The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-19

Now that the state le6isiatures
 which have been in session during tho past winter, are adjcurnfns for the summer 1t Ia Interesting to notice what has been accomplished To begtn with, it is estimated that they added 10000 laws to the statute books. and this is perhaps an under rather than an over- estimate. During the i've years from 1898 to 1904 the total number of laws added reached the wonderful total of 45.552. During single year of that period the humber added was over 1l.- 900. covering a total of more than 20,- 900 pages in the statute books. Of course not all of these were public laws. During the hve year period re- ferred to the total number of public acts was about 16.0oo.
 law become that legal authorities ev- anywhere have joined in an effort to assuage the flood of iegis1ation that is crowdinE down upon them. The courts are not able to keep the pace. The thousands of decisions that must be made by the judges of the country in constituting all this new legisiktion gre making q mass of legal literature of unwieldy proportions. No sooner is ty or more volumes, completed until 1t becomes such back number that an- other must be begun. II is All serving to clog up the legal machinery to such a remarkable degree that thinking lawyers have reached the view with alarm" stage.
 It was to correct this growing evil that the National Commission on Uni- form State Laws was created. The American Bar Association has long stood for a simpiification of legal pro- roSura ana In r.,f,, axfae fn krtx ~ ing about the organization of the com mission. It Is composed of members from each State which joins in the movement--and all but four or five of the States have enlisted in the work, The members of the commission get to- gether and frame model law on 2 given subject. When 1t is finally com pleted 1t Is not the half-baked, ill-con- sidered product SO often turned out by legislatures, but complete. under standable, and unmistakable expedition of the whole subject with which it purports to deal. Tn framing these laws the commission Is actuated by a desire to make them so plain that not only the average man can understand. but that even the most perverse can not misconstrne # he would; 70 plain that no one can even pretend to mis- take their provisions.
 &udt tH1J HdNC tHCC88G8Q A0lulfA0Ly In doing so is shown by the experience of the courts with the uniform nego- tiable instruments law. This was the first one framed by the com mission, and has been adopted by thirty-one States and four Territories. A recent state ment showed that there were not one- tenth as many cases finding their way to the courts. especially to the higher courts, as there had been prior to the enactment of the law. It is related that when the measure was pending in the Michigan Legislature 1t came near being defeated in the Senate, the ground of the fight against 1t being that it was an intrusion on the prac- tice of the legal profession, and that if 1t were to be passed the average man would not need a lawyer to collect his notes and bills. However. no one has noticed that the Michigan lawyers wear any especially starved look because the Legislature of that State passed the measure.
 Another model law drafted by the commission is one relating to ware house receipts. This measure has been adopted by nine States. and another re- lating to sales of all kinds has been adopted by four States. When one of these laws is completed it is to be de- pended on that itista thorough going measure. It sometimes takes years to get 1t into such shape that there is not some member of the commission who can pick 1t to pieces. An instance of this kind is the experience of the pro- posed law relating to certificates of stock. After q years consideration by a competent committee the measure was reported. There were objections made to 1t, and it was sent back to the committee for another year of consid- eration. At the last meeting, held in Seattle, the second draft was reported. But even this did not i'll the bill, so it was-again referred. It is not safe to predict that even a third effort will prove satisfactory and it may be still another year before the commission gets law, exactly to its liking.
 It is. of course, with commercial law that the commission is most interested. The evolution of commerce has com pletely wiped out all state lines so far as trading is concerned. and 1t becomes especially important to the individual or the corporation who does business in many States, that there should be uniformity of law relating to the mat ters in which commerce Ia interested. Waffle the commission is working on the perfection of uniform laws on many other subjects it is now concen- tratihg its efforts largely to securing the adoption of It's negotiable instru- ments. and its sales and warehouse re- ceipts laws by States which have not yet adopted them. It is also concerned