The Treasurer's report was vouched and was therefore accepted and approved and ordered spread upon the minutes. The officers and members of the Council of the Comparative Law Bureau were continued for the ensuing year by reason of the absence of any quorum to elect their successors. They are: Chairman, W. W. Smithers, Philadelphia, Pa. Council: Simeon E. Baldwin, Connecticut; Andrew A. Bruce, Illinois; Phanor J. Eder, New York; W. O. Hart, Louisiana; John S. Lehmann, Missouri; Walter S. Penfield, Washington, D. C.; Roscoe Pound, Massachusetts; John H. Wigmore, Illinois. ROBERT P. SHICK, Secretary. REPORT OF SECRETARY OF COMPARATIVE LAW BUREAU, To the Chairman and Council of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association: Your Secretary begs leave to report upon the work of the Bureau during the past year as follows: I. ACTION OF BUDGET SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. W. O. Hart of our Council on October 7, 1922, reported that the Budget Sub-Committee of the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association in its report made a recommendation that the Comparative Law Bureau be abolished. The vigilance of Mr. Hart, however, secured the striking out of this part of the Budget Sub-Committee's report and the life of the Bureau as an activity of the American Bar Association was saved. II. TREASURER'S REPORT. The report of the Treasurer, Eugene C. Massie, has been submitted to the Secretary and is herewith offered for approval. It shows receipts during the year of $201.00 from dues of members of the Bureau and sales of the publications of the Bureau. The expenditures totaled but $32.74, leaving a balance on hand on May 31, 1923, of $314.19. This is a showing too, without any contributions from the Association proper. III. PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU. The Chipman Law Publishing Company, of Boston, rendered again a very discouraging report of the sales made of the Bureau's publications. The demand for them has been so slight, in fact, that that company recommended the sale of the unbound copies of the stock on hand as waste paper and your officers approved its recommendation, and sold the great bulk of the unbound copies for waste paper. IV. INQUIRIES. Still further demonstration of the practical utility of the work of the Bureau has been evidenced by the inquiries of your Secretary's office during the past year. The resident counsel of the Victor Talking Machine Company, of Camden, New Jersey, made inquiry as to Japanese decisions in the field of copyright law as reported by our editor, Mr. Lee Kauffman. The librarian of the Law Library of the University of Michigan inquired for a copy of the Italian Penal Code. Harmon 0. Acuff of the Alien Property Custodian's office in Washington inquired for publications concerning the laws of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, etc.-all of the nations. engaged in the late war-for use in his office. The Illinois Book Exchange of Chicago inquired for a translation of the Thedosian Code. The Carswell Company, Ltd., of Toronto, Canada, inquired for Judge Lobingier's "Extraterritorial Cases," a publication issued by the Government Printing Office in Manila and advertised for sale by the Clerk of the United States Court at Shanghai, China. The Revue Juridique Internationale de la Locomotion Aerieene of Paris inquired for a contribution upon the question, "Is Aerial War Justifiable." Your Secretary referred this inquiry to Major Charles J. Biddle of the Philadelphia Bar, an American Ace" during the war, and forwarded his letter of expression of opinion to this publication of Paris. 66 V. LATIN-AMERICAN RELATIONS. Leo S. Rowe, Director General of the Pan-American Union in Washington made a suggestion to the Secretary of the American Bar Association, that an exchange of publications of the American Bar Association be made with the corresponding Brazilian Association. This recommendation in turn referred it to Phanor J. Eder, the Chairman of our Sub-Committee on Latin-America. Mr. Eder was quick to act upon the suggestion and has initiated co-operative relations with the Brazilian Association by writing the Secretary of the Brazilian Association offering the very cordial co-operation of the Comparative Law Bureau and an exchange of publications with that Association. VI. INSTITUTE OF COMPARATIVE LAW, OF LYON (FRANCE). Your Secretary noted in the Bulletin of our Bureau in the April, 1923, number of the American Bar Association Journal, the three initial publications of the library of this French Institution of Comparative Law, but wishes to emphasize here the first volume upon the American Bar Association and its work. The preface as well as the detailed study of the activities of the American Bar Association have been written in a peculiarly friendly and appreciative spirit and it would be helpful to the American Bar Association generally if a translation of this volume could be made and distributed generally to members of the Association. The review of the work of our Association as made by our French brethren would, perhaps, show us American lawyers how much real good work has been accomplished by our Association, much like the work of De Tocqueville in his book upon "Democracy in America" gave us Americans a faithful picture of the real values of our American Institutions. VII. LAS SIETE PARTIDAS. Your Secretary can report but progress upon this item of unfinished business. Several orders for copies of the translation have come unto this office that he has regretted in each case his inability to furnish the publication. Your Secretary has made efforts during the past year to secure the publication of this translation but they have been fruitless in result. It is to be hoped, however, that with the increasing general interest in international affairs and with the growing development of cordial relations between the United States of America and the Latin-American countries, a way may be found in the near future to secure the publication of this translation. Your Secretary will not fail to put forth every endeavor on his part to secure this desired result. ROBERT P. SHICK, Secretary. PROCEEDINGS OF THE JUDICIAL SECTION The Judicial Section of the American Bar Association convened at the Radisson Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, August 28, 1923, at 2.30 P. M., Judge John P. Briscoe, of the Maryland Court of Appeals, in the chair. The Chairman: The tenth session of the Judicial Section of the American Bar Association will please come to order. The Chair will recognize Mr. Justice Calvin L. Brown, of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, who will deliver the address of welcome. (The Address follows these minutes, page 505.) The Chairman: Permit me to thank you on behalf of the Judicial Section of the American Bar Association, for your very gracious and cordial welcome, and to indulge the hope that our coming to this beautiful city and great state, for our meeting, will not only bring us in closer touch as members of the judiciary of the nation but that our meeting may be productive of some good for the advancement of the science of jurisprudence and for the honor and benefit of all humanity. We have already felt somewhat the touch of your genial hospitality and I am persuaded, we will not only be very happy while we are here but we will sincerely regret when the time comes to depart, leaving a pleasing memory of Minneapolis for years to come. Judge Frederick E. Crane, of New York: I move that the Chair appoint a committee of three to make nominations for officers of the Section. Motion seconded and carried. |