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LAWS OF NEW YORK-1877

CHAPTER 210.

"AN ACT to incorporate the New York State Bar Association."

PASSED May 2, 1877.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION I. The members of the voluntary association, which was formed in the city of Albany, November twenty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, under the name of the New York State Bar Association, of which association John K. Porter, of the first judicial district, is president, and Charles W. Sanford, of the first judicial district; John J. Armstrong, of the second judicial district; Samuel Hand, of the third judicial district; Platt Potter, of the fourth judicial district; William C. Ruger, of the fifth judicial district; Horatio Ballard, of the sixth judicial district; James L. Angle, of the seventh judicial district, and Myron H. Peck, of the eighth judicial district, are vice-presidents, and of which the judges of the United States Courts, residing in this State, the judges of the Court of Appeals, and justices of the Supreme Court of this State are honorary members, and all persons who shall hereafter be associated with them are hereby created a body corporate, under the name of the "New York State Bar Association." And the said association is formed to cultivate the science of jurisprudence, to promote reform in the law, to facilitate the administration of justice, to elevate the standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, and to cherish the spirit of brotherhood among the members thereof.

SEC. 2. Said corporation shall have power to acquire by lease or purchase, suitable buildings, library and furniture for the use of the corporation; to borrow money for such purposes and issue bonds therefor, and to secure the same by mortgage, and generally to acquire and take by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, subject to the provisions of law relating to devises and bequests by last will and testament or otherwise, and to hold, transfer and convey all or any such real and personal property as may be necessary for attaining the objects, and carrying into effect the purposes of such corporation.

SEC. 3. The constitution, by-laws, rules and regulations originally adopted by said voluntary association shall be the constitution, by-laws, rules and regulations of the corporation hereby created, which shall have power from time to time to alter, modify and change the same; and the members of the executive committee of said association shall be the first trustees of the corporation hereby created, and continue to be sucti trustees until others are elected in their places as prescribed by said constitution and by-laws, and the several officers and commit tees of said association shall be the officers and committees of the corporation hereby created with the powers and duties prescribed by said constitution and by-laws, rules and regulations, until their suc cessors shall be similarly duly elected and installed.

SEC. 4. All property, rights and interests of the said association now held by any or either of the officers thereof, or by any person or persons for its use and benefit shall, by virtue of this act, vest in and become the property of the corporation hereby created, subject to the payment of the debts of said association, if any; all interest of any member of said association, and of the corporation hereby created in such property, shall terminate and vest in the corporations upon his ceasing to be a member thereof.

SEC. 5. This corporation shall possess the powers and be subject to the liabilities prescribed by the third title of the eighteenth chapter of the first part of the Revised Statutes. This corporation shall deposit a copy of its charter, constitution and by-laws, and of each of its annual reports, in the State Library at Albany, and each of the libraries provided for the use of the justices of the Supreme Court in the several counties of the State. It shall be the duty of every local bar association to deposit with the New York State Bar Association a copy of its act or certificate of incorporation, or its articles of asso ciation, and its constitution and by-laws and its annual report.

SEC. 6. This act shall take effect immediately.

CONSTITUTION

I. - NAME.

This Association shall be called "The New York State Bar Association."

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The Association is formed to cultivate the science of jurisprudence, to promote reform in the law, to facilitate the administration of justice, to elevate the standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, and to cherish a spirit of brotherhood among the members thereof.

III. MEMBERS.

The Delegates and Alternates selected to attend the first meeting for the organization of the Association (November 21, 1876) are hereby declared to be members thereof, provided they shall (on or before the 1st day of May, 1877) pay the admission fee and subscribe to this Constitution, or otherwise in writing notify the Secretary of their acceptance of membership.

Any member of the legal profession in good standing, residing o practicing in the State of New York, who shall have been at the Bar of this State at least three years, may become a member by vote of the Association, on open nomination after a report of the Committee on Admissions, or of the Executive Committee upon recommendation of the Committee on Admissions; and on subscribing to this Constitution (or otherwise in writing notify the Secretary of his acceptance of membership), and, within the period limited by the By-Laws, paying the annual dues of the current year. But no person shall be entitled to vote at any meeting of the Association until he shall have been a member for at least six months preceding the said meeting.

The Judges of the United States Courts residing in this State, the Judges of the Court of Appeals, and the several Justices of the Supreme Court of this State shall, during their respective terms of office, be honorary members of this Association.

Other honorary members may be elected by the Association (Amended January 21, 1903, and January 17, 1906.)

Pursuant to Art. III, the Association, at the Annual Meeting. September, 1882 (Reports, vol. VI, p. 130), it was unanimously

Resolved, That this Association admits among the honorary mem bers such resident members of the Bar of the State of New York

as may at any time hold any of the following-named offices, to wit: President of the United States, Vice-President of the United States, members of the President's Cabinet, United States Senators from this State, Governor of this State, Attorney-General of this State, Envoy or Minister of the United States to any foreign country, member appointed on the part of the United States of any international tribunal, and that the Secretary is directed to enroll them accordingly.

IV. - OFFICERS.

The officers of the Association shall be a President, nine VicePresidents, one to be chosen from each judicial district, an Executive Committee, a Committee on Admissions, a Committee on Grievances, a Committee on Law Reform, a Committee on Prizes, a Committee on Legal Biography, a Committee on the Selection of Candidates for Judicial Office, a Secretary and a Treasurer, all of whom shall (for the period until the 1st day of January, 1878) be elected at the meeting at which this Cónstitution is adopted. And thereafter they shall be elected in the manner hereinafter prescribed. (Amended January 21, 1902; amended January 24, 1908; amended January 29, 1909.)

V.- PRESIDENT.

The President, or (in his absence) one of the Vice-Presidents, or (in the absence of all of them) one of the members shall preside at all meetings of the Association.

The President shall be ex officio a member of the Executive Committee.

VI. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

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The Executive Committee shall consist of twenty-seven members, of whom three shall reside in, and be selected from each judicial district, and shall compose a District Executive Committee thereof. The Secretary and Treasurer of the Association shall be, ex-officio, members of the Executive Committee. (Amended January 24, 1908; amended January 29, 1909; amended January 19, 1911.)

This Committee shall manage the affairs of the Association, subject to the provisions of the Constitution and By-laws, and shall be vested with the title to all its property, as Trustee thereof, until the Association shall be incorporated, and when incorporated shall have power to accept the act of incorporation for and on behalf of the Association and all its members.

By-laws may be adopted at any annual meeting of the Association by a majority vote of the members present, and the Executive Committee may make By-laws for the Association, subject to amendment by the Association. (Amended January 21, 1902.)

At meetings of this Committee, the member or members in attendance from each judicial district shall be entitled to three votes, to be cast by him or them, separately or together, as he or they may deter

mine. Each District Committee, under direction of the General Committee, may exercise such of its powers, in or for the district, as from time to time shall be authorized by this General Committee, and such other powers as the Constitution and By-laws shall vest in them.

VII. - COMMITTEE ON ADMISSIONS.

The Committee on Admissions shall consist of thirty-six members, of whom four shall reside in and be selected from each judicial district, and compose a District Committee on Admissions thereof, and each of whom shall have practiced law in this State at least ten years. (Amended January 24, 1908; amended January 29, 1909.)

The proceedings of this Committee shall be deemed confidential and shall be kept secret, except so far as written or printed reports of the same shall be necessarily and officially made to the Association.

VIII.

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COMMITTEE ON GRIEVANCES.

The Committee shall consist of twenty-seven members. The Committee may receive and hear all complaints preferred against any member of the Bar for misconduct in his profession, provided the same be in writing, plainly and specifically stating the matter complained of, and subscribed by the complainant, and may in its discretion investigate misconduct in his profession of a member of the Bar of which no formal complaint has been made; and with the approval of the Executive Committee it shall take such action thereon in the name of the Association as may be deemed proper.

It shall have like power in the matter of expelling any member of the Association.

But no preferment of charges to an appellate division nor any determination of the rights of membership in this Association shall be had unless the accused has had prior notice and due opportunity to be heard.

On vouchers of the Chairman of the Committee on Grievances, additionally vouched by the Chairman of the sub-committee, if any, by whom charges shall have been investigated, the Treasurer be authorized to pay the expenses incident to such investigations by this Committee. (Amended January 12, 1918.)

IX. COMMITTEE ON LAW REFORM.

The Committee on Law Reform shall consist of twenty-seven members, no four of whom shall reside in the same judicial district. (Amended January 24, 1908; amended January 29, 1909.)

It shall be the duty of this Committee to consider and report to the Association such amendments of the law as in its opinion should be adopted, also to scrutinize proposed changes of the law, and when necessary report upon the same, also to observe the practical working

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