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one issue to try and you know what it is. Every lawyer knows that the curse of our practice is the common counts and general issue. Lawyers go into court to try a case, oftentimes they do not know what they have got to try at all. You an not do that under the code practice; they have got to set out their facts, whether they are plaintiff or defendant, and Then the court knows and the lawyers know just what issue they have got to try and it can be reduced down to a single point. That is the code, that is the thing you are fighting against, gentlemen; that is the thing which you have been struggling for, without knowing it, for years, and if you will examine the recommendations which were made by this Practice Commission which it is proposed by this resolution to approve, in the main, if you will examine that and analyze that carefully in the light of what I have said, you will see in every one of them a struggle towards the code procedure.

I said that I was not going to criticise anything they have done and I do not intend to now, but I want to present one of their recommendations simply as an illustration of what I have been saying. They propose, in certain classes of cases. and where the declaration makes certain allegations, that the defendant shall be required with his plea to set up a sort of specification of defenses and swear to it. Why in that class of cases alone? Why not in all cases? What is there that

is scientific in that kind of pleading, that a man should plead by affidavit? Is that scientific, logical, or according to any known system of pleading that the world ever heard of? Is it not fair simply to require that thing to be done in the answer not only in that class of cases, but in all cases?

Now, gentlemen, I know I do not need to tell you that the old common law procedure has been discredited and cast out by the land of its birth. I have seen it stated lately that Germany had wiped out all her common laws and had adopted a code of laws and procedure. Almost all, a very large proportion of the States of the Union have adopted some form of code. Illinois, with a few other states along, is lagging be

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hind in this march of progress. Now, gentlemen, are you going to stay at the tail-end of the procession all the time, or are you going to do what, as I said, you have been strug gling after for years, without knowing it, adopt some simple forn. of procedure; I don't care whether you call it a code or what you call it, but some simple form of procedure which shall demand truth in pleading, which shall make a man swear to his cause of action and to the facts which he relies upon as constituting his defense. This is a question, gentlemen, that is going to come before you at every meeting of this Bar Association until it is settled, and settled right. "Delenda est Carthago." (Applause).

MR. GRESHAM: I would like to offer a resolution on this subject, it is as follows:

Resolved, That the President of this Association appoint a committee of nine to report to this Association at its next annual meeting as to whether or not it would be advisable for this Association to recommend to the legislature the adoption of a code by the State of Illinois.

The resolution was seconded.

MR. PAGE: I think that motion is out of order, there is a motion before the house now.

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Do you offer that as an amendment to the resolution offered by Mr. Capen?

MR. GRESHAM:

will vote for that.

No, sir. I have no objection to that. I

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: You might reserve yours.

MR. GRESHAM: I will withdraw it for the present, then. PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Are you ready for the question? I will read the resolution again so that you may know what it is.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Association the thanks of the Bar of the State are due to the efficient labors and able services of the members of the Practice Commission rendered without compensation, and that, in the main, its recommendations are for the best interests of the State and should become laws.

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The Association considers that the work should not be abandoned and that proper and earnest efforts be made at succeeding legislatures to accomplish the great and pressingly needed reforms upon the general lines marked out by the Commission.

The resolution was adopted.

MR. LONGDEN: Mr. President and Members of the Association: I wish to concur in the remarks made by Mr. Gresham in bringing up this question of the code practice, and also in the remarks following by Judge Church. It was my privilege for five years to practice under a code; although being admitted to practice in the State of Illinois, yet subsequently as I say, I practiced under a code, and I do not believe that any lawyer who has ever practiced under a code will want to return to the common law practice. There are matters that pertain to a code practice that are so distinctly superior to the common law practice that they need not be enumerated. First of all is the expediency by which suits are brought to a finality, and the next question is the fact of the simplicity of the pleadings, which is apparent to any man who has ever practiced under a code; and I do wish this Association-Mr. Church has said it will come to it sooner or later, although the time may not be ripe at present-I do heartily wish that this Association would take some action in regard to this matter.

MR. CHASE: The gentleman whom I mentioned is here present. He is not a member of this Association, but it might be of interest to the attorneys here if he could be persuaded to say a word. I move that he have leave to speak.

MR. CHASE: Mr. Corbin, who sits here at my side.

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Mr. McMurdy is here from the Practice Commission, and it will be in order to hear from him. I will entertain the motion of Mr. Chase when Mr. McMurdy has concluded his remarks.

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MR. MCMURDY: Concerning the work of the Practice Commission, I have nothing to say. The fact is that the work of the Commission should speak for itself. But I have a suggestion to make to the Association in that connection because, while I say the work of the Commission should speak for itself, it has never had an opportunity to speak for itself. The work of the Commission as an entirety has never been published and we were not able to have the same published in any definite form by the last General Assembly. It seems to me a valuable contribution, I think I can say that, to the legal literature of the State; that report ought to be published, not only the proposed changes in the law, but the comment upon the same by the Commission, and I would suggest, if the Treasury is in funds, that a resolution might be adopted, if you see fit, empowering the President of the Association, in conjunction with the President of the Chicago Bar Association, so as to divide the expense in some way, to see that the report of the Commission is printed. I do not think it would be very expensive, and it seems to me it would be valuable to the bar of the State.

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Put that resolution in writing,

please.

MR. MCMURDY: I would prefer not to offer it myself, Mr. President. If it meets with the views of any one else

MR. PAGE: I think all this talk about code we have heard here for seven or eight or ten years,-ever since I have been a member of the Association,-is all right, but I do not believe that the bar of Illinois is ready for a code, yet. I am satisfied that it will not have one for a good many years. The work of this Practice Commission has been too conscientiously done, and is too important, toovaluable, to be lost and neglected at this time. Inquiry

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after the adjournment of the legislature developed the fact that while the Commission had done its work and reported to the legislature, yet there was no organized body or power there to present and urge its passage by the legislature; they had no power at the time and it was nobody's business to take it up and urge its passage. I think that considering the importance of the work that has been done there ought to be some organized effort made by the Association, started now, to present this to the next legislature, and I therefore propose the following resolution:

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the President, of which the President of the Association for the ensuing year shall be Chairman, to devise ways and means to secure action by the General Assembly of Illinois upon the Report of the Practice Commission:

Resolved, That such committee in their discretion may cause the report of the Commission and the correspondence and papers connected therewith to be printed and distributed at the expense of this Association.

The motion was seconded.

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Mr. Chase, you made a motion a moment ago and I asked you to give way to Mr. McMurdy.

MR. CHASE: Simply that Mr. Corbin of whom I spoke,I did not mention his name-the gentleman from South Carolina who prepared a code there which was adopted, is here present. He is not a member of the Association, but I would like to hear from him.

MR. GRESHAM: I withdrew my resolution; may I offer it now, I would like to have it before the

PRESIDENT HOLDOM: Just half a minute. That is a question that remains with the Association. Would the Association like to hear from Mr. Corbin? If there is no objection Mr. Corbin will be recognized. There is none.

MR. CORBIN: I am a lawyer, I have been forty years at the bar. I was educated in the common law practice as practiced in the State of Vermont. The close of the war