ADDRESS OF GEORGE W. CROFT, Esq., President of the Association. Gentlemen of the South Carolina Bar Association: I congratulate you upon this meeting, for it again inaugurates this Society for the purpose of holding its annual meetings as designed by its Constitution. It is now nine years since we held our last regular meeting; during the whole of that period, nothing has been done to bring together the members of this Soicety, or to advance the object for which it was originally founded,-its purpose being, as stated in the Constitution, "To maintain the honor, dignity and courtesy of the profession of the law; to advance the science of jurisprudence; to promote the due administration of justice, and reform in the law; to encourage liberal education for the Bar; and to cultivate cordial intercourse among the members of the South Carolina Bar." The object of the Association, it is thus seen, is for a high and patriotic purpose; it is not only to maintain the honor of our profession, which relates to the comparatively small part of society who are members of the legal fraternity, but, in its wider purpose, to advance the science of jurisprudence, and to promote the due administration of justice; the motive is noble and patriotic, the end to be obtained for the welfare of the entire commonwealth. There is nothing that adds so much to the prosperity and happiness of the people, than the proper administration of the law, and nothing which destroys their contentment so much as the failure of justice; hence it will be readily admitted by all that a society such as ours, having the object as stated, is of great public good to the State, and its continu |