The Washington times., 1934-07-03
NOEL PRAISES
NEW LIBRARY
I COLLECTION

District Bar Association Presi-
dent F. Regis Noel addressed the
convention Of the National Asso-
citation Of Law Libraries in Mon
treal last week-and his obServa-
tons startled the librarians as
they would have startled local
lawyers II they had been there.
Launching into a discourse on
the use Of a law library in interna-
tional practice, Mr.. Noel first de.
scribed the history Of the present
1ibrary-"the monumental collec.
ton in the United States"
Collection Lauded
John T. Vance, president Of the
library association and librarian
at the Law Library Of Congress,
was too modest to boast Of the
collection, so Mr.. Noel did it for
him.
Containing approximately 9O0,-
900 books covering the general
subject Of history and philosophy
Of law, treatises, catalogues and
reports, the library is the result of
q nucleus donated by Thomas
jefferson. the bar president stated.
The original library was destroyed
by the British in 1912, and PreSi-
dent Jefferson gave his own
library on which the present col
lection was built. Mildly deploring
lack Of progress in the library
collection, Mr.. Noel said:
ut seems that accretionS
have been hampered by lack of
interest Of the legal profession
and sparSity Of appropriations;
hence building this particular
collection has been an uphill,
albeit successful job"
HELD INDISPENSABLE
There have been times when
the law library Of Congress has
been indispensable to Federal at
tOrneys in working up important
cases, Mr.. Noel said, to say moth
ing Of its importance to attorneys
representing private litigants. He
said:
"Such cases as Hudson vs..
U. S., 272 U. S. 45l, in which
TRANSACTIONS of Old English year
books were reSOrted to; Nelson
VS.. johnson, 279 U. S. Al, where
numerous treatiSeS on Medieval,
Spanish and French laws were
examined; PaQuete Habana, l55
U. S. 677, in which citations
were made from "Cleirac'S Us ct
COutumes de Ia Mer" to Bynk.
erShOek'S 'QuestiOnes Juris Pub
hcae,' come spontaneously to
mind.
"AnOther commonly known
use Of the collection was in o
series Of cases growing out Of
recognition Of the Soviet Repub-
lie, involving religious property
and property Of aliens particu.
larly. In these cases the Ii
brary's almost unique collection
Of Russian Law was essential.
The collection of the Laws Of
the Commonwealth Of Austria
Ia were reSOrted to in case
won by our Government in
which your fellow empire build
eFs sought to tax employees of
the American COnsuIates there.
I'm . Court of Claims case
involving reciprocity under our
Tucker act, the CzechOSlOvakian
laws, readily available in this
collection, were controlling.
Laws Of the Virgin Islands,
statutes Of Henry VII, and the
Laws Of the Straits Settlement
have been i'm issue before our
Supreme Court, requiring books
from this library I'm their inter-
probation. And I have no doubt
that my good friend, William
r. Valance, assistant solicitor
Of the State Department, is con-
stantly using the collection Of
your Canadian laws filed there,
in preparing . claim against
your government for the I'm
Alone contest"
Mr.. Noel then defended success
fully the American judicial syS-
tenn in comparison with the
French, English and German sys-
TENS, although he avoided scor.
ing the lack Of "integration," q
shortcoming of democratic
country which he hopes to rem
edy in this jurisdiction.
Many local lawyers would have
blushed self-consciously if they
could have heard the statement,
when in discussing the English
barriers between barristers and
solicitors, Mr.. Noel said:
81 have been reliably told
that there are not more than
400 barriSters at the whole
English bar whose profession
more than supports them"