Jan. 18, 1921 To John Gordon, attorney-at-law, 53 State St., Boston, Mass., fee for set- Apr. 15, 1921 To Robert P. Shick, Secretary, for post- To Robert P. Shick, Secretary, for dues $50.00 6.70 June 1, 1921 To amount to balance.. 21.90 $416.16 156.59 $572.75 The Treasurer's report was accepted and on motion duly carried, approved by the Bureau. Hon. Manoel de Oliveira Lima of Brazil had prepared a paper on "New Constitutional Tendencies in Latin-America," but was unable to be present. The paper was ordered printed. (See Address at end of these minutes, page 550.) The following officers and members of the Council of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association were elected for the ensuing year: Chairman, Wm. W. Smithers, Philadelphia, Pa. Secretary, Robert P. Shick, Philadelphia, Pa. Council: Simeon E. Baldwin, Connecticut; Seymour C. Loomis, Connecticut; Roscoe Pound, Massachusetts; Andrew A. Bruce, Minnesota; John H. Wigmore, Illinois; John S. Lehmann, Missouri; W. O. Hart, Louisiana; Walter S. Penfield, Washington, D. C. The bureau was gratified to have from Mr. Wm. W. Smithers, of Philadelphia, his reconsideration of his resignation from the office of Chairman in December 1920 and the acceptance of his election to the office of Chairman of the Bureau for the ensuing year. On motion adjourned. ROBERT P. SHICK, Secretary. REPORT OF SECRETARY OF THE COMPARATIVE LAW BUREAU. PHILADELPHIA, PA., August 24, 1921. To the Chairman and Council of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association: Your Secretary begs leave to report upon the work of the Bureau during the past year, as follows: I. INQUIRIES. Inquiries have come to your Secretary's office upon various matters which indicate the growing interest of the profession in the study of comparative law and legislation for the particular purposes of our growing international commerce: Rufus J. Trimble, head of the Legal Department of the Texas Company, inquired for recent publications, treating of the commercial or corporation laws of foreign countries. He desired this information for the purpose of a library to aid in the solution of the problems confronting the company through the operations of the foreign subsidiary corporations organized or controlled and operated by the Texas Company. J. W. Casterton, Purchasing Agent, of Toronto, Ontario, inquired for copies of the various Columbian Legal Codes. Baldwin and Curtis, Esqs., of New York City, desired a synopsis or compilation of the laws of the various European nations, respecting the censorship of motion picture films to aid them in the conduct of a case now before them professionally. Blewitt Lee, Esq., of New York City, asked for a list of the latest penal codes and particularly any draft codes now under consideration by civilized nations-for the purpose of an article he is preparing upon penal codes. The Texas State Library of Austin, Texas, inquired for material for the use of legislators-particularly digests of comparative laws, drafts of bills, reports of any investigations along legislative lines, etc.-for the purposes of a very recently organized legislative reference library there. The School of Law of the University of Denver, wrote for the Bulletins of the Comparative Law Bureau for the years 1911 and 1912, so as to complete its set of annual bulletins of the bureau. In the case of most of these inquiries, your Secretary referred the inquirers to the International Intermediary Institute at The Hague, Holland, which seems to have been organized for the purpose of gathering and distributing information such as was desired. Our Dutch brethren have set us a wonderful example in the organization of this institute through the co-operation of its commercial and professional interests. Your Secretary takes great pleasure in calling the attention of the bureau to this organization and the work which it is doing in the way of disseminating the information upon comparative, commercial, financial and legal conditions-all for the purpose of furthering the true interests of international trade and commerce. II. PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU. The Boston Book Company-the official publishers of the Comparative Law Bureau, were forced into bankruptcy and it became necessary for your officers to adjust the claim of that company against the bureau for the manufacturing cost of our publications. Your officers, after some negotiations, finally obtained, through the good offices of John Gordon, of the Boston Bar, a compromise of the claim so that upon the payment to the trustee in bankruptcy, of $300.00 the bureau obtained the title to all of the stock of publications in the hands of the Boston Book Company. The total cost of securing possession of all of this stock of publications was $350.00, after payment of an attorney's fee. An arrangement has been made with the Chipman Law Publishing Company, of Boston, Mass., to handle these publications and the stock of the publications which was in the hands of the Boston Book Company has been transferred to the possession of the Chipman Law Publishing Company. This stock on hand on January 11, last, was Swiss Code......57 bound, 312 unbound copies. The Chipman Law Publishing Company have agreed to carry this stock and to push the sale of these publications at the regular fixed price of $5.00 per copy with exceptions of some copies to the trade which will be sold at the price of $4.00 per copy. For its services, the bureau will be charged a commission of 50 per cent and our account credited at the rate of $2.50 for each copy sold at retail and $2.00 for each copy sold to the trade, cash settlements to be made monthly. A report of that company of these sales up to August 10, last, shows sales as follows: Argentine Code, 14 copies to the trade, $56.00 Or a total of $83.34. The bureau has been charged with cartage and labor in connection with the transfer of the stock from the place of business of the Boston Book Company to the present headquarters, the sum of $21.00, and the bureau has received as its payment of the share due it from these sales, $20.67. The sales have been discouragingly small but it is hoped that with the growing interest in foreign publications, the sales will increase in the near future and the bureau be able to work out its total investment in these translations of foreign codes. III. EDITORS. The Secretary has secured the co-operation of R. E. Desveruine of the firm of Hornblower, Miller & Garrison of New York City as an editor for the field of Cuba. Mr. Desvernine was very highly recommended to us by Mr. Walter S. Penfield. Richard P. Momsen of the Brazilian Bar with offices also in New York City has agreed to co-operate with the editorial staff of the Bureau in reporting upon the developments of law and jurisprudence in the field of Brazil. Mr. Momsen is the representative of several banks and commercial houses of the United States in Brazil and we look to him for much valuable information from time to time upon the development of law in the country of Brazil. Our honorary member Dr. Eugen Huber, of Berne, Switzerland, wrote your secretary under date of March 22, 1921, renewing his promise to send a contribution for the bulletin of our bureau in the near future. Mr. Wang Chung-Hui, our associate editor in China wrote under date of March 16, last, that he was on the eve of his departure for Paris to attend the committee formed by the council of the League of Nations to study proposals of amendment to the covenant. IV. THE CHAIRMAN. Under date of December 7, 1920, our Chairman, William W. Smithers, of Philadelphia, tendered his resignation as Chairman of the Comparative Law Bureau. Efforts to secure reconsideration of his action were unavailing and your Council were compelled with reluctance to accept his resignation. V. LAS SIETE PARTIDAS. Your committee appointed at the last meeting to consider the question of the publication of this translation have been unable to accomplish anything looking to the completion of this work in the near future and can but report progress. The Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis, have carefully considered the cost of publishing this and of handling the work for the bureau, and have submitted an estimate of the cost of publication of 500 copies to be approximately $5500.00. That company would not undertake the publishing of the translation unless the expense was fully underwritten. If this, however, were provided, the company would be willing to handle the sale of the work upon some arrangement to be made. The Chipman Law Publishing Company has reported that it would not be interested in the publishing or sale of this publication. Efforts to secure the co-operation of the executive committee of the American Bar Association have, up to the present time, been unavailing. Calls for copies of this publication have come in to the Secretary from L. D. Lockwood, of Nega, Camarines, Sur, P. I.; from Sweet & Maxwell, law publishers of England, as well as the English Society of Comparative Legislation. It is also interesting to know, as reported by Mr. Hampton L. Carson, that an original text printed on vellum of the original Las Siete Partidas is offered for sale by Maggs Bros., an English house, for the sum of £450. The advertisement says of these seven parts-" for America it is of the utmost importance for it is the basis of the law of South America and of the parts of North America which were once under the rule of Spain, California, Texas, Florida, etc." Your Secretary, therefore, regrets very much that he can but report progress upon the question of the publication of this translation. VI. THE BULLETIN. Your Secretary is glad to report that an arrangement has been made with the Editorial Staff of the American Bar Association JOURNAL to have the contributions from the editors of the bureau published as heretofore in the April number of the JOURNAL as well as in any other issue of the JOURNAL when space may be desired, with the additional arrangement that the contributions from the editors of the bureau will be assembled at the end of the year and published in separate form for the purpose of making up a bulletin as heretofore, for the purposes of libraries and others who may desire to have the reports upon comparative legislation and law and jurisprudence in separate bulletins, as heretofore. ROBERT P. SHICK, Secretary. |