The Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis, Indiana
Friday, January 8, 1926; Page 10
FAMOUS AUTHOR, JURIST IS DEAD
Harrison Burns, 89, Ill Several Months --- Burial in Bloomfield
Funeral services for Harrison Burns of Indianapolis, prominent jurist and author of Burns's Indiana Digest, and Burns's Annotated Statutes, who died at 6 o'clock yesterday morning following an illness of several months, will be held at 4 o'clock this afternoon at the Hisey & Titus funeral home, 951 North Delaware street. Burial will follow at Bloomfield.
Mr. Burns was one of the oldest members of the Indianapolis bar, and his works on law have been used in this state probably more than those of any other author. His annotated statutes have been in use by Indiana attorneys for more than twenty-five years.
Mr. Burns reached his eighty-ninth year on Dec. 11, 1925. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, the son of representatives of two of Indiana's pioneer families. His father was Maxa Moncrief Burns, the son of a Virginian, James Burns, who moved to Jefferson county, near the site of the present village of Wirt, in 1814. His mother was Maria (Vawter) Burns, the eldest daughter of William Vawter, who came with the first settlers of Indiana in 1806 and settled in Jefferson county. She was a niece of Col. John Vawter, Indiana's first United States marshal.
Lived Near North Vernon
Mr. Burns's mother died when he was but 10 years old and the boy went to live with his grandfather, near North Vernon, Ind. He returned to his father's home in 1850, after the father had remarried. He remained at his father's home in Dupont, near Madison, until December, 1851, when he ran away to Louisville, Ky., with a desire to "see the world." There he engaged in various work, mostly on Ohio river steamboats, returning to his father's home in the spring of 1853, where he worked with his father as a carpenter.
The family moved, in 1854, to Louisana, where father and son designed and built a large country home on one of the plantations there. Mr. Burns's law career was begun in Indiana when he began reading law in 1857 in the office of his elder brother, William V. Burns, of Martinsville. He andhisbrother formeda partnership in 1859.
In January of the following year, he moved to Bloomfield, and in the same year was nominated prosecuting attorney for the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket and was elected in face of a state Republican landslide. In 1868 he was elected judge of the common pleas court for the Ninth district, then composed of Greene, Clay, Putnam and Owen counties, and held the office until it was abolished in 1873. He was married in March, 1870, to Miss Mary Constance Smydth, who died Sept. 24, 1882.
Came Here In 1874
In May, 1874, Mr. Burns came to Indianapolis and was connected with the prosecuting attorney's office until 1878, when he was nominated for the position of judge of the Marion Superior court on the Democratic ticket. Governor Thomas A. Hendricks appointed him to the Superior court bench in September of that year, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Horatio Newcomb. Later Mr. Burns moved to Vincennes, where he stayed for five years, and later resided at Winamac for two years. He was appointed assistant to George W. Julian, surveyor general, in 1885, and went to New Mexico, where he aided in breaking up the land grant frauds in that territory.
He returned to Indianapolis in 1891, since when he has devoted his time to the writing of his law books.
Surviving are three sisters, Mrs. S. B. Loomis of Indianapolis, Mrs. James Collins of Mt.Comfort and Mrs. E. A. Bailey of Rodeo, Cal.; a son, Lee Burns of Indianapolis; and two grandchildren, Betty Lee and David Burns.
Tribute to Mr. Burns's memory and ability was paid yesterday by James M. Ogden, president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and by William C. Bobbs of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, publishers of Mr. Burns's books.
Name Familiar to Profession
"Mr. Burns's name is a familiar one in the office of every attorney in Indiana, because of his valuable work on the statutes of Indiana." Mr. Ogden said. "His name is probably better known among lawyers than is that of any other legal writer. He was a student and a scholar in his later years, rather that a practioner."
Mr. Bobbs said: : "Only the lawyers of the state can have any appreciation of the great service which Judge Harrison Burns has rendered to all the people of the state in his "Burns Annotated Statutes." He has not only made the entire statute law of the state easily available through a logical arrangements by subjects and a thorough cross reference index, but he has also shown the construction of each section of the statute law by the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts. When the vast accumulation of the session laws passed by the General Assembly is realized and the great number of decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts taken into consideration, then and then only can the magnitude of this task be understood."
"It was upon the suggestion of Judge Byron K. Elliott, at that time on the Indiana Supreme court, tha Judge Burns was invited in 1890 to undertake a revision of the Indiana statutes and in 1894 the first edition of Burns Annotated Indiana Statutes was published. From that time, through revisions of 1901, 1908 and 1914, the Burns Statutes has been recognized by the benchh and bar of the state as the authoritative Indiana statutes."
"Although Burns Statutes was never adopted by the Indiana Legislature as the official statutes of the state, yet for more than thirty years it has been cited by the courts and used by the attorneys as though it were the official statute. It is a source of gratification to his asociates in the publishing house that Judge Burns lived to see the fifth complete revision of his statutes published. The first volume of the 1926 revision came from the bindery on the 1st of January and while he was not able in these later years to give to the work the same amount of patient labor that he had devoted to the former revisions, yet he had the satisfaction of knowing that what he had spent more than thirty years of his life in perfecting was used as the basis for this crowning achievement of his life's work."
Known for Literary Work
"Although he had a creditable career at the br and on the bench of the state, he is know by his legal literary work, Burns's Annotated Indiana Satute had been accepted as aurtority for a longer period of time than any revision of he satute laws from the beginning of the state. The fact that I went to Judge Burns personally with the invitation to join our organization for the purpose of making the statutes is a source of very great pride indeed and my close association with him in this work is one of my pleasantest memories in the publishing house. It is peculiarly satisfying, therefore, to think that no accumalation of wealth could give Judge Burns the enduring name and that no structure in brick or stone could give him the lasting monument secured to him by these books, to which he devoted thirty-five years of industry, fidelity and rare equipment of information, training and capacity."
E. F. White, legal editor of the Bobb-Merrill Company, said: "A connection with our publishing house covering a period of nearly forty years was broken by the death of Judge Harrison Burns yesterday afternoon. He was one of the oldest member of our organization in the length of his service. His going away severs a relationship of a very tender character for he grew deeper into the affections of all his asociates as the years of service with him lengthened.
"He held two judicial positions in this state. Before the civil war he was a common pleas judge in Owen county. After the war he was appointed a circuit judge of this county by Governor Thomas A. Hendricks. He practiced at the bar of this state for many years as the colleague of those who gave great luster to the legal profession of Indiana. In that list are included Harrison, Hendricks, Butler, Turple, Voorhies, McDonald, Gordon and many others not less eminent, who here leaders of the bar in our state in the years following the civil war. He was a worthy associate of these great men. His efforts were distinguished by the care with which he prepared all his cases.
"He is now best known and will be longest remembered for his work as compiler of our satute law. I believe he would be glad to have it this way.
"An epitome of his services as a legal author occurs in the preface to the forthcoming edition of the statutes for 1926.
"It is worthy of note that his soul leaves us as this last body of his work goes to the profession that he geatly loved and greatly served.
"It is a matter not generally known that Judge Burns wrote the first statutes of the territory of Montana at the request of an improvised Legislature assembled to rescue the territory from lawlessness. These satutes now comprise the basis and body of the statutes of the present state of Montana. This came about by reason of his being in the territory at that time and being the only lawyer available for this wor. He used a copy of the statutes of Missouri as the ground work for these laws which were adopted by the first teritorial Legislature of Montana.
"He was a man of unwearying industry, large legal talents andtruly consecrated to the work his hands found to do. With all this he had the becoming grace of unassumed modesty."
Invited to Revise Statutes
Indianapolis, Indiana
Friday, January 8, 1926; Page 10
FAMOUS AUTHOR, JURIST IS DEAD
Harrison Burns, 89, Ill Several Months --- Burial in Bloomfield
Funeral services for Harrison Burns of Indianapolis, prominent jurist and author of Burns's Indiana Digest, and Burns's Annotated Statutes, who died at 6 o'clock yesterday morning following an illness of several months, will be held at 4 o'clock this afternoon at the Hisey & Titus funeral home, 951 North Delaware street. Burial will follow at Bloomfield.
Mr. Burns was one of the oldest members of the Indianapolis bar, and his works on law have been used in this state probably more than those of any other author. His annotated statutes have been in use by Indiana attorneys for more than twenty-five years.
Mr. Burns reached his eighty-ninth year on Dec. 11, 1925. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, the son of representatives of two of Indiana's pioneer families. His father was Maxa Moncrief Burns, the son of a Virginian, James Burns, who moved to Jefferson county, near the site of the present village of Wirt, in 1814. His mother was Maria (Vawter) Burns, the eldest daughter of William Vawter, who came with the first settlers of Indiana in 1806 and settled in Jefferson county. She was a niece of Col. John Vawter, Indiana's first United States marshal.
Lived Near North Vernon
Mr. Burns's mother died when he was but 10 years old and the boy went to live with his grandfather, near North Vernon, Ind. He returned to his father's home in 1850, after the father had remarried. He remained at his father's home in Dupont, near Madison, until December, 1851, when he ran away to Louisville, Ky., with a desire to "see the world." There he engaged in various work, mostly on Ohio river steamboats, returning to his father's home in the spring of 1853, where he worked with his father as a carpenter.
The family moved, in 1854, to Louisana, where father and son designed and built a large country home on one of the plantations there. Mr. Burns's law career was begun in Indiana when he began reading law in 1857 in the office of his elder brother, William V. Burns, of Martinsville. He andhisbrother formeda partnership in 1859.
In January of the following year, he moved to Bloomfield, and in the same year was nominated prosecuting attorney for the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket and was elected in face of a state Republican landslide. In 1868 he was elected judge of the common pleas court for the Ninth district, then composed of Greene, Clay, Putnam and Owen counties, and held the office until it was abolished in 1873. He was married in March, 1870, to Miss Mary Constance Smydth, who died Sept. 24, 1882.
Came Here In 1874
In May, 1874, Mr. Burns came to Indianapolis and was connected with the prosecuting attorney's office until 1878, when he was nominated for the position of judge of the Marion Superior court on the Democratic ticket. Governor Thomas A. Hendricks appointed him to the Superior court bench in September of that year, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Horatio Newcomb. Later Mr. Burns moved to Vincennes, where he stayed for five years, and later resided at Winamac for two years. He was appointed assistant to George W. Julian, surveyor general, in 1885, and went to New Mexico, where he aided in breaking up the land grant frauds in that territory.
He returned to Indianapolis in 1891, since when he has devoted his time to the writing of his law books.
Surviving are three sisters, Mrs. S. B. Loomis of Indianapolis, Mrs. James Collins of Mt.Comfort and Mrs. E. A. Bailey of Rodeo, Cal.; a son, Lee Burns of Indianapolis; and two grandchildren, Betty Lee and David Burns.
Tribute to Mr. Burns's memory and ability was paid yesterday by James M. Ogden, president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and by William C. Bobbs of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, publishers of Mr. Burns's books.
Name Familiar to Profession
"Mr. Burns's name is a familiar one in the office of every attorney in Indiana, because of his valuable work on the statutes of Indiana." Mr. Ogden said. "His name is probably better known among lawyers than is that of any other legal writer. He was a student and a scholar in his later years, rather that a practioner."
Mr. Bobbs said: : "Only the lawyers of the state can have any appreciation of the great service which Judge Harrison Burns has rendered to all the people of the state in his "Burns Annotated Statutes." He has not only made the entire statute law of the state easily available through a logical arrangements by subjects and a thorough cross reference index, but he has also shown the construction of each section of the statute law by the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts. When the vast accumulation of the session laws passed by the General Assembly is realized and the great number of decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts taken into consideration, then and then only can the magnitude of this task be understood."
"It was upon the suggestion of Judge Byron K. Elliott, at that time on the Indiana Supreme court, tha Judge Burns was invited in 1890 to undertake a revision of the Indiana statutes and in 1894 the first edition of Burns Annotated Indiana Statutes was published. From that time, through revisions of 1901, 1908 and 1914, the Burns Statutes has been recognized by the benchh and bar of the state as the authoritative Indiana statutes."
"Although Burns Statutes was never adopted by the Indiana Legislature as the official statutes of the state, yet for more than thirty years it has been cited by the courts and used by the attorneys as though it were the official statute. It is a source of gratification to his asociates in the publishing house that Judge Burns lived to see the fifth complete revision of his statutes published. The first volume of the 1926 revision came from the bindery on the 1st of January and while he was not able in these later years to give to the work the same amount of patient labor that he had devoted to the former revisions, yet he had the satisfaction of knowing that what he had spent more than thirty years of his life in perfecting was used as the basis for this crowning achievement of his life's work."
Known for Literary Work
"Although he had a creditable career at the br and on the bench of the state, he is know by his legal literary work, Burns's Annotated Indiana Satute had been accepted as aurtority for a longer period of time than any revision of he satute laws from the beginning of the state. The fact that I went to Judge Burns personally with the invitation to join our organization for the purpose of making the statutes is a source of very great pride indeed and my close association with him in this work is one of my pleasantest memories in the publishing house. It is peculiarly satisfying, therefore, to think that no accumalation of wealth could give Judge Burns the enduring name and that no structure in brick or stone could give him the lasting monument secured to him by these books, to which he devoted thirty-five years of industry, fidelity and rare equipment of information, training and capacity."
E. F. White, legal editor of the Bobb-Merrill Company, said: "A connection with our publishing house covering a period of nearly forty years was broken by the death of Judge Harrison Burns yesterday afternoon. He was one of the oldest member of our organization in the length of his service. His going away severs a relationship of a very tender character for he grew deeper into the affections of all his asociates as the years of service with him lengthened.
"He held two judicial positions in this state. Before the civil war he was a common pleas judge in Owen county. After the war he was appointed a circuit judge of this county by Governor Thomas A. Hendricks. He practiced at the bar of this state for many years as the colleague of those who gave great luster to the legal profession of Indiana. In that list are included Harrison, Hendricks, Butler, Turple, Voorhies, McDonald, Gordon and many others not less eminent, who here leaders of the bar in our state in the years following the civil war. He was a worthy associate of these great men. His efforts were distinguished by the care with which he prepared all his cases.
"He is now best known and will be longest remembered for his work as compiler of our satute law. I believe he would be glad to have it this way.
"An epitome of his services as a legal author occurs in the preface to the forthcoming edition of the statutes for 1926.
"It is worthy of note that his soul leaves us as this last body of his work goes to the profession that he geatly loved and greatly served.
"It is a matter not generally known that Judge Burns wrote the first statutes of the territory of Montana at the request of an improvised Legislature assembled to rescue the territory from lawlessness. These satutes now comprise the basis and body of the statutes of the present state of Montana. This came about by reason of his being in the territory at that time and being the only lawyer available for this wor. He used a copy of the statutes of Missouri as the ground work for these laws which were adopted by the first teritorial Legislature of Montana.
"He was a man of unwearying industry, large legal talents andtruly consecrated to the work his hands found to do. With all this he had the becoming grace of unassumed modesty."
Invited to Revise Statutes
The Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis, Indiana
Friday, January 8, 1926; Page 10
FAMOUS AUTHOR, JURIST IS DEAD
Harrison Burns, 89, Ill Several Months --- Burial in Bloomfield
Funeral services for Harrison Burns of Indianapolis, prominent jurist and author of Burns's Indiana Digest, and Burns's Annotated Statutes, who died at 6 o'clock yesterday morning following an illness of several months, will be held at 4 o'clock this afternoon at the Hisey & Titus funeral home, 951 North Delaware street. Burial will follow at Bloomfield.
Mr. Burns was one of the oldest members of the Indianapolis bar, and his works on law have been used in this state probably more than those of any other author. His annotated statutes have been in use by Indiana attorneys for more than twenty-five years.
Mr. Burns reached his eighty-ninth year on Dec. 11, 1925. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, the son of representatives of two of Indiana's pioneer families. His father was Maxa Moncrief Burns, the son of a Virginian, James Burns, who moved to Jefferson county, near the site of the present village of Wirt, in 1814. His mother was Maria (Vawter) Burns, the eldest daughter of William Vawter, who came with the first settlers of Indiana in 1806 and settled in Jefferson county. She was a niece of Col. John Vawter, Indiana's first United States marshal.
Lived Near North Vernon
Mr. Burns's mother died when he was but 10 years old and the boy went to live with his grandfather, near North Vernon, Ind. He returned to his father's home in 1850, after the father had remarried. He remained at his father's home in Dupont, near Madison, until December, 1851, when he ran away to Louisville, Ky., with a desire to "see the world." There he engaged in various work, mostly on Ohio river steamboats, returning to his father's home in the spring of 1853, where he worked with his father as a carpenter.
The family moved, in 1854, to Louisana, where father and son designed and built a large country home on one of the plantations there. Mr. Burns's law career was begun in Indiana when he began reading law in 1857 in the office of his elder brother, William V. Burns, of Martinsville. He andhisbrother formeda partnership in 1859.
In January of the following year, he moved to Bloomfield, and in the same year was nominated prosecuting attorney for the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket and was elected in face of a state Republican landslide. In 1868 he was elected judge of the common pleas court for the Ninth district, then composed of Greene, Clay, Putnam and Owen counties, and held the office until it was abolished in 1873. He was married in March, 1870, to Miss Mary Constance Smydth, who died Sept. 24, 1882.
Came Here In 1874
In May, 1874, Mr. Burns came to Indianapolis and was connected with the prosecuting attorney's office until 1878, when he was nominated for the position of judge of the Marion Superior court on the Democratic ticket. Governor Thomas A. Hendricks appointed him to the Superior court bench in September of that year, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Horatio Newcomb. Later Mr. Burns moved to Vincennes, where he stayed for five years, and later resided at Winamac for two years. He was appointed assistant to George W. Julian, surveyor general, in 1885, and went to New Mexico, where he aided in breaking up the land grant frauds in that territory.
He returned to Indianapolis in 1891, since when he has devoted his time to the writing of his law books.
Surviving are three sisters, Mrs. S. B. Loomis of Indianapolis, Mrs. James Collins of Mt.Comfort and Mrs. E. A. Bailey of Rodeo, Cal.; a son, Lee Burns of Indianapolis; and two grandchildren, Betty Lee and David Burns.
Tribute to Mr. Burns's memory and ability was paid yesterday by James M. Ogden, president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and by William C. Bobbs of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, publishers of Mr. Burns's books.
Name Familiar to Profession
"Mr. Burns's name is a familiar one in the office of every attorney in Indiana, because of his valuable work on the statutes of Indiana." Mr. Ogden said. "His name is probably better known among lawyers than is that of any other legal writer. He was a student and a scholar in his later years, rather that a practioner."
Mr. Bobbs said: : "Only the lawyers of the state can have any appreciation of the great service which Judge Harrison Burns has rendered to all the people of the state in his "Burns Annotated Statutes." He has not only made the entire statute law of the state easily available through a logical arrangements by subjects and a thorough cross reference index, but he has also shown the construction of each section of the statute law by the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts. When the vast accumulation of the session laws passed by the General Assembly is realized and the great number of decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts taken into consideration, then and then only can the magnitude of this task be understood."
"It was upon the suggestion of Judge Byron K. Elliott, at that time on the Indiana Supreme court, tha Judge Burns was invited in 1890 to undertake a revision of the Indiana statutes and in 1894 the first edition of Burns Annotated Indiana Statutes was published. From that time, through revisions of 1901, 1908 and 1914, the Burns Statutes has been recognized by the benchh and bar of the state as the authoritative Indiana statutes."
"Although Burns Statutes was never adopted by the Indiana Legislature as the official statutes of the state, yet for more than thirty years it has been cited by the courts and used by the attorneys as though it were the official statute. It is a source of gratification to his asociates in the publishing house that Judge Burns lived to see the fifth complete revision of his statutes published. The first volume of the 1926 revision came from the bindery on the 1st of January and while he was not able in these later years to give to the work the same amount of patient labor that he had devoted to the former revisions, yet he had the satisfaction of knowing that what he had spent more than thirty years of his life in perfecting was used as the basis for this crowning achievement of his life's work."
Known for Literary Work
"Although he had a creditable career at the br and on the bench of the state, he is know by his legal literary work, Burns's Annotated Indiana Satute had been accepted as aurtority for a longer period of time than any revision of he satute laws from the beginning of the state. The fact that I went to Judge Burns personally with the invitation to join our organization for the purpose of making the statutes is a source of very great pride indeed and my close association with him in this work is one of my pleasantest memories in the publishing house. It is peculiarly satisfying, therefore, to think that no accumalation of wealth could give Judge Burns the enduring name and that no structure in brick or stone could give him the lasting monument secured to him by these books, to which he devoted thirty-five years of industry, fidelity and rare equipment of information, training and capacity."
E. F. White, legal editor of the Bobb-Merrill Company, said: "A connection with our publishing house covering a period of nearly forty years was broken by the death of Judge Harrison Burns yesterday afternoon. He was one of the oldest member of our organization in the length of his service. His going away severs a relationship of a very tender character for he grew deeper into the affections of all his asociates as the years of service with him lengthened.
"He held two judicial positions in this state. Before the civil war he was a common pleas judge in Owen county. After the war he was appointed a circuit judge of this county by Governor Thomas A. Hendricks. He practiced at the bar of this state for many years as the colleague of those who gave great luster to the legal profession of Indiana. In that list are included Harrison, Hendricks, Butler, Turple, Voorhies, McDonald, Gordon and many others not less eminent, who here leaders of the bar in our state in the years following the civil war. He was a worthy associate of these great men. His efforts were distinguished by the care with which he prepared all his cases.
"He is now best known and will be longest remembered for his work as compiler of our satute law. I believe he would be glad to have it this way.
"An epitome of his services as a legal author occurs in the preface to the forthcoming edition of the statutes for 1926.
"It is worthy of note that his soul leaves us as this last body of his work goes to the profession that he geatly loved and greatly served.
"It is a matter not generally known that Judge Burns wrote the first statutes of the territory of Montana at the request of an improvised Legislature assembled to rescue the territory from lawlessness. These satutes now comprise the basis and body of the statutes of the present state of Montana. This came about by reason of his being in the territory at that time and being the only lawyer available for this wor. He used a copy of the statutes of Missouri as the ground work for these laws which were adopted by the first teritorial Legislature of Montana.
"He was a man of unwearying industry, large legal talents andtruly consecrated to the work his hands found to do. With all this he had the becoming grace of unassumed modesty."
Invited to Revise Statutes
Indianapolis, Indiana
Friday, January 8, 1926; Page 10
FAMOUS AUTHOR, JURIST IS DEAD
Harrison Burns, 89, Ill Several Months --- Burial in Bloomfield
Funeral services for Harrison Burns of Indianapolis, prominent jurist and author of Burns's Indiana Digest, and Burns's Annotated Statutes, who died at 6 o'clock yesterday morning following an illness of several months, will be held at 4 o'clock this afternoon at the Hisey & Titus funeral home, 951 North Delaware street. Burial will follow at Bloomfield.
Mr. Burns was one of the oldest members of the Indianapolis bar, and his works on law have been used in this state probably more than those of any other author. His annotated statutes have been in use by Indiana attorneys for more than twenty-five years.
Mr. Burns reached his eighty-ninth year on Dec. 11, 1925. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, the son of representatives of two of Indiana's pioneer families. His father was Maxa Moncrief Burns, the son of a Virginian, James Burns, who moved to Jefferson county, near the site of the present village of Wirt, in 1814. His mother was Maria (Vawter) Burns, the eldest daughter of William Vawter, who came with the first settlers of Indiana in 1806 and settled in Jefferson county. She was a niece of Col. John Vawter, Indiana's first United States marshal.
Lived Near North Vernon
Mr. Burns's mother died when he was but 10 years old and the boy went to live with his grandfather, near North Vernon, Ind. He returned to his father's home in 1850, after the father had remarried. He remained at his father's home in Dupont, near Madison, until December, 1851, when he ran away to Louisville, Ky., with a desire to "see the world." There he engaged in various work, mostly on Ohio river steamboats, returning to his father's home in the spring of 1853, where he worked with his father as a carpenter.
The family moved, in 1854, to Louisana, where father and son designed and built a large country home on one of the plantations there. Mr. Burns's law career was begun in Indiana when he began reading law in 1857 in the office of his elder brother, William V. Burns, of Martinsville. He andhisbrother formeda partnership in 1859.
In January of the following year, he moved to Bloomfield, and in the same year was nominated prosecuting attorney for the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket and was elected in face of a state Republican landslide. In 1868 he was elected judge of the common pleas court for the Ninth district, then composed of Greene, Clay, Putnam and Owen counties, and held the office until it was abolished in 1873. He was married in March, 1870, to Miss Mary Constance Smydth, who died Sept. 24, 1882.
Came Here In 1874
In May, 1874, Mr. Burns came to Indianapolis and was connected with the prosecuting attorney's office until 1878, when he was nominated for the position of judge of the Marion Superior court on the Democratic ticket. Governor Thomas A. Hendricks appointed him to the Superior court bench in September of that year, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Horatio Newcomb. Later Mr. Burns moved to Vincennes, where he stayed for five years, and later resided at Winamac for two years. He was appointed assistant to George W. Julian, surveyor general, in 1885, and went to New Mexico, where he aided in breaking up the land grant frauds in that territory.
He returned to Indianapolis in 1891, since when he has devoted his time to the writing of his law books.
Surviving are three sisters, Mrs. S. B. Loomis of Indianapolis, Mrs. James Collins of Mt.Comfort and Mrs. E. A. Bailey of Rodeo, Cal.; a son, Lee Burns of Indianapolis; and two grandchildren, Betty Lee and David Burns.
Tribute to Mr. Burns's memory and ability was paid yesterday by James M. Ogden, president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and by William C. Bobbs of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, publishers of Mr. Burns's books.
Name Familiar to Profession
"Mr. Burns's name is a familiar one in the office of every attorney in Indiana, because of his valuable work on the statutes of Indiana." Mr. Ogden said. "His name is probably better known among lawyers than is that of any other legal writer. He was a student and a scholar in his later years, rather that a practioner."
Mr. Bobbs said: : "Only the lawyers of the state can have any appreciation of the great service which Judge Harrison Burns has rendered to all the people of the state in his "Burns Annotated Statutes." He has not only made the entire statute law of the state easily available through a logical arrangements by subjects and a thorough cross reference index, but he has also shown the construction of each section of the statute law by the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts. When the vast accumulation of the session laws passed by the General Assembly is realized and the great number of decisions of the Supreme and Appellate courts taken into consideration, then and then only can the magnitude of this task be understood."
"It was upon the suggestion of Judge Byron K. Elliott, at that time on the Indiana Supreme court, tha Judge Burns was invited in 1890 to undertake a revision of the Indiana statutes and in 1894 the first edition of Burns Annotated Indiana Statutes was published. From that time, through revisions of 1901, 1908 and 1914, the Burns Statutes has been recognized by the benchh and bar of the state as the authoritative Indiana statutes."
"Although Burns Statutes was never adopted by the Indiana Legislature as the official statutes of the state, yet for more than thirty years it has been cited by the courts and used by the attorneys as though it were the official statute. It is a source of gratification to his asociates in the publishing house that Judge Burns lived to see the fifth complete revision of his statutes published. The first volume of the 1926 revision came from the bindery on the 1st of January and while he was not able in these later years to give to the work the same amount of patient labor that he had devoted to the former revisions, yet he had the satisfaction of knowing that what he had spent more than thirty years of his life in perfecting was used as the basis for this crowning achievement of his life's work."
Known for Literary Work
"Although he had a creditable career at the br and on the bench of the state, he is know by his legal literary work, Burns's Annotated Indiana Satute had been accepted as aurtority for a longer period of time than any revision of he satute laws from the beginning of the state. The fact that I went to Judge Burns personally with the invitation to join our organization for the purpose of making the statutes is a source of very great pride indeed and my close association with him in this work is one of my pleasantest memories in the publishing house. It is peculiarly satisfying, therefore, to think that no accumalation of wealth could give Judge Burns the enduring name and that no structure in brick or stone could give him the lasting monument secured to him by these books, to which he devoted thirty-five years of industry, fidelity and rare equipment of information, training and capacity."
E. F. White, legal editor of the Bobb-Merrill Company, said: "A connection with our publishing house covering a period of nearly forty years was broken by the death of Judge Harrison Burns yesterday afternoon. He was one of the oldest member of our organization in the length of his service. His going away severs a relationship of a very tender character for he grew deeper into the affections of all his asociates as the years of service with him lengthened.
"He held two judicial positions in this state. Before the civil war he was a common pleas judge in Owen county. After the war he was appointed a circuit judge of this county by Governor Thomas A. Hendricks. He practiced at the bar of this state for many years as the colleague of those who gave great luster to the legal profession of Indiana. In that list are included Harrison, Hendricks, Butler, Turple, Voorhies, McDonald, Gordon and many others not less eminent, who here leaders of the bar in our state in the years following the civil war. He was a worthy associate of these great men. His efforts were distinguished by the care with which he prepared all his cases.
"He is now best known and will be longest remembered for his work as compiler of our satute law. I believe he would be glad to have it this way.
"An epitome of his services as a legal author occurs in the preface to the forthcoming edition of the statutes for 1926.
"It is worthy of note that his soul leaves us as this last body of his work goes to the profession that he geatly loved and greatly served.
"It is a matter not generally known that Judge Burns wrote the first statutes of the territory of Montana at the request of an improvised Legislature assembled to rescue the territory from lawlessness. These satutes now comprise the basis and body of the statutes of the present state of Montana. This came about by reason of his being in the territory at that time and being the only lawyer available for this wor. He used a copy of the statutes of Missouri as the ground work for these laws which were adopted by the first teritorial Legislature of Montana.
"He was a man of unwearying industry, large legal talents andtruly consecrated to the work his hands found to do. With all this he had the becoming grace of unassumed modesty."
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