The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-26
THE VIRGINIA BAR ASSOCIATION.


notice.
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THE VIRGINIA BAR ASSOCIATION.
Excepting the meeting of the Amer
lean Bar Association, the joint session
of the Maryland and Virginia Bar AS
sociations. beginning to-day at Hot
Springs, will be the most notable gath
ering of lawyers in the country this
year. Additional significance will be
lent TO the occasion by the presence of
Mr.. Justice Horace III. Lurton, OF Ten
nessee. the latest qualified member OF
the United States Supreme Court whose
record as Southern practitioner, law
teacher and Judge is so distinguished
Two years ago President Taft, then
President-elect, was the foremost tig-
ure" of the meeting of the Virginia Bar
Association, attracting tremendous
assemblage of lawyers to Hot Springs
and Virginia will no doubt break all
previous records as to attendance on a
meeting of this sort in Virginia.
There is no set Of men of whom the
Old Dominion has more just cause to
be proud than, her members of the
Bar The very words. "a Virginia law
YER suggest n scholar and gentle
man, well versed in the common law
and in the statutes, familiar with legal
| scholarship as well as with the texts,
maintaining a high standard of profess
sional conduct and needing no code of
ethics to guide his conscience. The
history of the Virginia Bar is lumi-
nous with the names of men who have
served illustriously the Commonwealth
and the Nation.
1t is the peculiar and great function
| of the Association to bring the lawyers
of the State into closer community
of interest and into a position where
ideas may be exchanged and theory
and practice discussed. Through it's
members, as individuals, the Associa-
ton has bright opportunity not only
to elevate the standards of the bar,
but also to effect State legislation for
the better.
The lawyers of Virginia and Mary
land will have much in common, and
the interchange of ideas Will
mutually benefit them. The OPP
| portunities afforded them for social
and professional intercourse will be
unusual, and we doubt not that the
| three days of business and of recrea-
ton in such delightful surroundings
will make those who are present dou-
| bly, glad that they are followers OF
Blackstone and my Lord Coke"
Serious is the Responsibility which
rests upon the legal profession. not
only In Virginia, but in every State
of the Union, TO see to it that litigation
is less 'dilatory From every corner OF
the country come complaints against
the slowness with which legal machin-
cry moves, hindered at every turn By
! technicalities. Nor is this. all; there
can be no doubt that popular dissat-
lsfacton with the very structure OF
the law is growing. The cry is that
4 judges sacrifice common sense TO tech
nical.ties in decisions where common
sense should rule, even in cases where
the state of the law prevents the Judge
from ruling otherwise than in "a tech
nical way. In cases of this nature
much of the popular impatience rests
on ignorance of the structure of the
law, unfamiliarity with the fact tina,
the law must move in an orderly course,
failure TO realize that the LAWYERS
and the judges do not change the law,
bat that ii is the people, acting through
their representatives, who effect alter
atoms and amendments Upon the Bar
\ deVolyes the duty OF correcting such
popular impressions and of endeavorine
TO keep the law in the respect and
confidence of the people,
We have but one declaration to file,
and we think there is mono to ira
verse 1T: nothing but good can come
Oh THIS notable gathering al Hot
springs good for the Bar and good for
the people of Virginia and Maryland.
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