The Legal World political ascendancy. Alton B. Parker, president of the organization, was toast
master, and in introducing Justice Hughes declared that when the com
221
posed to amend section 73 so as to read as follows:—
munity discovered a great lawyer and a splendid state executive it had also
“Hereafter no judge shall instruct the petit jury in any case, civil or criminal, unless his charge is reduced to writing and he shall before the same is
uncovered a brilliant statesman. Attor
read to the jury, submit it to the counsel
ney-General Wickersham pleaded for a fearless and independent judiciary.
for the respective parties and give them an opportunity, in the absence of the jury, to state specifically all their ob
@ar A ssociafions
jections to the instructions therein contained and to the refusal of the court to embody in his charge any instruction
Connecticut-The
annual
meeting
of the Connecticut State Bar Associa tion was held Feb. 6 at Bridgeport. President George E. Hill of Bridgeport read his annual report, reviewing the work of the association for the past year. The annual‘ reports of Vice President Hadlai A. Hull of New London and Secretary-Treasurer James E. Wheeler of New Haven were also
read. Talcott H. Russell of New Haven read a paper on "Sham Issues." There was a banquet in the evening at the University Club. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, George E. Hill of Bridgeport; vice-president, Hadlai A. Hull of New London; secre
tary-treasurer, James E. Wheeler, of New Haven.
Illinois. — Reform of the law of procedure and practice was the subject of discussion at the semi-annual meeting of the Illinois State Bar Association held at Springfield on February 16. The Illinois Conference on the reform of the law, consisting of delegates from all parts of the state, proposed certain amendments to the Practice Act for
requested by counsel, together with the reasons for such objections." It is pretty generally conceded that the amendment to this section would be a decided improvement on the present practice. It is substantially the practice now pursued in the state of Indiana. The proposed amendment to section 74, which found both supporters and opponents, is as follows: —
“Exceptions to the charge as read to the jury and to the refusal of the court to embody in his charge any instruction requested by counsel for the respective parties, may be entered at any time
before the jury retires, but not after wards, and no objections or exceptions shall be considered on review except those specially called to the attention of the court, as provided in the foregoing section.” It is believed that the proposed amend
ments to these two sections would be of far-reaching importance and highly beneficial to the practice. They would do much toward rescuing the practice in Illinois from the general charge made by President Taft last year in his speech at Chicago, wherein he said that the
cussion was opened by Edgar B. Tolman
administration of justice in our courts was a disgrace to our civilization. These
of Chicago, President of the Conference.
amendments must appeal to every law
The
yer who is honestly endeavoring to aid the court and jury to arrive at a correct conclusion of the case. If adopted the court would be protected when
discussion at this meeting.
proposed
The dis
amendments
which
brought forth the most discussion were
those relating to sections 73 and 74 of the present Practice Act. It is pro
