The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-10
O'NEAL FAV0RS PLAN AS
 IMPROVE MEhf ON PRESENT
Association Gives Black Eye to Sug- gestion That Candidates for Su- preme Court Be Nominated
 By the Organization.

ner of selecting Judges to sit on the supreme bench of the state.
 Emmet O'Neal of Florence will head the association during the coming year.
 The session yesterday morning was marked by a very interesting paper by E. ". Faith of Mobile on the subject, Buying a Piece of Land.
 MT. Faith pointed out a glaring defect in the law regulating buying of lands in case of Barfield vs Garfield in which heirs were disinherited by court de- cision because woman had married without a permission being granted to remarry in a divorce decree. In this case children were not allowed to inherit from their father.
 The speaker also pointed out the fact that In Alabama the deed of an insane person is invalid, stating that it makes no difference whether the insanity of the seller was or was not previous to the purchase. Although the seller may have used the money" said the speaker, the deed of an insane person may be set aside and the money not be refunded to the buyer" MT. Faith said he believed such sales should be subject to review by chancery.
 At Il o'clock the committee on nomina- tions, consisting of Robert c. Brickell, chairman, H. U. Sims, Ed de Graffenreid. w. M. Callahan and Judge Armistead Brown, reported the following nomina- tions, which were adopted unanimously:
 President, Emmet O'Neal of Florence; vice presidents, John T. London of Bir- mingham, W. M. Lackey of Dadeville, McLane Triton of PeI City, E. w. Faith of Mobile, D. w. Partridge of Selma.
 By unanimous vote the executive com- mittee was instructed to select Mobile as the next meeting place of the bar association.
 Central Council-S D. Weakley of Bir- mingham, James Weatherly, H. w. Sims, H. c. Selheimer and w. P. Acker; Alex Troy, secretary and treasurer.
 Executive Committee-R. F. Ligon, Manly Foster, E, M. Pettus, Tipton Null lins and Alex Troy.
 More Frequent Sessions.
 The afternoon session of the associa| ton was featured by discussion of quadrennial sessions of the legislature, opened by paper by Emmet O'Neal and a quite lively debate on the question of changing the present method of electing the judges to sit on the state supreme court bench by first nominating them within the State Bar association.
 MT. O'Neal in his address stated that he favored biennial sessions of the legis- lature and believed that the legislators should be required to remain in session for longer periods than has been the case in the past. Pointing out the evils of work being rushed through the legis- lature the speaker said:
 Hinder the present constitution there have been two regular sessions of the legislature and during that time moro laws have been overthrown than since the organization of the state government. There is but one explanation for this condition. The legislators have not been allowed sufficient time to deliberate on measures.
 with a ouadriennial session of the leg islature, and this session limited to 50 days. 1t is but natural that bills should be rushed to the committee rooms whence they are hastily reported on, and as a natural result our statute books are flood ed with unconstitutional laws.
 ..Modern conditions, continued the speaker, "have greatly widened the field of legislation and such legislation is necessary
 Speaking of special sessions of the leg islature MT O'Neal said: Special ses- sions of the legislature are unpopular, but still they are necessary fnasmuch as they have proven the only means Of patching up the blunders and faults or the regular sessions, which occur from the lack of time to consider measures.
 "There is a demand for additional leg islation, and for this reason there should be restoration of the biennial sessions, which should be made to continue for longer terms.
 ''The state should furnish salaries which will afford the best men to fill the legislative halls instead of the miserable pittance now allowed legislators. It had better invite the free service of It's peo- pie than to offer such a pittance, be- cause now frequently the leading cand- dates are young men and inexperienced men or men who seek the legislative halls as a patch to the realization of political ambitions.
 "A mistake has been made. Abolition should have not been substituted for re- form. The legislature should be made
 
 liberty of debate and give measures due consideration
 VT am in favor of the restoration of biennial sessions and longer terms"
 hromberg Is Opposed.
 In reply to MT. O'Neal Mr. Bromberg of Mobile said:
 ''I am in favor of biquadrennal ses- sessions. It is not a matter of a lack of time that our laws prove faulty as much as 1t Is lack of the devoted ser vice of the legislators. The trouble is that too many of the representatives and senators go to the capital for a frolic and not for business.
 ''I have heard it said, and I believe 1t. that the legislative body is doing it's best work when 1t Is doing nothing at all. We have had too many laws which have been passed on ths spur of the moment with out the proper consideration This slip shod legislation will continue as long as the present undevoted attention to laws on the part of the legislators continues"
 Mir Lackey of Dadeville then arose and stated that 1t looked to him like the peo- pie of Alabama were in the middle of bad fix.
 "The question of biennial sessions has been presented to the people and they de- cided that they aid not want any consti-