The first session of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association was called to order at 10 o'clock A. M., by the President, Judge A. Hunter Boyd. The President: I have already received so many warnings, one of them being from General Bryan, to cut out all fun, and one from my predecessor, Judge Pearce. to avoid all stale jokes, that I am going to get down immediately to what I hope will prove to be the meat of the matter. If my address seems very lengthy and oppressive, I hope the members of the Bar will recall that I am accustomed to listen to them for five hours at a time. TWENTY YEARS ON THE BENCH. In selecting a subject, I have been influenced by a desire to present some thoughts which may be of service and profit to the members of this association, rather than merely to furnish temporary entertainment. Having been on the Bench for twenty years, I feel that I can speak advisedly of the true relation which should exist between the members of the Bench and Bar, how they can be most helpful to each other, and make some suggestions which will possibly be mutually beneficial. In order that I may have some latitude and not be too circumscribed by my subject, I will simply call it TWENTY YEARS ON THE BENCH. An objection to the selection of that subject, which at once occurred to me, and will doubtless suggest itself to you, was that in giving one's own experience, it is difficult to be as impersonal as a public address should be, but as my effort will be mainly to draw some lessons from such experience and observations as I have had the benefit of, I am sure you will excuse any reference to self which I may make. There is no occupation better calculated to broaden one than the practice of law. He who can see but one side is not apt to be of much use to others, as that is likely to be his own side,, and he becomes selfish and narrow. A lawyer soon realizes that there are usually two sides to every question—always in a properly contested case in Court-and if he does not know it when he begins to practice, experience will so teach him. But while that is true, the training of a practicing attorney, especially one much engaged in the trial of cases, does not lead him to seek so much for the right of the controversy, regardless of where that may be, as how his client's interest can best be subserved, and he does become accustomed to advocating the one side. When, therefore, a lawyer goes on the Bench, he has a new field to work in, and the responsibility is much greater. |