204 / 244
part in their local or State Bar Associations which
are virile active bodies.
Over all is the American Bar Association. The
American Bar Association was described by Chief
Justice Hugh Kennedy as follows, shortly after
his return from addressing that body in 1928 :
“ As most o f your readers know, the American
Bar Association, which has been in existence now
for fifty years, is probably the greatest professional
organisation of lawyers in the world. Its membership
drawn from the vast area of the United States,
runs into something approaching thirty thousand.
Each year it draws the widely scattered body of
American lawyers into close communion at a
convention organised on a magnificent scale,
when social intercourse is promoted, while the
many problems agitating the professional mind
at the moment are discussed in learned and inspiring
papers and debates. It has been the excellent practice
of the Association for many years past to establish
or maintain contacts with lawyers abroad by enter
taining representative guests of honour, who are
invited to address the Association. In particular,
great lawyers from Great Britain have, year after
year, brought to these meetings fresh draughts
from the springs o f the English Common Law,
the source from which the United States have so
largely drawn the principles o f their Laws and
procedure. Lord Russell o f Killowen, Lord Haldane,
Lord Buckmaster, Lord Shaw, Lord Cave, Lord
Birkenhead, Lord Hewart, and others, have in
turn made notable contributions to the proceedings
o f the Association.”
Those who are interested in learning something
more o f the American Bar Association will find
an excellent full length article of which the foregoing
is an extract, written by the Honourable Hugh
Kennedy, at page 302
et seq.
of the
Irish Law Times
and
Solicitors’ Journal
for the year 1928, Vol. 62.
The membership o f the American Bar Association
is now double that o f Chief Justice Kennedy’s
time, and the Annual General Meeting lasts six
days instead o f three in 1928.
Although, stricdy speaking, not connected in
any way with the affairs of the American Bar
Association, the opening function which I attended
was held on Saturday, September 15 th, and was so
timed to coincide with the forthcoming week of
the A .B .A . This function was the opening o f the
new building (a magnificent Georgian Colonial
building) known as the Vanderbilt Hall Law
Centre, attached to New York University. Arthur
T. Vanderbilt, the present Chief Justice o f the State
of New Jersey, and former Dean o f the Law School
o f New York University is an outstanding lawyer
in the United States and a strong advocate o f law
reform. Whilst Dean o f the Law School of New
York University he initiated and 'carried through
a project for the erection o f a Law Centre devoted
not alone to the education of law students in the
University but to research into the Science of
Law. During his speech at the opening ceremonies
Chief Justice Vanderbilt made the point that in
America the enactment and administration of law
has failed to keep pace with the demands o f Society.
In a magnificent speech he analysed the present
position of the law in the United States as a whole
and its shortcomings, and made suggestions to
bring the enactment and administration of law up
to the needs o f Society. One o f his many interesting
points was that the necessary research preliminary
to the modernisation o f the U.S. legal system,
including codification o f laws, etc., was essentially
a matter for the law schools. He pointed out that
the ordinary practising lawyer, although willing
to help and advise, could not possibly devote
the amount o f time that would be necessary whilst
the State was either unable or unwilling to handle
the problem competently.'
The opening ceremony at the Vanderbilt Hall
took the form o f two symposia, one held in the
morning and the other in the afternoon. Amongst
the speakers and the subjects they discussed were
the follow ing:
1. “ Humanities and the Law ” : Earl J. McGrath,
United States Commissioner o f Education;
Huntingdon Cairns, Secretary and General Counsel
National Gallery o f A r t ; James Burnham, Professor
of Philosophy, New York University.
2. “ The Natural Sciences and the Law ” : Detlev
W. Bronk, President o f the John Hopkins Univer
sity ; President o f the National Academy of Sciences;
Frederick L. Hovde, President, Purdue University ;
William R. Dennes, Dean, Graduate School,
University of California.
3. “ The Social Sciences and the Law ” : C. W.
Kiewitt, President, University o f Rochester; J.
William Fulbright, United States Senator from
Arkansas ;
William A . Wachenfeld, Associate
Justice, Supreme Court of New Jerse y ; Murray
Seasongood o f the Ohio Bar.
4. “ Leadership and the Law ” : Chester Barnard,
President o f Rockefeller Foundation;
Alfred
Driscoll, Governor of New Jersey ; Carrol Shanks,
President, Prudential Insurance Co. o f America.
The status of this function can be gauged by
the fact that the Chief Justices from all o f the
forty-eight States attended for this opening ceremony
and, in addition, a large number o f members and
guests due to attend the A .B.A . meeting, com-
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