The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-10-21
Vermont Bar Association.

grand Jury room at the Court House on
| Tuesday OSt 10, for it's eighteenth an
bers present. O. A. Prouty, the president,
was in the chair. Secretary George W
Wing read his annual report, which was
| accepted.
The following were admitted to member
ship: Lewis 9. Moody OF Stowe. Guy III
Scott of Bakersfield, Horace f. Graham of
| Crattsbury. Porter II. Dale OF Island Pond,
! Charles q. Fits of Brattleboro, Charles Ii.
Robb of Bellows Falls, II. ID. Ryder OF Bel
! lows Falls, l.. p. Slack of ST, Johnsbury.
Thomas 9. Cheney of Morrisville, Herbert
Blanchard of Windsor, Frank A. Walker
OF Ludlow James b. Macomber OF Burling-
ton, Silas w. Flynn Of st. Adams, and #.
G. Fleetwood Of Moirisvile
! The evening meeting held in the county
| court room, was largely attended. The
| Judges OF the supreme court and Judge
| Wheeler OF the federal court sat inside the
bar aod listened attentively to the adj
mirable address by President Prouty on
Some Thoughts About the Studies OF the
Lawyer" At the conclusion of M.
Prouty's address, on motion of j. II.
| Mimms, committee of one from each
county was appointed to nominate Of
! ticers.
THE BANQUET.
The annual banquet was held at the Pa
! vilion at nine O'Clock. Eighty-fve men,
! beers OF the association were present. Grace
| was said by Rev. A n. Lewis and an hour
or more was spent in discussing the excel
lent menu. In opsning the post.prandial
! exercises, President Prouty, who by the
way, made capital POSTMASTER, said this
was the first annual banquet of the assoca-
! ton at which neither the governor nor
! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS was present. Gov
ernor Circuit, who was down for a response
| TO the toast The State" and Lieutenant
| Governor Fisk had been called to Brattle-
! boro to attend the funeral of ex. Governor
| Fuller, and the association regretted the
| absence and the occasion that caused it.
He called on Judge III. III. Wheeler of the
! federal court.
Judge Wheeler paid the bar and court OF
! Vermont high compliment. He said that
nowhere in the United States, 80 far as he
knew, was there better, ablel or more
competent bar than in Vermont. 1t is as
| good, on the whole, as ii ever was, and,
farther, no court in the United States was
more respected, both as regards its charac-
tsr and decisions than is the supreme
court of Vermont
Judge John w. Rowell, of the supreme
bench, spoke for The Bar and Its Duty to
Me Court" Judge Rowell said the morals
and manners of the bar are fundamental,
especially the former, and both are closely
linked together The oath the lawyer takes
embodies the ethics of the profession, and,
ii this oath is adhered to, it will guide US as
to what is right and wrong in any particu-
lar case. Judge Rowell cited examples OF
this, and declared that the court is a type
OF that higher tribunal before which we
must ultimately stand. 1t is for what the
court represents that the lawyer should act
with all good fidelity toward IT, as well as
toward his client. Judge Rowell, in
| friendly way, suggested some things that
| could be improved upon in court. The bar
is not always careful about making confu-
sion in court, 1t Is not quite dignified enough.
On the other hand-the court should OBJ
serve these things as well as the bar 1t is
| the duty of both court and bar to so con-
duct themselves that they may be of the
most benefit to the community in which
they live. The profession OF the law ought
to be magnified up TO the standard of its de-
serts, which is very high, and to do this we
must first magnify ourselves.
James X. Batchelder of Arlington re-
| sponded to the toast " Juries." He said
that, while we all know there are many i'm
projections in the jury system and in the
selection of jurors, he still thought it would
be hard to improve upon the present sys-
tenn. We do not do justice to jurors when
we saw they are not intelligent enough to
try cases. Mr.. Batchelder enforced this
point with several laughable cases in his
own experience, and said he could recall
but few cases in his experience when he
thought the juries had decided wrongly.
Jurors are generally honest. A Jury, as
compared to referee, has the judgment of
twelve men instead of one, and they gan
orally arrive at right conclusion. The
jury system, old as our institutions, is one
of the strongest bulwarks of this country
in protecting the rights of its citizens.
"Politics and the Law" was responded to
by Felix w. McGettrick of ST. Adams.
He told of his early political ambitions that
should finally land him in the United States
Senate, but he had found thai, because of
his politics, he could not even be elected a
justice of the peace. He had, however, got
good deal of enjoyment out Of his early
political ambitions, more perhaps than il
they had Dnen raaliZal If hp had
ambition now, it was to be judge Of the
supreme court. There ought to be a good
democrat like him on the bench, but he did
not expect to see that accomplished soon
There is no reason why politics and the law
should be divorced, they should go hand in
hand. If we had more law in our politics
and less politics in our law, it would be bet
ter for us. He was not an advocate of the
prohibitory law, but he insisted that so long
as such law is on the statute books it
should be rigidly and impartially enforced,
and not in the interest OF cheap politicians.
The republican party will, ere long, unless
it reforms its methods in regard to this law,
have reason to regret it,
Major j. H. Watson OF Bradford spoke of
"Our Surprises, Pleasant and Otherwise"
enforcing his remarks with chapters from
his own experience. Among our surprises
are the way the profession is looked upon
by the people at large, that it is made up of
dishonest men. The Ieas IN for this is that
We are sometimes surprised in the testi-
mony of our clients and Of witnesses. When
they testify they sometimes lose us our
case. The verdict of juries, the rulings and
charge OF the court, and the decision of the
supreme court, are all sometimes surprises,
either pleasant or otherwise.
p. NJ. Medon of Rutland was on the
programme to respond for The Practice
and the Practices" In his place II. A.
Huse of Montpelier was called upon, but,
as 1t was then after midnight, Mr.. Huse did
not attempt to enter into this subject. He
told an amusing story, and George M.
Powers OF Morrisville was called upon to
speak to the last toast, 1.-THE Court"
Mr.. Powers said he entertained a high re-
gard for the supreme court for its honesty,
its high character, its intelligence, and its
uniform courtesy 1t commands our re-
spect and admiration. He congratulated
the state at large on having a supreme court
whose decisions are sought with confidence
and received with satisfaction.
Singing of "Auld Lang Syne," led by
Rev. A. N. Lewis, brought the interesting
occasion TO a close.