most enlightened and cultivated jurists, whose projet, prior to adoption, should be subjected to rigid and universal criticism. If one influential state in the Union should lead the way and achieve even partial success, its example would be imitated by others, and at no distant day the law throughout the Union would become hornogeneous, and no congressional legislation would be needed to establish uniformity on particular subjects within the competency of the Federal Govern ment. On the other hand, a demand would arise for an amendment to the Constitution, so as to adapt the courts of the United States to the administration of justice, under a system in which the distinction between law and equity had lost its significance. PAPER READ BY JOHNSON T. PLATT. The Opportunity for the Development of Jurisprudence in the United States. There has never been a time when carefully trained lawyers, mindful of their responsibilities, and willing to meet them, could render a more useful service than at present. Unfortunately, perhaps, for us, we live at a time when every human institution, no matter how venerable, is being examined and brought up for judgment. If it cannot justify its existence it is treated with little reverence. Political power is passing from the hands of those who have hitherto wielded it, and there is some ground for fear that we are about to enter upon a course of rash experiments in legislation from the consequences of which it will take us a long time to recover. At such a juncture there are two classes of persons from whom little of value can be expected-those who see nothing but good in the old, and oppose all change, and those who will not listen to the teachings of experience, but, abandoning what has been won with infinite toil and sacrifice, would re-constitute society anew upon some a priori basis. Persons entirely sincere. and earnest may be found in each of these classes; they are simply misguided, and do not see facts as they are. There is another class, far larger than it ought to be, composed of persons who believe in nothing except themselves. They are at all times ready to lay hold of and avow and make use of anything that is likely to promote their own selfish interests. Of such of these Lord Bacon said, that they cared not what became of the ship of estates if so be that they could save themselves in the cock-boat of their own fortunes. We are now passing through a social transformation that will necessitate important changes in the substantive rules of law. Hitherto social movements have not been felt at once in the domain of law, and there has been opportunity for reflection and judgment. Events now succeed each other with such rapidity, and changes are so quickly brought about, that there is less time for deliberation. It is fortunate for society, and of good augury for the future, that there exists a body of men, calm, dispassionate, just and learned, who have "accommodated the teachings of experience to a wise philosophy," and are willing to advise us and able to make themselves heard. It is laid to our charge as a profession that we are too conservative—that we think too much of what is written. It is true that there is no class of men so little likely to cut loose entirely from the teachings of the past as lawyers. The whole course of their professional training serves to impress upon their minds the precepts of It may be admitted that lawyers are conservative-that they endeavor to conserve and keep all that is good in the old. It is also true that the stoutest advocates of better things have come from their ranks, and that as a class they have been foremost in the struggle for the vindication of right against might. Those who began their legal studies many years ago, and sought for some certain foundation upon which to rest the fabric of law, found themselves in a very perplexing and difficult situation. Law had not been perfectly distinguished from morality, and there had been no adequate analysis of the general conceptions found in the legal systems of all modern progressive communities. High-sounding sentences, in regard to justice and the majesty of the law, and the place of her seat, were plentiful, but they accomplished little except to inflate the imagination and confuse the judgment. It is the great merit of the school of analytical jurists that they have taken law as a modern lawyer understands it, marked out its province, defined with some approach to accuracy the general terms of which it makes use, and given valuable hints as to classification and arrangement. The title of this paper as given in the published programme of the Association is "The Opportunity for the Development of Jurisprudence in the United States." This is somewhat misleading if the word jurisprudence is to be taken in its strict scientific sense, for I propose to touch upon matters pertaining to legislation. I suppose it is within the experience of every lawyer in considerable practice that there is great dissatisfaction on account of the uncertainty of the law. The very able committee that reported upon this subject last year did not put the case too strongly. Persons who are anxious to come to a knowledge of their legal rights and duties, that they may assert the one and perform the other, cannot do so with sufficient certainty, either by themselves or with the aid of competent counsel. The situation is much to be deplored. The effects are bad from every point of view. That wholesome and salutary reverence for law that should exist in every well-ordered community is weakened. Individuals do not assert their rights when they are violated, and transgressors are not punished. As a final result, the sentiment of justice languishes and decays. There is little difference of opinion as to our present situation, but much conflict as to how we came to be where we now are, and still more as to how we may escape from the Serbonian bog into which we are plunged. I do not propose to attempt an exhaustive examination of the causes that have produced the present uncertain condition of the law. To do so would be beyond the scope of my present purpose, and the time at my disposal would not serve for such an undertaking. I wish, however, to hazard some general observations on the subject by way of introduction to what is to follow. We all admit that during the century now closing the social movement has, in certain directions, received stronger impulses than at any time before of which we have a record. Man's power over the forces of nature has been enormously increased, and is increasing daily with an accelerating ratio. Every new discovery gives an additional vantageground to man in his struggle with nature for the mastery of her secrets. Take the one matter of transportation, which has made modern society possible. Greater improvements have been made during the last fifty years than were introduced aforetime during all the centuries that succeeded the going down of Abraham and Sarah into Egypt. I need not stop to mention the changes that the last few years have wrought. The most important have occurred within the memory of per sons now present. One of our Connecticut judges was in the country the other day visiting an aged uncle. As they were driving along the highway a train of cars laden with passengers shot across the landscape. Said the judge to his companion, "Uncle John, things are not as they were when we were boys." The response came with a sigh: "No; there is no more rest or peace. Everybody is in a hurry; the world seems to me like a great ant-hill." The resemblance is striking, but would be more complete if the human society was as well ordered in some respects as the other. As Sir Henry Maine has pointed out, it is essential to progress that means exist for overcoming the natural rigidity of law, and adapting its rules to new social conditions. The required changes can only be made by legislative bodies in the way of direct legislation, and by judicial legislation on the part of the judges. The latter could do but little to narrow the ever-widening gulf between the letter of the law and the demands of society, and in the early part of this century began a period of great and increasing activity on the part of legislative bodies. An enormous number of changes have been made in the substantive rules of law-some good and some |