books before 194 5! To be on Jusrice George Rose Smith's Christmas card list was to be in his inn er circle of fri ends, and therefore to enjoy the elaborate and hilarious ho liday scenes Justice Sm ith contrived to photograph the raccoo ns he fed in rhe ravine behind th ei r house. "Those Christ mas cards he lIsed to make. All of us wou ld wonder what he'd come lip with next!" remembered Carroll fondly. As Justice Darrell Hi ckman said ae Justice Smith' s retirement ce remon y, "The people of Arkansas d eserve this kind of public servam and for once got o ne in Uustice George Rose Smith]." Justi ce Sm ith served the Arkansas public with dedication, f.:1irness, intelli gence and the finest of work ethics until his death on October 20, 1992.
Patsy Bailin is the d,wghter of Rose Law Firm partner. Amy Let' Stewart and Arkansas artist David Bailin. She is in her first year al Wellesley College. in Massachusetts.