Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-27
PARKER TALKS
ON JUST LA WS
FORMER NOMINEE FOR PREsl-
pENcY MAKES ADDRESS
SPEAKS AT SESSION OF AMERI.
CAN BAR ASSOCIATION
Calls Attention to Fact That Corpora
tions Desire Capitalization of
power That They May Es-
cape State Regulation
scontInued from page one,

carefully by judicial decisions based on a
standard Of justice derived from the
habits customs and thoughts of a people.
And lest the judge at nisi prius may make
q mistake, appeal is allowed to court
composed of number of experienced and
learned judges. These again have the
assistance of the printed or oral argu-
ments of counsel, or both. And they, free
from prejudice and partisan bias and
animated by that love of justice which
grows stronger and more all-pervading
with its daily ministration, seek with dill
gence and earnestness the true rule. so
far as it is given us to realize an ideal
method Of building the law of a people
we possess 1t.
Function of Legislator
s'The proper function of the legislator
Is suppletory to that of the judge. He
should strive to ascertain the growing but
imperfect customs which spring from the
effort of q people to correct errors and
give to them the dignity of law. This he
often attempts to do, and frequently sue
ceeds But the task of even the wise
legislator Is beset with difficulties. SO
many bills press upon his attention that.
If he had the wisdom of Solomon he could
not master them in one short session.
Many such bills are introduced by mon
who do not understand them, merely that
tneY may gam lHt applause VI ShO
thoughtless or the envious. Others are
strike bills pressed in the hope of unlaw-
full gain. Still others are presented from
honest motives, but with mo appreciation
that their enactment will work injury,
while still more represent the effort OF
unframed legislators to enact into law
what they mistakenly conceive to be the
will of the people.
More mischievous still, as rule, are
the bills pressed for passage in the inter-
ests of a political organization. Expert
ence teaches that comparatively few OF
the many bills of a legislative session are
carefully considered by the body as
whole. Such consideration as the aver
age bill has is in committee, and too
often the majority of that committee Is
influenced by party organization, or by
the governor, or by some other leader
who sees in it a party or factional adj
vantage. And it's final enactment Is Sc
cured by the same influence that moved
the majority to report it, In other words.
supposed advantage, either for the party
or individual members of 1t, is often made
the occasion for statutes which other
wise would never appear on the statute
books. Thus it happens that every year
many statutes are passed which ought
never to have been heard of.
Unwlse Law Is Blot
Every unnecessary and unwise statute
is a blot upon the state escutcheon and
burden upon the public. This fact is so
well appreciated in some states that the
legislature is not permitted to meet every
year An illustration of the opinion of
iawye< s.upon whom as governor rested
the responsibility of the exercise OF the
veto IkDwer as to many bills passed only
this Atar by the legislature of the state
of Ney@ York, is found in the fact that
he vetoeds thirty-seven, caused 1877 to be
withdrawn, and permitted $50 to die for
lack of his signature, making total of
asa bills which, after passage through
committees and both houses, failed new
erthe1ess to become laws because of the
governors action. While it is true that
some wholesome and necessary statutes
come out of such conditions like those
have outlined, in more instances unnec-
essary or positively bad ones spring from
them.
'One of the ideals of this association
is to elevate the stan dard of statute
making, and to stimulate harmony in
legislation on the part of the several
states, for it is so provided by the first
and eighth articles of the constitution.
"The first article declares the object
of our association to be to advance the
science of Jurisprudence, promote the
administration of justice and uniform
ity of legislation throughout the union,
uphold the honor of the profession OF
the law, and encourage cordial inter-
course among the members or the
American bar OF this statement of
the purposes of the association Mr..
James C. Carter in his presidents ad-
dress happily said: 1T recognizes the
fact that though we are citizens of diff
ferent states in some degree sovereign,
we are yet one people, one immense
human society with common interests,
common hopes and a common destiny;
that among the several concerns OF
that, as of every society, are its juris-
prudence and legislation; that that
great interest is, in large degree, under
the care and control of the members
of the legal profession; that 1T Is their
duty to reduce it to science, to de-
velop it's usefulness, to simplify 1T into
uniformity, to correct any evil tenden-
cies which may beset 1t, and to these
ends to uphold the honor of the profess
sion and inspire its members with
just conception of their high office
1.-THE eighth article devolves upon the
president the duty to communicate In
the address, with which he is charged
to open each annual meeting, the most
noteworthy changes in statute law ana
points of general interest made In the
several states and by congress during
the preceding year.
Delays Are Bad
"The length of the sessions of several
state legislatures, and the delay In
printing the laws, has rendered 1T SIM
ply impossible to perform the task as
thoroughly as it otherwise would have
been done. In some instances it be-
came necessary at a late hour to ask
for copies of acts deemed the most
notable in order to make as full pre-
sentation as the conditions would ad-
NIT The result shows degree OF
legislative activity hitherto unsur-
passed. Nor is it surprising that it
is so.
For goodly number OF years our peo-
pie enjoyed great prosperity. Nearly
every individual and certainly every call
ing has participated In it in some de-
gree. Opportunities for Improvement and
advancement were enjoyed by ALL The
food supply had become more widely di-
versifed The houses, apartmentA or
tenements in which people lived on the
average improved and largely So Thus
It happened that nearly all not only real
lied that the country was making tre-
mendous strides in material development
t.,.t also kueW that eacb individroI ho5