Addresses and Discussions ANNUAL ADDRESS BY JAMES O. TROUP, President of the Ohio State Bar Association Brethren and Friends: The legal profession is one of the most potent factors which shape the policies of our civil life. Its influence permeates and gives color to every department and every phase of society. Neither wealth nor poverty, neither eminence nor obscurity can escape the touch of its all-pervading power. Its history includes the development of civilization. What Horace Binney said of the Supreme Court of the United States may with truth be asserted of the profession at large: "It is the great moral substitute for force in controversies between the people, the states and the Union." Therefore when one is chosen to preside over an association composed of the leading judges and lawyers of a great state, he is the recipient of a very high honor. It is an honor not to be sought, and not to be declined even at the risk of failing to meet acceptably the expectations of those by whose generosity it is conferred. In this view I accepted the honor of presiding over this body with unfeigned diffidence, and at this, the first opportunity, I express to you my sincere thanks. Whatever of success may attend this gathering will depend altogether upon the manner in which you supplement the excellent work done by your standing and special committees during the past year. Their work, properly supplemented by you, will go far to make this one of the most profitable sessions in the history of the association. Especial credit is due to the chairman of your executive committee, whose administrative ability and untiring industry in behalf of the association merit our gratitude. It would be ungracious not to mention also the committee on judicial administration and legal reform and the committee on legal education. Their skillful and painstaking labor usually furnishes the basis for the best work of our annual sessions. This association had its birth twenty-five years ago last Saturday in the city of Cleveland. Among those who brought it into being were many of the ablest lawyers and jurists who have graced the bench and bar of Ohio; a bench and bar which always have occupied and always should occupy a large place in the history of American jurisprudence. Many of those who officiated at the birth and were sponsors at the christening of the association have passed away, but we still feel a just pride in their professional attainments, and their names and faces are held by us in loving remembrance. They have left us inestimable legacies. Their example and the uplifting influence of their high characters and worthy ambitions; their great achievements, not merely for their clients but for the commonwealth, in solving the important problems of their day; the increased confidence and respect their labors secured for the judicial branch of our government; all these give just cause for pride in them and in the association whose foundations they laid a quarter of a century ago. Their own estimate of its importance, of the work they intended and expected it to perform, and of the influence they desired it to exert, are indicated in the statement of its objects and purposes as found in the second article of our constitution. It is as follows: "The association is founded to advance the science of jurisprudence, to promote reform in the law, to facilitate the administration of justice; to uphold integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, to encourage thorough liberal education, and to cultivate cordial intercourse among the members of the bar." No higher or more worthy purposes could have been conceived as the groundwork of our organization. I trust you will agree with me that it is not inappropriate, on this, our twenty-fifth anniversary, for the president to con fine his address to a brief mention of some of our founders and early members who "rest from their labors"; to briefly review the work of the association and to a few suggestions as to some things which it may and should accomplish in the near future. It is perhaps inevitable that, from oversight or lack of personal acquaintance, I shall, in speaking of those who have departed, omit some whose names and life work are worthy of mention. For such omissions I bespeak your charitable indulgence. Among those most active in the formation of the association and fitly chosen to be its first president was Rufus P. Ranney. What gracious and glowing memories cluster about his name! Of high character, of generous impulses, of great mentality, of wonderful learning, with a virile grasp of the whole science of jurisprudence, with a comprehensive conception of all its pervading relations to our civil life, with an almost unequaled power of statement, with a logic rarely assailable with a style as clear and limpid as the water of a hillside spring, his arguments as counsel and his opinions as judge will remain as beacon lights in the history of Ohio jurisprudence for all time. His great mind was an inexhaustible reservoir of professional knowledge from which his brethren were ever eager to drink, and having drank were always refreshed and invigorated. His address of welcome at the meeting called to organize this body is replete with interesting and valuable reflections upon the nature and duties and responsibilities of our profession, and the necessity for and profit of an association such as this. Like Blackstone's chapter on the nature of laws, it should be read by every man on entering the profession, and may be read with profit at frequent intervals during his active life. Judge Ranney's inaugural as president of the association was a powerful plea for the advancement of jurisprudence and the encouragement of liberal legal education. Notwithstanding all that has been accomplished along these lines in the last twenty-five years, and it is much every way, that address may be read today with pleasure and profit by all who would keep our profession at the front in the march of progress. |