The Daily Missoulian., 1913-08-30


ex-President William Howard Taft
and Senator Elihu Root.
One of the strongest movements of
the organization is directed toward
securing higher ideals in the stand
ards Of the legal calling. Some years
ago the association appointed a. com
mittee to formulate canons of ethics
for the guidance of members of the
American bar For three years much
consideration was given to the SUBJ
Ject and a set Of canons adopted
These are based upon the code of
Christian v of Denmark and Norway,
arranged after Is years compilations;
the lawyers prayer. written by DR..
Samuel Johnson in 175S the so reso-
lutions for lawyers framed by David
Hoffman Of Baltimore in the early
part Of the nineteenth century; the
codes existing in the different states,
and other authorities which were care
fully studied by the committee having
the matter in charge. Since these
canons were adopted by the associa-
ton in 1908, they have been adopted
by the associations in 96 states as
we'll as the bar organizations in sew
tl al Silito. lu6y represent lIe HlSH-
est ethical ideals of the profession.
The association desires to have pro-
fessional ethics made branch of the
examination for admission to the bar
in every state. The court of appeals
of New York has recently made such a
provision, and General Thomas H.
Hubbard has endowed a lectureship
upon legal ethics in the Albany law
school The disbarment of a lawyer
known to be guilty Of violations Of
these canons of ethics is necessary for
the good of the public, as well as the
honor of the profession Formerly
this was accomplished with difficulty,
| because the members of the bar
| seemed to hang together SO closely.
Now the bar associations of the diff
ferent states are actively endeavoring
| to improve their standards The New
| York City Bar association last year
| spent $4,000 to purge the bar Of those
| whose conduct was discreditable. 1t
| employs a staff to investigate cases
Of which complaint was made, to clear
| the victim If innocent. ~ secure his
| resignation II guilty. Fourteen cases
We're handled BY this staff last Year,
/ and their efforts resulted in the dis
| barment of nine, fie suspension Of
1 two and the censnre of three. False
| swearing, misappropriation Of al
| clients money, arrangement for a divi-
sion of fees with a layman. obtaining
| a verdict in favor Of a client upon
| testimony known to be false, and at
| tempt to bribe a court clerk to secure
an irregular discharge, are among the
| most numerous Of the charges made
| The most important public service
| rendered by the bar association is it's
| continued effort to secure uniformity
| in the laws of the different states.
| The establishment of state boards Of
| commissioners upon this subject has
been secured through its influence
| The first state board of commissioners
on uniform state laws was authorized
! by the New York legislature in 1890
/ Now there are 53 in existence, includ-
| ing Alaska, Hawaii. Porto Rico. the
| Philippines and the District of CO.
| lumbla. As these commissioners are
nearly all members of the bar asso
c1atlon, their work is largely aided by
the organization and the closest CO.
operation exists between them
| Last year the annual meeting of the
commissioners on uniform state laws
| was held in Milwaukee, the week pre-
eedlng the convention of the bar asso-
4 hlation and reports of the former
body were included in the annual
printed report of the bar association,
| A similar arrangement has been made
for this year The meeting of the
opened in Montreal on August s6. To-
dai the bar association committee
upon uniform judicial procedure will
meet to discuss the deliberations Of
/ the commissioners The chief Justice
OF the court of appeals of the District
| OF Columbia, the circuit Judge of each
OF the federal courts of appeals. and
| the chief judge of the court of last
resort in each of the states all were
| invited to be present and to take part
IN the discussion before the committee.
| ne ASSOCIATION has been especially
| interested III securing uniform state
laws upon marriage, child labor. work
| men S compensation, bills of lading
boiler inspection, desertion of families,
lhdetermlnate sentences for criminals,
insurance. the registration of land
Titles and purity of articles of com
nerce. For some of these subjects
uniform laws have been prepared and
sent to the legislatures Of all of the
states \ few Of them have been
passed and others are under consid.
Grafton.
Inc uniform marriage law which
mas been adopted by the bar asso-
t,,t =
ciatlon provides that no maria &c
shall take place without license and
that application shall be made for the
license five days before it's issue, ex-
ceptlng in extraordinary cases The
ISSUING OF the license is hedged about
by careful restrictions SO as to den
tify the parties The qualifications Of
the party celebrating the marriage
ceremony Is left to the state, but at
ieas1 TWO witnesses are required
Inc child labor act indorseG by the
ASSOCIATION is in some respects com
poslte of tho laws existing upon the
subject IN all Of the states, but is an
Improvement upon them. It practi-
catlN prohibits the employment of