Dodd accepted the role and played it, and Zabriskie "was not waked up to make much of an effort", and then Whelpley, having the last word, "put the case with all his power".
[2] In fall of 1858, Whelpley, then forty years old, was appointed to a seat on the New Jersey Supreme Court vacated by the resignation of Justice Martin Ryerson.
[2] Less than three years later, on January 31, 1861, Whelpley was elevated to the position of Chief Justice, succeeding Henry W. Green, who had become Chancellor of New Jersey.
This case arose from the New Jersey tax act of March 28, 1862, which aimed to more evenly distribute the burden of taxation rendered necessary by the American Civil War.
Whelpley challenged the reasoning behind a recent decision of the Court of Appeals of New York, which had held that United States bonds were taxable if included in the bulk of the property of the person taxed.
[2] In Telfer v. Northern Railroad Company,[5] Whelpley articulated the rule that in the absence of legislation or lawful municipal restrictions, it is not considered negligence for railroad trains to run at high speed over crossings of common highways, even when other vehicles are approaching, and that the care to be used "must be in proportion to the danger incident to the particular locality".