ADDRESS

OF

ALEXANDER R. LAWTON,

OF GEORGIA,

PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION.

GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION,- The obligation imposed by your Constitution upon the President, "to communicate the most noteworthy changes in statute law on points of general interest, made in the several states and by Congress during the preceding year," is much more serious in its exactions, and far more difficult to discharge properly than was probably contemplated by the men who so skillfully made the draft of our fundamental law. No. one can fully appreciate these difficulties until he has attempted to execute the task.

There is no small labor in gathering the materials for this work, scattered as they are over an area from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; but the attempt to give form and shape to this material-to eliminate the substance from the shadow, to separate the wheat from the chaff-conscious all the while that, when the result is finally reached and given out in utterance, he who proclaims it can only hope to be greeted with, "Dryasdust!"—is indeed appalling. The knowledge that I speak to a generous profession, and to an audience which gives the assurance of that intelligent consideration, to be expected only from those who look with interest to the per

manent value of the information conveyed, rather than to pleasure at the moment, gives me courage.

With this plea for charity, and this claim upon your patience, I remark, that the means indicated by our Association for acquiring the necessary information does not seem to be adequate for the purpose; for though my requests have in most instances been responded to with kindness and alacrity, yet in not a few cases, owing to change of residence, absence from the country, and the like, I have failed to recieve either the statutes themselves or an abstract of them, and in some instances the failure has attached even to the final efforts made to procure them from the proper departments of the states themselves. Perhaps our able and watchful Executive Committee can devise some addition to the resources of future Presidents in this regard.

The terse and comprehensive statement of the objects of this Association, "to advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice and uniformity of legislation throughout the nation, uphold the honor of the law, and encourage cordial intercourse among the members of the American Bar," would not at first sight lead us to expect such exclusive prominence to be given at our opening each year to the mere changes in the statute law of the land. But if we bear in mind how largely the members of our profession are responsible for the passage, as well as for the frame and quality of these laws, our attention will be seriously arrested, and our judgment influenced as to the right of the lawyer to declaim against bad legislation-vicious or inconsiderate-as altogether the work of others.

In the Congress of the United States, in the legislatures of nearly every State, and in the high executive offices influencing legislation, most of the prominent and controlling men are lawyers, and this not including that one of the three

great departments of government in which every place is filled by members of this profession-the Judicial.

What other profession, calling, or vocation has assigned to it exclusively one of the great divisions of government? What other profession, calling, or vocation so largely represented in the other two great divisions-legislative and executive? Though not charged with this duty as an entire profession, yet, as members of the legal fraternity, we cannot escape from the responsibilities which attach to these honors, whether they are sought for or thrust upon us. And ours is a generous profession, always ready to serve the individual or the public-for a proper consideration, whether expressed in the form of the traditional honorarium, or in the honors and perquisites of high office bestowed. And so close an observer as de Tocqueville has said that "a republic could not long exist, if the influence of lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the people."

Let us not be deceived by the thought that our profession as a whole are naturally or necessarily on the side of the right, and of free institutions. The brave and noble deeds. which have been performed by the great lights of the law— defending the oppressed and defying the oppressor—are to be credited rather to the individual men who have done these great and good works, and thus reflected honor on the profession, without borrowing honor from it. Accepting, then, our measure of this responsibility for the character of these changes in the statute law, let us proceed to glance at them, and endeavor to ascertain whether, in these efforts at change, we are mindful of Shakspeare's warning, that in "Striving to better, oft we mar what's well "-whether it is indeed fortunate or not that statutes in derogation of the common law are to be strictly construed, so as to encourage any alteration of the existing law as little as possible, or, as the objectors to this rule would sneeringly state it, "That re

formatory legislation must be prevented as far as practicable from working the reform intended."

It was Bulwer who said, "In all the departments of thought among which intellectual life is distributed, there must be, for safe and continuous progress, a principle that delays innovation."

THE UNITED STATES.

The legislation of Congress at its last session consisted of eighty-two public acts, twenty-nine public resolutions, eighty-one private acts, and two private resolutions; showing how much attention is given by that body to the private interests of individuals. The most. important act was one to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the United States, which provides for the manner of filling places in the various departments of the goverment, and is regarded as a step in the direction of reform. The act is full of details as to the methods to be resorted to for ascertaining competency and merit, and while it makes us full of hope, it seems to be very imperfect in many of its details. Professedly it is intended to do away with that principle, which has been so long asserted after the success of any political party, "To the victors belong the spoils." This act has been so generally discussed in the public prints, and is so well known to most intelligent men, that I refrain from dwelling upon it.

An act to afford assistance and relief to Congress and the executive departments, in the investigation of claims and demands against the government, is important, as recognizing the fact that the judicial function does not properly belong either to Congress or the executive departments, but that the courts are the proper forum for the trial of disputed questions of fact and law, arising in cases in which the United States are concerned. It is hoped that the transfer

of the vast mass of private claims, which has accumulated before the committees of Congress and the bureaus of the executive departments, to the Court of Claims, will cause the government to feel the purifying influence of the change. But will the transfer be actually made, and the lobbyist and the confidence-man lose his occupation?

It seems to be an evidence of the increase of luxury in the country, that the act of March 3, 1883, authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to "cause yachts used and employed exclusively as pleasure-vessels, or designed as models of naval architecture, to be licensed on terms which will authorize them to proceed from port to port of the United States, and to foreign ports, without entering or clearing at the custom-house." On the other hand, it seems to indicate an increase of vice of a certain sort, that an act of Congress is "directed against the importation into the United States from foreign countries of obscene books, pamphlets, papers, etc., or other articles of a similar nature, or any drug or medicine, or any article whatsoever, for the prevention of conception, or for causing unlawful abortion.

It may be interesting to the profession to know that Congress has appropriated eight thousand dollars to enable the librarian of Congress "to purchase a set of records and briefs in cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, belonging to the late Matthew N. Carpenter, which collection will be placed in the law branch of the Library of Congress."

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

Arkansas has submitted for ratification an amendment, which is noticed elsewhere, relating to the state debt.

A joint resolution of the legislature of Missouri proposes the establishment, by constitutional amendment, of a new system of courts of appeal, upon which the people are to vote in November next.