No. 15. S 1845. REPORT of the Committee on Claims. The committee on claims have had under consideration the claim of Mark Cannon, and respectfully report a condensed statement of facts as set forth in a copy of a letter hereto attached, addressed to the Attorney General in obedience to a resolution of this House passed January 23rd, 1845, which letter and reply are herewith communicated to the House. The committee also report the accompanying bill in blank without any recommendation as to the action of the House or expreessing any opinion as to the merit of the claim. WILLIAM A. PRATT, Hon. E. FARNSWORTH: Chairman. Committee Room, February 8, 1845. The following facts duly attested have been submitted to the committee : 1st Cannon, within about 40 rods of a train of cars gave the cus tomary signal for one wishing to take passage. 2nd This was done at a point where it has always been customary for the same train of cars, on receiving the signal given by Cannon, to stop and receive passengers. 3rd The signal was recognised by the Engineer, and the train slackened by reversing the engine. 4th Cannon attempted to get on, but in consequence of the 'break' not being shut down the motion of the cars was not sufficiently arrested, and Cannon was thrown down, the steps or wheel caught his leg, fractured or lacerated it severely. 5th It is customary and usual to use a "break" attached to the engine, to aid in stopping the train, and is quite necessary to do so when stopping for passengers. HOUSE.] 2 [No. 15. Please report to the committee on claims agreeable to the resolution of the House of Representatives here with transmitted. Most respectfully, Your obedient servant, On motion of Mr. Wyman, WILLIAM A. PRATT, Chairman. The House resolved, that the committee on claims be requested to lay a statement of the facts and circumstances which may come into their possession relative to the claim of Mark Cannon before the attorney general, and call upon him for a written opinion whether the facts and circumstances are such as would legally entitle said Cannon to damages from an incorporated company, and the committee make the opinion of the attorney general a part of their report. Your obedient servant, (signed) EZRA WILLIAMS, Detroit, February 14, 1845. SIR-In reply to the foregoing I beg leave to say that from the facts above stated, without any other circumstances to explain or mo dify them, in my opinion they are such as would legally entitle the said Mark Cannon to recover damages from an incorporated compa ny. Very respectfully, Your ob't servant, E. FARNSWORTH, Attorney General. Hon. WILLIAM A. Pratt, Ch'n. of Com. on Claims. No. 16. S 1845. REPORT of the Committee on the Judiciary. The committee on the judiciary have had under consideration, the petition of Henry Gibbs, Jr., and twenty others, inhabitants of the county of Clinton, praying that the laws of the State of Michigan may be so "simpliplified" as to come "within the knowledge of every person," and that "every man may be admitted to the bar." Your committee hail with undisguised delight this harbinger of a political millenium. It is now some eighteen hundred years since the tocsin of monition sounded the alarm-" Wo unto you also, ye lawers, for ye lade men with burdens grievious to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." Luke xi. 46. The teachings of wisdom have not been uncorroborated by the masters of song. Rare old Ben Jonson thus happily describes them : "Men of that large profession that can speak Lord Brooke says of the profession, that "Because their ends being merely avarice, As helps to blind the judge, not give him eyes.” Beaumont and Fletcher, in the "Woman Pleased," describes Justice, as usually administered in our courts of law, to be “a cheesemonger, a mere cheese-monger," who, with her bandage and her scales Weighs nothing to the world but mites and maggots The venerable Donne aptly characterizes a "spruce young law And few are the cities and villages of our land who cannot boast of their Dominie Picklock as drawn by the pencil of Old Ben— "Here is Dominie Picklock, My man of law, solicits all my causes, Follows my business, makes and compounds my quarrels, Between my tenants and me; sows all my strifes, And reaps them too; troubles the country for me, And vexes any neighbour that I please." If such be the general character of the profession, and who so bold as to gainsay it? then ought the petition to be granted, and "all men be admitted to the bar ;" for an evil diffused may be rendered innocuous, as a diluted poison may be a useful medicine. If, as many have supposed, and with obvious plausibility, that the "latter day" hath dawned upon the earth, when men shall "sit under their own vine, and under their own fig trees," why not every man become his own lawyer, plead his own causes, obtain justice for his own self and save his own fees? Your committee would further submit whether the present system of exclusion be not a violation of that constitutional provision which inhibits "any man or set of men from the enjoyment of exclusive or separate privileges." Cons. Art. 1, sec. 3. Under this view of the subject your committee rejoice that they are able to recommend the better dissolution of the monopoly of lawyership. And to carry out their purposes, to submit the accompanying bill, and advise its passage as every way worthy of this transcendental state of legal perfection. Instead of the complex and often ridiculous forms for breaches of promises to marry, the committee would adopt the following, which may be found on page 17 of their bill. "A. B. complains of C. D. for not marrying her, according to his agreement, and claims damages to the amount of $500; offers to take judgment for $200 rather than litigate," This form may be easily varied to suit the case. If circumstantial detail be preferred, the whole story may be told in few words. Thus in cases of assault and battery: "X. Y. complains of Z. &. for |