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soon as Congress meets. I believe it is Senate bill No.

19.

The report of the committee was then received, and its recommendations adopted.

The report of the Treasurer was then read.

On motion of Benjamin A. Willis, of New York, it was accepted and placed on file.

(See the report at the end of the minutes.)

Simeon E. Baldwin, of Connecticut:

I call for action upon the resolution which I offered yesterday, and which was deferred until to-day. I move the adoption of that resolution.

Skipwith Wilmer, of Maryland, seconded the motion, and it was adopted.

H. L. Lazarus, of Louisiana:

I have been requested to present to the Association, for its consideration, and for reference to the Committee on Commercial Law, the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on Commercial Law be requested to report to the next meeting as to the expediency of endeavoring to secure from the several states, as regards domestic transactions, and from Congress, as regards transactions between citizens of different states, such legislation as may secure uniformity in the obligations arising from indorsements in blank, by third parties, of commercial paper.

Alexander R. Lawton, of Georgia, seconded the motion, and it was adopted.

David Dudley Field, of New York, said:

The resolution which I propose is one that calls for the expression of no opinion whatever, but simply for a refer

ence and an inquiry upon the subject, which we have had in our minds all the while, and which has been alluded to in almost every speech-namely, the delay and uncertainty in the administration of justice. The resolution is as follows:

Resolved, That a select committee of five be appointed by the President, to consider and report, at the next annual meeting, whether the present delay and uncertainty in judicial administration can be lessened, and, if so, by what

means.

When I heard the remarks of the last speaker upon the inquiry in respect to the Supreme Court, I was struck with this thought: that the same complaint exists in regard to all our courts, and to the administration of justice throughout the country. In New York, if I have a promissory note upon which I sue my neighbor, and there be a defence offered, that case cannot be decided within six or seven years. I asked an eminent gentleman from Baltimore, the other day, how long it took to try a case in Maryland. "Begin now, at the court of first instance," he said, "and go to the highest court; when you have got a definitive solution, it will take from a year and a half to two and a half years." I suppose, Maryland is one of the quickest of our states. In New Jersey, I do not know how it is, though I have heard that the delays are very considerable. But this I say that the delays in the administration of justice in this country are monstrous; that they are under our especial cognizance, and that we are bound to find a remedy, if remedy there be. That is all I affirm. Now, it may be said that this Association is a young one. Very well; it will be older bye-and-bye. As Napoleon said, when he was asked if he was not too young a man to command an army: "I shall be older when I come back.”

This is a government of opinion. In fact, all over the

t

world it is opinion which rules, and it is the opinion of a few men. My own experience and observation is that a very few men make all the revolutions that there are on this globe. Now, the American Bar Association has great duties, great responsibilities and a great future. Only three days before I came here I read a book written by an American resident in Japan, in which he proposes that the American Bar Association shall be appealed to, to prepare a civil code for all the States of America. I mention this as an instance merely as a proof-of what the outside public think of our duties. Our duty is to do what we can to shorten, to facilitate, and to make certain, the administration of the law whose ministers we are. I therefore propose that we should appoint a committee. I would not have it a one-sided committee. If there is anybody who supposes I have a special reference to a civil code, let it be divided between those who oppose codes. Let us know all we can about the subject of the administration of justice, for that is the end of all our laws and all our efforts.

I have been struck, in listening to the discussion here, with this fact. You propose to relieve the Supreme Court of the United States. You have many plans. But have you mentioned the essential condition? That is a court created by the constitution. You cannot create another. That court can decide in a year only four hundred cases. Well, what is the problem, then? The problem, then, is to sift out of all the litigation of the country those four hundred cases which policy and necessity and the equalization of our laws require. You cannot send there all the cases that arise. You must take the few cases which are necessary to make the administration of the constitution and of the laws uniform throughout this land. We have the same problem in New York. Our Court of Appeals is crowded. in the same way. You can get a case on in perhaps two

years after it has got there. A little while ago the calendar was cleared, and we all thought that we had reached the judicial millenium in New York. But it is crowded again. You never can, I say once for all, load that court with more than it has now to bear, and you must lessen the burden now resting upon it. That is the problem you have got to solve. Now, Mr. President, my resolution is simply a resolution of inquiry in the exercise of our judgment, to consider and report to the Association whether the present delay and uncertainty in the administration of justice can be lessened; and, if so, by what means.

Charles A. Peabody, of New York, seconded the motion. James O. Broadhead, of Missouri :

The resolution speaks its own importance, and therefore I do not see any necessity of argument upon the proposition. I think it meets with the universal approbation of this Association. I move its adoption.

The resolution was then adopted.

A. J. Todd, of New York:

I offer the following resolution:

Whereas, A bill is pending before Congress relative to the appointment of a commission, whose duty it shall be to examine into the patent, trade-mark, and copyright laws, and to report to Congress, at its session next after the appointment of such commission, as to what, if any, changes should be made in such laws. Therefore be it

Resolved, That it be referred to the Committee on Commercial Law what, if any, action should be taken respecting any legislation that may be proposed in the matter of changes in the patent, trade-mark, and copyright laws.

The resolution was adopted, and referred to the Committee on Commercial Law.

W. H. H. Russell, of New York, offered the following:

Resolved, That the Committee on International Law report at the next session some measure or suggestions, by which a uniform system of the registration of births, marriages and deaths may be secured in each state and section, looking to the establishment of a bureau or department at Washington, where the registration of all births, marriages and deaths in the United States may be established; and further, that Congress should be urged to pass a law requiring all steamships or vessels entering the ports of the United States to furnish lists of emigrants to the custom house officers of the respective ports, which said lists shall be copied and forwarded to the proper department in Washington.

The object of the resolution is this: Since 1856, if any person dies within any province of Great Britain, you can find the name on record in the Sommerset House, in London. By the payment of a shilling you can get the full record of the decease of any person. Now, if such a system. could be inaugurated here, it would be a great advantage. I ask that this resolution be referred to the Committee on International Law for investigation, and for report at the next annual meeting, if of sufficient importance.

Skipwith Wilmer, of Maryland, seconded the resolution, and it was adopted.

E. F. Bullard, of New York:

I offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on Judicial Administration and Remedial Procedure be instructed to examine the bill which passed the last session of the United States Senate, and is now pending before the lower House of Congress, in regard to imposing further duties upon the Supreme Court of the United States, known as "Senate Bill, No. 19," and

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