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Commissioner John R. Hardin, of New Jersey, also called attention to the passage of the Warehouse Receipts Act and the Sales Act, which were approved by the governor on the 7th of May, last, and took effect on the 4th of July, 1907, the laws being Chapters 132 and 133 of the Session Laws of 1907, Pamphlet Laws, pages 311 and 341.

In this connection, it may also be stated that the Uniform Divorce Law recommended by the Divorce Congress was also enacted in New Jersey.

Commissioner Charles Thaddeus Terry, of New York, reported the passage of the Warehouse Receipts Act. He also reported that Governor Hughes had filled the vacancies in the New York State Board of Commissioners caused by the lamentable deaths of Commissioners Walter S. Logan and E. W. Huffcut. There have been some twenty-five reported decisions under the Negotiable Instruments Act, all of which are most carefully presented and discussed in his report to this committee, accom panying this report, and will receive the attention of President Eaton in his annual address.

Commisioners C. LaRue Munson, Walter George Smith and William H. Staake, of Pennsylvania, reported that the Warehouse Receipts Act and the Sales Act were introduced into the Senate last session by the Hon. John M. Scott, of Philadelphia, at the request of the Committee on Uniform State Laws of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Both were passed by it and reached the Judiciary General Committee of the House; that committee reported favorably upon the Warehouse Receipts Bill, but, notwithstanding, it failed to pass in the closing hours of the session. The Sales Act was not reported out of the committee.

The Divorce bills were introduced in the Senate during the last session by the Hon. William C. Sproul, were favorably reported by the Judiciary General Committee, passed by the Senate and afterwards failed to pass in the House. The Committee believe that there is a strong probability that these bills will be passed in the next session of the legislature.

The Commissioners from Pennsylvania appeared before the Judiciary General Committees of both Senate and House, to

urge the passage of the bills. The Warehouse Receipts Bill was supported by the warehousemen of the commonwealth, many of whom appeared with the Commissioners in support of the bill.

Commissioner Amasa M. Eaton, of Rhode Island, regretted that owing to the long continued contest in the legislature over the election of a United States Senator, no action was taken either upon the report of the Divorce legislation, Uniform Sales Act, or Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act, and he was therefore obliged to report that since the last meeting of the Conference no laws had been enacted and no judicial decisions had been filed in that state upon uniform legislation.

Commissioner John Garland Pollard, of Virginia, in reporting that no laws had been enacted in Virginia on uniform legislation, stated there was but one reported case on the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Act, namely, American Bank vs. McComb, 105 Va., 473, which will also be commented upon by President Eaton.

Your committee has received from the Commissioners of the State of Maine a copy of their Sixth Biennial Report to his excellency the Honorable William T. Cobb, Governor of that state, in which they have most intelligently stated the labors of the Conference at its session in 1905 at Narragansett Pier, R. I., and in 1906 at St. Paul, Minnesota. The history of the preparation of each bill is given, and the scope of the future labors of the Conference presented. An appeal is also made for an appropriation to the expenses of the Conference.

The Commissioners of Pennsylvania have also filed with your Committee a copy of the printed report to the Governor of the commonwealth, which contained in full the Warehouse Receipts. Bill, Sales Bills, Bills of Lading and Partnership Bills, also the National Pure Food Law. Copies of this report will be at the Seventeenth Annual Conference.

In view of the circular of the American Bar Association containing the announcement of the Seventeenth Annual Confer ence of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and the usual information concerning hotel rates, railroad rates, etc., it

was not deemed necessary to send any circular to the Commissioners, others than the one calling for information as to statutes enacted or decisions made, which advised each Commissioner of the time and place of meeting, and requested his presence at the Seventeenth Conference. Through the courtesy of Secretary Hinkley, of the American Bar Association, copies of its general circular were obtained for and mailed by the Chairman of your Executive Committee to each Commissioner not a member of that Association.

Your committee has learned with profound sorrow of the deaths since the last Conference of Commissioners Ernest W. Huffcut, of New York, May 3, 1907, and Joseph P. Lamson, of Vermont, January 14, 1907, and asks that appropriate action be taken by the Conference to perpetuate upon its records the sense of the loss sustained by the deaths of these our fellow Commissioners.

Your committee has received a communication from Benjamin P. Moore, Esq., of the Bar of the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, enclosing a copy of his pamphlet entitled "The Passing of the Oath," a reprint from the American Law Review of 1903, on page 10 of which was printed the present law of the State of Maryland in regard to oaths, which had proved eminently satisfactory to the Bench and Bar of that state, and he thought the time had arrived when an effort should be made to have it or a similar law adopted by all of the other states.

Mr. Moore stated that he had been engaged in this effort, as far as he had been able, since a short time after the passage of the Act in Maryland, through the aid of our fellow Commissioner, the Honorable Stevenson A. Williams, who introduced the bill in 1898, but he thought the matter could be more effectually promoted by the recommendation of this Conference.

This Act provided:

“The form of judicial and all other oaths to be taken or administered in this state shall be as follows:

"In the presence of Almighty God, I do solemnly promise, or declare,” etc., and it shall not be lawful to add to any oath

the words "So help me, God," or any imprecatory words whatever.

The manner of administering oaths shall be by requiring the person making the same to hold up his hand in token of his recognition of the solemnity of the act, except in those cases when it shall appear that some other mode is more binding upon the conscience of the swearer.

The privilege to those who were scrupulous in regard to oaths to make affirmation instead had long been accorded in Maryland, as it is now, practically, in all the other states, but his contention is, that as the oath as usually administered is immoral and profane, its most objectionable features at least should be abolished. The adjourned meeting of the Congress on Uniform Divorce Laws was held at the Hotel Bellevue-Stratford, in the City of Philadelphia, November 13 and 14, 1906.

The Committee on Resolutions and the officers of the Congress, who had been charged with the duty of preparing a statute for submission to this adjourned meeting, met at St. Paul, Minnesota, during and succeeding the meeting of the American Bar Association, and later in Philadelphia on Saturday, November 10, 1906, when a draft of the proposed statute was agreed upon, which was later discussed, amended in some particulars, and adopted by the Congress.

A copy of this statute is herewith submitted, together with an address explanatory of its features and a printed copy of the proceedings of the Congress at this adjourned meeting.

The report of the Committee on Marriage and Divorce will refer to the work of this Congress.

Very respectfully submitted by

AMASA M. EATON, President,

JOHN C. RICHBERG, Vice-President,

CHARLES THADDEUS TERRY, Secretary,

TALCOTT H. RUSSELL, Treasurer,

WILLIAM H. STAAKE, Chairman,

FRANCIS B. JAMES,

PETER W. MELDRIM,

Executive Committee.

REPORT

OF THE

NEW YORK STATE COMMISSIONERS UPON THE ENACTMENT OF ANY LAWS OR THE FILING OF ANY JUDICIAL DECISIONS UPON THE SUBJECT OF UNIFORM STATE LEGISLATION, SINCE THE LAST MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

The New York State Commissioners upon the uniformity of laws throughout the United States beg to report, in answer to the inquiry of the Executive Committee as to the enactment of any law or the filing of any judicial decisions upon the subject of uniform legislation, in the year last passed, as follows:

First. The New York State Commissioners had the Warehouse Receipts Bill and the Sales Bill introduced in both houses of our state legislature at the opening of the last session. They both met with vigorous opposition on the part of the Merchants Association of New York City and its attorneys. We, were obliged to fight for the Warehouse Receipts Bill by attendance in Albany and arguments, in the respective committees of the two houses, to which the bill was referred, and likewise on the floors of both houses. The bill was eventually reported favorably by both committees and passed by both houses of the legislature. On a hearing before the governor, ordered by him, seven persons, representing various trade bodies, appeared in opposition to the bill and argued against it. Mr. Williston and the undersigned Commissioner for New York argued in favor of the bill; and it was signed by the governor on the 25th day of July, 1907.

The same opposition was presented to both the Sales and Warehouse Receipts bills, and we decided that it was wise to lay aside the Sales Bill until next session and concentrate our efforts on the Warehouse Receipts Bill. This was done with the result above stated.

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