The President: The Chair will not rule upon that at present. It is the custom of the Chair not to cross a bridge until he comes to it. The Secretary will proceed. The Secretary: The resolution originally offered was: Resolved, That the majority and minority reports of the Committee on Commercial Law be received and filed. Then Mr. Morris moved to add: And that, inasmuch as the reports were not printed and distributed fifteen days before the meeting, consideration of the reports be postponed until the next annual meeting of the Association with leave to the committee to amend or supplement the report, provided any such amended or supplemental report be printed and distributed to members as required by the by-laws. The resolution was adopted. The President: In the judgment of the Chair, this vote carries with it the whole matter. Next in order is the report of the Committee on International Law, of which Mr. Wheeler, of New York, is Chairman. The report of the Committee on International Law was then presented by Everett P. Wheeler, of New York. (See the Report in the Appendix.) Everett P. Wheeler, of New York: The committee instructs me to move the adoption by the Association of the following resolutions: Resolved, That the American Bar Association concurs in the resolutions adopted by the National Arbitration Conference at Washington, D. C., January 12, 1904. Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of State of the United States. The resolutions were seconded and adopted. The Committee on Grievances is next in order. Cortlandt Parker, of New Jersey: I I feel like apologizing to you for coming with a report which will occupy, perhaps, two or three minutes of your time after the very interesting report to which we have just listened. am Chairman of the Committee on Grievances, which committee is composed of five former Presidents of this Association, and this is our first appearance with a report. The report of the Committee on Grievances was then read. (See the Report in the Appendix.) Cortlandt Parker: I move the adoption of the report. Sigmund Zeisler, of Illinois : Before the question is put, Mr. President, on the motion to approve this report, I should like to occupy the attention of the Association for a few minutes. In spite of the fact that the Committee on Grievances is composed of perhaps as illustrious gentlemen as the Association boasts, I beg to express a doubt as to the propriety of adopting this report. The committee does not state clearly what the grievance was of which Mr. Davis complained. It might have taken us into its confidence a little bit. However, from the fact that they say that if certain criticisms should be made by the Association upon the action of the Hawaiian Court this Association itself might be guilty of contempt of court, I infer that the case of Mr. Davis was one of contempt of court. But wherein that contempt consisted and what his grievance was, what the injustice was to which Mr. Davis was subjected, we are not told. However, my objection is not so much to the conclusion arrived at by the committee that no action should be taken by this Association as it is to the reasons given by the committee for its failure to make any recommendations. The committee say that it is very hard to answer the question as to what grievances the Committee on Grievances of this Association should consider, and they proceed to enlighten us negatively. as to what it is not within their province to consider. They have taken the trouble to inform us that, for instance, the grievance which arises from differences in the legislation of various states regarding marriage and divorce is not such a grievance as would come within the province of the committee. It seems to me that it was very unnecessary to tell us that. It seems to me that it is pretty well understood what grievances would come within the purview of the Committee on Grievances. Now, it is very possible that in the precise case about which we know nothing there was a usurpation of power on the part of the Hawaiian judge. In that event, if my surmise were rightly based upon the fact, it seems to me it would be proper for this Association to adopt some resolution disapproving of the conduct of the judge. The committee say that private grievances, in their opinion, cannot engross the attention of the Association, but it seems to me that every grievance which really would come properly before the Committee on Grievances would involve a private wrong. Imagine, for instance, that one of the members of this Association should be guilty of disloyalty to a client, of unprofessional conduct of a grievous character, and that the client should report his grievance to the Committee on Grievances. Would it not be within the province of the Committee on Grievances to recommend that that man be deprived of his privilege of membership here? So that it is the reasoning of the committee in this report and some of the statements which they make in it which I think are not correct that have led me to rise and object to the adoption of the report. The President: Is there further debate? If not, the motion to receive and approve the report will be put. The motion was adopted. The report of the Committee on Obituaries is next in order. The report of the Committee on Obituaries was read by the Secretary as Chairman of the committee. (See the Report in the Appendix.) The President: Next in order is the report of the Committee on Law Reporting and Digesting. The report was read by Edward Q. Keasbey, of New Jersey. (See the Report in the Appendix.) Ralph W. Breckenridge, of Nebraska: I concur in the report to the extent that it calls attention to what might be done by the judges of many of our courts if they would eliminate from their opinions much that is useless and pads the reports, and I am of the opinion that if their attention was sharply called to the views entertained by the Bar of the United States they themselves could and would do very much to minimize the evil of the multiplication of reports which now burden our shelves. I am not in favor of conferring upon judges the discretion. to select from their opinions those which are to be officially reported and those which are not to be officially reported, and believe it unwise for the opinions of any court of last resort to be buried. The Bar must have access to the opinions filed in all cases decided in courts of last resort. The opinions of courts which Mr. Keasbey refers to as courts of first instance may be very helpful in many cases, but they have not the value of the opinions of courts of last resort, and it is not necessary that any considerable portion of such opinions should be published. My dissent from the views of the majority of the committee is upon their proposition to give the judges discretion to select from among their opinions those which should be reported and those which should not be reported. Charles Borcherling, of New Jersey: I move that the report be accepted and filed. The President: Unless there is objection, it will take that course. The Association then adjourned to Wednesday, September 28, 1904, at 10 A. M. THIRD DAY. Wednesday, September 28, 1904, 10 A. M. The President called the Association to order. New members were then elected. (See List of New Members.) The President: The Secretary calls my attention to the fact that this makes 198 new members elected at this meeting. Ferdinand Shack, of New York: We all heard yesterday with pleasure the valuable report of the Committee on International Law. Mr. Wheeler called. attention to the prominent part taken by this Association in the advocacy of international arbitration and to the resolutions. adopted on the subject in 1896, 1897 and 1899, and he also made mention of the encouraging events of the present year, the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in this city and the International Peace Conference to be held in Boston in October. At the time that report was prepared no doubt the very important action of the Inter-Parliamentary Union had not yet been taken. We are all aware of what that body has done, and we may look forward to very great progress in the movement for the settlement of controversies without resort to arms. I beg leave to offer the following resolution: Resolved, That this Association hereby expresses its deep gratification at the steps recently taken by the Inter-Parliamentary Union toward the settlement of controversies between nations in the same manner as disputes between individuals are settled, that is, by judgment in accordance with recognized principles of law, and this Association records its great satisfaction at the announcement by the President of the United States of his intention to comply with the request made to him by the Inter-Parliamentary Union that he invite the nations to a conference. The resolution was seconded and was adopted. |