On motion duly made and adopted, the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) was appropriated to cover the expenses of the Committee on Membership..

Dated, New York, January 16th, 1919.

Respectfully submitted,

WILLIAM D. GUTHRIE,

Chairman.

I take it, sir, that a motion would be in order that the report

be approved and filed; and I so move.

The motion was duly seconded and carried.

The Chairman:

Next in order is the Report of the Committee on Legal Aid Societies.

Robert Grier Monroe, of New York:

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. The Legal Aid Society of the City of New York, which has been co-operating with the War Committee, presents the following report:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AID

SOCIETIES

To the New York State Bar Association:

At the conference of delegates of bar associations, State and local, held at Saratoga Springs on September 3, 1917, the following resolution was adopted:

"Resolved, That it is the sense of this conference that bar associations, state and local, should be urged to foster the formation and efficient administration in their respective jurisdictions of legal aid societies, for legal relief work for the worthy poor, with the active and sympathetic cooperation of such associations; and that attorneys generally be urged to give such societies their moral and financial support."

This resolution was considered in the report of the Committee on Law Reform, presented at our last annual meeting, and the recommendations in relation to legal aid societies were referred to a special committee.

This Committee is of the opinion that the recommendations should be approved; that the duty of the bar to lead in such work is obvious, and that the approval of this Association be forwarded to local bar associations throughout the State.

The Legal Aid Society of the City of New York has been in active co-operation during the past year with the War Committee of the Bar in giving legal aid to men called into the service of our national army and volunteer navy, and legal aid societies in other cities of the State have also been in co-operation with local bar committees in this work. With the return of our troops much legal assistance will be asked, for that can only fall upon legal aid societies.

Under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation a report entitled "Justice and the Poor," by Mr. Reginald Heber Smith, counsel for the Legal Aid Society of Boston, is now being printed, and will very shortly be ready for distribution. This report is the result of a nation-wide study of the subject, giving detailed workings of the different Legal Aid Societies and the way they are conducted and supported in various jurisdictions. There is, therefore, much data immediately available for intelligent consideration and action. Further information can be obtained with regard to local conditions in New York by the preparation and distribution of a comprehensive questionnaire, making detailed inquiry with regard to what local societies are in operation, sources of revenue, extent to which financial support is derived from the bar and bar associations of respective localities, and what organized effort has been made by the bar in the counties and larger cities for providing legal assistance for the poor.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AID SOCIETIES

The Committee offers the following resolution:

91

"Resolved, That the recommendations contained in the resolutions adopted at the conference of delegates of the American Bar Association and of state and local bar associations, held at Saratoga Springs on September 3, 1917, be approved, and that local bar associations be urged to foster the formation and efficient administration in their respective jurisdictions of legal aid societies for legal relief work for the worthy poor, with the active and sympathetic cooperation of such associations; and that attorneys generally be urged to give such societies. their moral and financial support.

"Further Resolved, That a Special Committee on Legal Aid Societies be appointed by the president of the Association to make a survey and report covering the state, setting forth what legal aid societies are now in existence, the scope of their work, the way the work is carried on, sources of revenue, the extent of their influence, and the features in which improvement is desirable; and to urge upon local associations and members of the bar their active and sympathetic cooperation with such legal aid societies as may exist and the importance and duty of organized effort to provide legal assistance for the poor.

Respectfully submitted,

ROBERT GRIER MONROE,

Chairman,

JULIUS HENRY COHEN,

JOHN LORD O'BRIAN,

Special Committee.

On motion duly made and seconded, the report was received and placed on file, and the resolutions appended to the report were duly adopted.

The Chairman:

Next in order is the report of the Committee on Arbitration.

Daniel S. Remsen, of New York:

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen.

Since the last meeting of the Association your Committee has very little to report. We presented to the Legislature certain proposed legislation. We also proposed a bill for the arbitration of future controversies, and a bill in relation to written interrogatories, and also a bill to amend the Judiciary Law. None of these bills passed the Legislature, owing largely to war conditions. It is our purpose to again introduce them at the coming session of the Legislature.

Our report is in print, and I will not read it, but will simply move that it be received and placed on file.

The motion was duly seconded and carried.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ARBITRATION (Formerly Committee on Prevention of Unnecessary Litigation.)

To the New York State Bar Association:

Since the last annual meeting your Committee on Arbitration has but little to report.

In accordance with the instructions of your Association your Committee prepared and presented to the Legislature for enactment proposed legislation for the recognition and enforcement of agreements for arbitration of future controversies. It also presented a bill in relation to written interrogatories and answers thereto. It also presented in accordance with your instructions a bill to amend the Judiciary Law in relation to the appointment and powers of a commissioner of conciliation for the First Department. None of these bills passed the Legislature owing largely to war conditions. It is our purpose to again introduce the same at the opening of the Legislature

of 1919. For the convenience of members copies of the bills are hereto attached and marked Exhibits A, B and C.

The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York is also making earnest effort to secure a change in the law regardthe revocability of agreements for arbitration. Having been requested by counsel for one of the parties in a pending litigation in this State to apply for leave to file a brief as a friend of the court, the Chamber asked its counsel, Julius Henry Cohen, of the New York Bar, to make a study of the subject. The material which he gathered seemed to justify the publication of it in book form. The book, under the title "Commercial Arbitration and the Law" has been published by D. Appleton & Co. and is an exhaustive historical study of the questions of public policy and the legal basis of arbitration agreements, including a study of the validity of such agreements and their revocability. He seems clearly to have shown that the doctrine of revocability of such agreements is a legal anachronism which should be eliminated from the law at the earliest moment and should induce the Courts to reverse their former rulings as the wisest method of correcting a judicial error of long standing.

We would also call attention to the progress made in arbitration by the municipal courts in New York City, Cleveland, Chicago and other cities.

In the matter of arbitration under the rules of this Association your Committee is unable to report any substantial progress and believes its efforts thus far are principally educational in their results. We find, however, that arbitration is gaining ground outside of the profession, and in our opinion the profession should keep pace with the demand for a quick settlement of disputes and a determined effort should be made to put through the legislation making arbitration of future controversies easily enforcible.