, 1888-10-18
profession ami England
lori Huai!y, OF Ohio. deliy
Ircss the other day before
an Bar Association in which

lOFE iBdit y, rl pni'', uciN
Ircss the other day before
an Bar Association in which
upon subject that Is well
worJn, Tho confederation of the legal
fraternity throughout the country. He
( iwelt at length upon the ahsurdity of
American laWyers looking exclusively
70 Eng!aad for legal guidauce and leg
.pcliuE the study OF the law # cnutluen-
al COMMITTEES. TueTe Was an excuse for
his when the thirteen original States
were British provinces But now taat
we have been an independent nation for
more .han century It's time that Amer
jcan lawyers in the study of the law
should cease t. be British proviLcials
and become more cosmopolitan. The
gseat majority of our lawyers. to quote
the language If Gen, raj Hsadly. live
too often intellectually iD England only,
and nut in tie world.
The effect Of tins Is perceptible not
only III the administration of the law but
also t. Il great extent in the conduct OF
public affairs. he siaVieh dependence
npon Engl:zh law inseusibly sapS the
spirit of nationality, which Is the best
safeguard OF our fcpul lican institutions.
Men who have for years lived intellect
uailv in England cannot hav3 that una
bv those who have not been accustomed
to regard England as the intellectual
center of the world.
The BayarG5 aud the Phelpse5 who still
look upon the United States as sort of
British province would have been an i'm
possible growth on American soil if 1t
had not been that they had been brought
ND in n school in which they had been
taught to look to England for guidance
in the study of the law. Hence it has
come to pass that the BayardS aud the
rhelpses stand ready not only to copdOne
but even to defend the most glarIng in
Justice if it is committed underline sane
ton of English law.
What Gen. IIoadly has to say on this
point will commend itself to every thor
ough- going American. Here is the way
in which he describes the absurdity OF
American lawyers taking their law from
England:
AT this very moment JOHN Dillon,
than whom, by the admission of his po-
litical antagonists themselves, no m1re |
pure and lefty spirit has enriched the |
annals of his native land aimee the death |
of Robert Emmet. languishes IN the |
hospital of Dundalk Jail, condemned to |
prison for term not to expire until |
December next, for words which, when |
sDOkep, violated no law, and became IL |
legal, only by subsequent executive and |
legislative action, aud this Is the land |
whose abborent and barbarous customs |
furnish the basis OF our unwritten law. |
1t seems to me that he to whom is assign
ed the duty l perform to-day holds a |
brief in persecution iDstiGated by the |
American bar against itself, in which |
the accused is in danger of conviction of |
nom feasance, of the charge OF doing |
In its day and generation lass than |
might have been doGe for the relief of |
suitoIs and the Improvement of the law. |
An error which largely retards the ad- |
vance Of legal education ana progress is, |
it seems to me, the general impression |
among lawyers aud teachers of the law
that we need to study no other system
than that of the common law"