Further, speaking now as a layman, it would seem very doubtful whether there is a crying need in society for an annual army of new legal practitioners. Enough crude ones will be poured into the profession in the course of the usual Bar examinations. Cannot the universities well afford to confine their attention to the few; not the few who are chosen by wealth or by birth, but the few who are self-determined by their superior educational fitness? If in this way there be given us in the long run a dozen great jurists, a score of great lawyers, the whole expenditure of time and effort and money will be warranted. Intellectual values are not numerical. No number of ordinary lawyers can equal one John Marshall, or one Joseph Choate, or one Elihu Root. Napoleon alone was equal to many battalions. Should we not look to our universities to educate leaders? The university law schools, it seems to me, should be the West Point of the legal profession, not the camp of instruction. Of course native ability will make its way, in spite of lack of education or in spite of education. But the university should aim to give the best training to the men of broadest knowledge, and thus to remove from the path of native ability as many obstacles as possible. For after all education does not make a lawyer. It can do no more than give an opportunity. What is done with the opportunity depends on the student himself and on no one else. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF Commissioners on Uniform State Laws HELD AT DETROIT, MICHIGAN August 19, 20, 21 and 23, 1909 OFFICERS OF THE CONFERENCE WALTER GEORGE SMITH, President, CHARLES THADDEUS TERRY, Secretary, TALCOTT H. RUSSELL, Treasurer, FRANCIS A. HOOVER, Assistant Secretary, MEMORANDUM. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is made up of Commissioners created by different states, meeting in conference and organizing themselves into a national body for the better accomplishment of the work for which its members were appointed by the states. The Commissioners, usually three from each state, are appointed under laws of the respective states creating them, usually for five years, with authority to confer with the Commissioners of the other states and recommend forms of bills or measures to bring about uniformity of law in the execution and proofs of deeds and wills, in the laws of bills and notes, marriage and divorce and other subjects where such uniformity seems practicable and desirable. The officers of the National Conference consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary, elected annually. Nineteen Conferences have so far been held; the first at Saratoga for three days, beginning August 24, 1892, and the nineteenth at Detroit, Michigan, August 19, 20, 21, 23, 1909. A complete list of the Commissioners of the several states with standing committees will be found in the following pages. The time of the nineteenth Conference was largely taken up in the consideration of the Uniform Law of Transfer of Title to Shares of Stock in Corporations and the Uniform Bills of Lading Act, drafted by Professor Williston, the Act relating to Family Desertion and Non-Support, and the Act relating to Marriage and Licenses to Marry. The Committee on Commercial Law was authorized to have the Law of Transfer of Title to Shares of Stock in Corporations and the Bills of Lading Act, as finally approved and recommended by the Conference, printed and distributed for adoption by the various states. The Committee on Uniform Incorporation Law was authorized to have its report, digest of various state incorporation laws, and its draft of a uniform incorporation law printed and distributed, in order to obtain expert comment and criticisms to facilitate the perfecting of this measure before its final adoption by the Conference. The Committee on Insurance was authorized to have its report printed and distributed, in order to obtain expert comment and criticisms. In accordance with the Constitution and By-laws adopted by this Conference, the Commissioners will please advise the Sec retary of the date of their appointment, specifying the law or authority under which the appointment was made and the duration of their term of office; also of any changes in the personnel of the respective State Commissions. The Conference earnestly urges upon the legislatures of the several states, as well as upon their Commissioners, the importance of introducing at the next session all of the bills recommended which have not passed, and the Secretary would ask members to communicate with him whenever such bills are introduced. In case the list of Commissioners as printed in this report is not correct, or any changes are made subsequently, the Secretary should be notified at once. Extra copies of this report and such previous reports as are extant may be obtained on application to the President or the Secretary. CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE Commissioners on Uniform State Laws CONSTITUTION ARTICLE I. Name and Object. SECTION 1. This Conference or Association of Commissioners shall be known as "Commissioners on Uniform State Laws." SEC. 2. Its object shall be to promote uniformity of state laws by affording the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, appointed in the different states of the United States of America, an opportunity of meeting in Annual Conference for the better accomplishment of the work for which they were appointed. ARTICLE II. SECTION 1. Its members shall consist of the Commissioners appointed under the laws or by the authority of the respective states of the United States of America to bring about uniformity of state laws, whose commissions give them authority to confer with Commissioners of the other states of said United States. SEC. 2. Each Commissioner, upon his first attendance at an Annual National Conference of Commissioners and on his reappointment, shall file with the Secretary of the Conference the date of his commission, a statement of the term for which he is appointed and a reference to the Act of Assembly or other authority under which he has been appointed a Commissioner. |