Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-30
LAWYERS TALKING SHOP
Roscoe Pound Of Lincoln Reads Paper
Before American Bar Association.
WARM DEBATE ON INSURANCE EXPECTED
Majority of Committee Condemns
Armstrong Law of New York rs
"ConspicuousIyU Unwise"-Laws
of other states Criticised.

/ ST. PAUL, Aug. 2-Ton,ght's session of
the American Bar associations twenty
ninth annual meeting lew an attendance
which filled the large chamber of the house
of representatives In the new state capitol
to the doors.
Roscoe Pound of Lincoln, Neb., read
paper on THE Cause of Popular 'Dissstis-
| faction With the Administration of JUS
| tice"
Mr.. Pound said in part:
| Dissatisfaction with the administrations
OF justice is as old as law. Not to go out
side of our own legal system discomfort has
| an ancient and unbroken pedigree. The
cause Of dissatisfaction with the admins
tration Of justice may be grouped under
First-Causes for dissatisfaction with any
| legal system.
second-Causes lying in the peculiarities
| of our Anglo-American legal system
Third-Causes lying in our American judi
| cial organization and procedure.
Fourth-Causes lying in the environment,
of our judicial administration.
| 1t needs but a superficial acquaintance
with literature to show that all legal sys-
/ tens among all peoples have given rise TO
the same complaints.
Law and Public Opinion.
Mr.. Pound gave as the causes of dissatis-
faction the mechanical operation Of rules;
difference in rate of progress between law
and public opinion; the popular assumption
that administration of justice is an easy
task to which anyone Is competent, and
popular impatience of restraint. OF these
the most Important he said. was the me-
chanical operation OF legal rules.
Speaking of individual initiative, rs the
main reliance of our common law system,
the speaker said
In our modern Industrial society, this
4 Fk,l1A xxl NV.Itx Nnlfo tive q
| breaking down. Private prosecution has
become obsolete. Mandamus and injunc-
boses from plundering public funds Pri-
| vate suits against carriers for damages
have proved no preventive Of discrimination
assumption of rick becomes brutal under
modern conditions of employment. An
when we are sold diseased beef or poisonous
canned goods. All these points. and they
are points of every day contact with the
methods of relief have failed. The courts
have not been able to do the work which
law imposes on them. The chief concern
| of common law is to secure and protect
! individual rights.
! Summing up his case in a brief conclud-
ing sentence, Mr.. Pound said:
Too much of the current dissatisfaction
has just origin in our judicial organiza-
tion and procedure. The causes that lie
behind tf. times
| The second paper was read by Mr.. ]. j.
Jenkins, chairman of the judiciary COM
mittee of the national house Of representa-
tives. on the subject Can congress trans
fer to the state its power to regulate COM
mercer
l Immediately cfs,icwing this. session a re-
ceptiop was rendered in the capitol to the
visiting members of the Minnesota Bar as
sociation.
Many Warm Debates Expected.
Many of the subjects to come before this
session of the bar association are expected
to result in sharp debate. The report of
the insurance committee. especially. Is
likely to be warmly discussed, majority
and minority report having been made. The
majority report condemns the Armstrong
law of New York as "conspicuously un-
wise" and declares that not only are many
states charging insurance companies much
more than the cost of supervision, but that
in many states. 'the administration of In
surance laws have been characterized by
unblustering fraud mostly in the shape of
blackmail or by gross incompetency."
The committee recommends:
Biennial apportionment of deferred divi-
dends.
! fire policy laws.
Each state, to have fire marshal.
! Inc OnlIeO Dlales 40 IOTOlu the use VI
the mails to wild cat insurance COM
panieF.
| insurance transactions.
The minority report objects in particular
to the last Recommendation of the majority
report.
The committee on commerce defends the
| present national bankruptcy law and
recommends it's retention.
| Court of Patent Appeals.
The report of the committee on the
proposition to create court OF patent
| appeals recommends that bill be passed
by congress creating such a court, to
be presided over by f1ve Judges. who shall
sit on cases arising over patents.
In ,the report of the committee on a
! coGe of professional ethics a singing
rebuke Is meted out to the "shyster" law
4 yer.
Rome O. Brown president of the Minne-
| sofa State Bar association, called the ses-
| sion to order and welcomed the visitors
He then introduced President Peck, who
at once began the reading of the presi-
| dents annual address.
Mr.. Peck's Address.
| Mr.. Pecks address contsined a summary
| OF the important legislation of the last
year, both in the national congress and in
! the state legislatures. II dealt at length
with the congressional enactments on the
subject of railway rates and pure food. as
well as the trust legislation, of the national
| government. He said; Historical Juris-
prudence, the birth. growth and develop
! ment of law in its highest sense. is a study
we ought to pursue far more assiduously
than we do. Self-government, the recog-
milton OF mutual rights and mutual obliga-
tIons, is perhaps the highest achievement
OF the race" He traced the development
| of government from the primative form
through al the various stages to the hign-
est and most complicated form demanded
/ by modern civilization, and, quoting from
Macterlinck's Life of the Bee" that I'm
proportion as society organizes itself and
/ rises in the scale, so does a shrinkage enter
! the private life OF each one OF its mem
berR" Amy government" said he, how
ever imperfect, is better than no govern
ment-which is anarchy. II We have too
much government-as many of US believe
| 1t is possible In the present state OF human
wisdom to have just enough restraint and
Just enough personal freedom An excess
| OF the one no doubt means a diminution OF
the other but what human intelligence can
| hx g perfect equilibrium?
James C. Carter declared that the