PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

Bar Association of Tennessee,

AT THE

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING,

Held at Lookout Inn, Lookout Mountain, Tenn.,

July 13, 14, 15, 1898.

FIRST DAY.

Wednesday, July 13, 1898.

The association was called to order Wednesday, July 13, 1898,

at 3 P.M., by the President, C. W. Metcalf.

W. G. M. Thomas, of Chattanooga, made the following address of welcome:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

In behalf of the metropolis of Tennessee, I have the very great honor of extending to you a cordial welcome. Chattanooga has at present a population of about 150,000, and we had arranged for each one of the inhabitants to be personally present this afternoon to give you an individual greeting, but other engagements have interfered. It so happens that about 50,000 of our number are detained, just at this time, in the suburb

of Chickamauga, arranging for a summer vacation in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. The remaining 100,000 (except the lawyers) are very busy at this season of the year trying to persuade these 50,000 suburbanites to leave their loose change in Chattanooga before they venture upon any foreign trip. They are manufacturing slot machines to catch nickels.

Speaking of the Chattanooga lawyers, we have about come to the conclusion that, unless this Bar Association can devise some means by which we can reach some part of the receipts of the war revenue, we will be compelled, as a matter of defense, to join Uncle Sam's army as high privates in the rear ranks. We understand that this positon would pay us $15.60 per month, which would be about $15 better than present conditions. Some of us enlisted at the outset in the army reserves, upon the express condition and understanding that we would be reserved until after the end of the war. We are suffering, however, for the reason that our gallant commander has, as yet, been unable to get us on the pay-roll.

While such is, at present, the environment of the local lawyer, nevertheless, whatever we have, ladies and gentlemen, is yours as long as you shall honor us by your presence. If you want a refreshing breeze, we can give you anything, from a North Georgia cyclone to the balmiest zephyr that ever fanned the cheek of Dixie's daughter, and you see what a beautiful cloud effect we have, and it is all yours if you want it. You will find plenty of fog horns at the office of the hotel. If you want soldiers, we can show you anything from the major-general to the volunteer who carries the gun. But you will get most powerfully mixed, Mr. President, when you come to try and distinguish between the ex-Confederate and ex-Federal soldiers and sons. They wear the same uniform, march under the same flag, to the same music, sleep in the same tent, eat of the same hard tack, follow the same officers, and shoot at the same enemy. The expression: "Before the war," will, henceforward, require a bill in chancery for construction.

Amid these happy conditions, we rejoice to meeet the lawyers

of Tennessee. "One flag, one Constitution, one destiny," is truer to-day than ever before in the history of our great republic, and I rejoice, too, in the fact that the bench and bar have been great factors in this happy movement upward and forward.

Important events are, as I believe, in the immediate future. of our country. Our horizon is enlarging, and problems for bench, bar, and patriot are just ahead of us. We have friends, foes, and jealous eyes among the nations of the world. But there is one great power across the Atlantic, whose language we speak, whose friendliness no man can doubt. The stars and stripes and the Union Jack look to me to be trying to climb the same flag-pole, and I, for one, say: A godspeed to both flags!

But I must close, and the business of this association must proceed. We hope your visit and deliberations will be pleasant and profitable. You can do what you please on this mountain. The nearest provost guard is three miles away, and, while you remain with us, we will call every one of you Captain, Major, Colonel, or General, just as you please, and to the ladies who have so kindly honored this occasion by their presence, we give a double welcome, and greet you as daughters of brigadiergenerals of our volunteer army.

We cordially welcome one and all!

Edward T. Sanford, of Knoxville, upon request of the President, made an appropriate response to Mr. Thomas' address.

Upon motion, the reading of the minutes of the preceding meeting was dispensed with.

President C. W. Metcalf then read the annual address. (See Appendix.)

The report of the Treasurer was the next order of business, but this, upon motion, was referred to the Central Council to be audited.

The Central Council recommended the following persons for membership in the association, all of whom were elected:

Jno. S. Moss, Geo. Gantt, Henry Craft, Memphis, and Jno. J. McNally, Nashville.

The next feature of the programme was a paper prepared by Morton B. Howell, of Nashville, entitled, "Memorial-James Stephen Brown." (See Appendix.)

The next order of business was the report of the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar." In the absence of Judge Thos. H. Malone, Chairman of the committee, the report was read by Hon. Geo. Gillham, of Memphis, a member of the committee.

The report is as follows:

THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL EDUCATION AND ADMISSION TO THE BAR.

To the Bar Association of Tennessee:

At the last meeting of this association a resolution was adopted instructing this committee to correspond with persons in other States, and report the standard of requirements for admission to the bar throughout the Union, together with such recommendations as may seem best to secure an elevated and uniform standard throughout the State.

And also to inquire and report as to the standards of admission required by the law schools of the State with appropriate recommendations.

The committee respectfully report that they have had much correspondence with lawyers in inany of the States, some of which is submitted with this report. They find, so far as they are able to speak from the information they have acquired, that the States uniformly require, for original admission to the bar, that the applicant shall be a resident of the State, of good moral character, twenty-one years of age, and shall pass a satis factory examination with regard to his legal attainments. But so far as they have been able to ascertain, no State, by statute,

requires any specific educational standard. Various methods subsist with regard to the statutory examination required. They may be roughly divided into three classes. First, examinations in open court, or at chambers, by one or more judges of the State. Second, examinations by committees appointed pro re nata by a superior court. Third, examinations by standing committees for the entire State, appointed by the highest appellate court of the State, and paid salaries out of the fees required of applicants for admission to the bar.

In some of the States in which this third division prevails the courts have provided how the examination shall be conducted, and what shall be the educational requirements of an applicant to practice law. This is notably the case in New York. Under an act of the Legislature, substantially the same as the proposed legislation which has been approved by the American Bar Association, and has been twice approved by this association, the Court of Appeals of New York, by a series of rules, has prescribed what shall be the qualifications of an applicant for examination by the Board of Examiners, and the Board of Examiners has prescribed specific rules with respect to the mode of making application. The committee files herewith a copy of the rules adopted by the judges of the Court of Appeals of New York, and also the rules adopted by the Board of Law Examiners of that State. The committee knows of no system better calculated to attain the object of this association than that which has been adopted by the State of New York, and it recommends that this association should endeavor to have the same, with perhaps some necessary modifications, adopted by this State. If the legislation heretofore recommended by this association can be secured, the committee is of opinion that it will then be in the power of the bar of the State, through the Supreme Judges of the State, to make the standard of requirements for admission to the bar whatever the lawyers of the State may desire to have it. But in order that the standard may be uniform the committee is of opinion that the act recommended should be so amended as to deprive the law schools of the State of the power