The appellate SEC. 119. Supreme court commissioners. division of the supreme court of any judicial department may appoint and in its discretion remove, in any county within such department having a population exceeding eight hundred thousand, supreme court commissioners, in such numbers and for such terms of office as such appellate division shall from time to time by its order prescribe. Such commissioners shall be members of the bar in good standing, shall reside in the judicial department in which they are appointed and shall have been admitted as attorneys and counselors of the courts of record in this state for at least seven years. Each such commissioner shall receive a salary to be fixed by the board, body. commission or other authority in the county for which he is appointed authorized to fix the salaries of county officers in such county where such salaries are not fixed by statute, not exceeding the amount recommended by the certificate of the presiding justice of the appellate division of the judicial department in which such county is located. SEC. 120. Powers and duties of supreme court commissioners. Supreme court commissioners appointed in any county shall dispose of such procedural, interlocutory, provisional or supplementary matters in the supreme court in such county as the appellate division of the supreme court of the judicial department by which such commissioners were appointed may, by rule, determine: Upon the appointment of supreme court commissioners in any county, the county clerk of such county shall prepare forthwith a docket of actions or proceedings hereafter begun in such county, and thereafter such causes shall be assigned by a justice of the court or otherwise, pursuant to rules to be made by such appellate division in consecutive rotation to the several supreme court commissioners that may be appointed, and every motion in a cause assigned to a commissioner, preliminary to trial or final hearing shall be brought on before and determined by such commissioner. If by reason of a vacancy in office or otherwise a subsequent motion in a cause assigned to a commissioner cannot be heard and determined by him, such cause shall be reassigned to another commissioner, pursuant to rules to be adopted by the appellate division. Any order by a supreme court commissioner upon any motion may be reviewed for error of law or abuse of discretion, at the instance of any party aggrieved, by a justice of the supreme court in the county thereto designated by the appellate division. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect immediately. The President: Now, the next order of business is a resolution that was offered by Judge Clearwater this morning, and the question will be taken upon that now unless there is further debate desired. Does anybody else want to talk upon that? Frederic W. Hinrichs: I do, sir. The President: I will ask Judge Clearwater to read his resolution, and I may state for the benefit of those who were not here this morning that the committee to examine the practice, of which Judge Clearwater is chairman, have presented a report and offered a resolution, and that is the resolution that is now to come before us. The resolution appearing in the Report of the Committee to Examine the Practice Act Prepared by the Board of Statutory Consolidation and the Joint Legislative Committee was then read. A. T. Clearwater, of Kingston: The convention here suggested would consist of forty-eight members. It might be reduced. It takes in all the members of the Board of Statutory Consolidation and of the Joint Legislative Committee. As I stated this morning, the Joint Legislative Committee is in the legislative saddle; after my correspondence with the chairman of the committee and the Board of Statutory Consolidation both agreed to such a convention. At the adjournment of the Legislature last year they announced their intention to put their revised Code through the Legislature — and they have the power to do it but as a Cerberuian sop, so to speak, they agreed to this. Now we can have a convention constituted upon such lines as this resolution suggests, if you approve and the Legislature adopts it, they doubtless will if you approve it. Therefore, I renew my motion that the report be approved and adopted. The report and resolution were duly adopted. The next order of business is the report of the Committee on the Revision of the Civil Practice. That is the standing committee, of which Judge Rodenbeck is the chairman. The Secretary: I am requested by Judge Rodenbeck to present the following: REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE REVISION OF THE CIVIL PRACTICE To the New York State Bar Association: In view of the fact that the committee to examine the practice act prepared by the Board of Statutory Consolidation will probably make a report at this session of the association, it has been deemed wise by your committee on the revision of civil practice not to make a formal report but to reserve such a report, if necessary, for a later meeting. Dated January 16, 1920. Respectfully, A. J. RODENBECK, JOHN G. MILBURN, CHARLES A. COLLIN. The report was duly received and filed. The President: Next in order is the Report of the Committee on International Arbitration. Everett P. Wheeler, of New York: I have the report in my hand, and I move that it be received and placed on file. It is in print. The report was duly received and filed. Everett P. Wheeler: I have been informed by unquestionable authority that there are several gentlemen here who wish to debate this report at length. I am well aware that it is impossible to give time for that, and I am going to make this proposition: In view of the fact that this subject has been debated for eight months in this country, in the Senate, and out of it, I ask this Association to vote at once without debate upon the resolution. That is to say, I shall move the previous question on the resolution Henry A. Forster, of New York: I ask for an open debate on it. The President: Mr. Wheeler has the floor, Mr. Forster. Everett P. Wheeler, of New York: If my motion fails, then I would consent that the report be laid on the table because it is perfectly impossible to debate it at this time. I will read the resolution, if I may. The President: You may. Mr. Wheeler (reading): "Resolved, That this Association respectfully urges the President and the Senate of the United States to consider the great importance of a speedy agreement upon the terms of peace between the nations which have recently been engaged in war, and upon such a covenant between them as may in the future make wars less probable, promote the settlement of international disputes by peaceful methods, and provide for annual conferences at which subjects of mutual interest may be deliberately considered. It respectfully recommends that the same method of conciliation which prevailed during the consideration by the representatives of the different nations of the terms of the pending treaty be observed and should continue so as to lead to an adjustment of the present differences between the Executive and the Senate remembering that under the Constitution on the one hand the Senate has no power to make a treaty, and on the other hand that ratification by two-thirds of the Senate is necessary to the validity of the treaty." And, Mr. President, as I stated' when I began, I move the previous question. The motion was seconded. Henry A. Forster, of New York: I make the point of order, sir, that a motion for the previous question is debatable, and I ask to debate it because it involves the very fundamental spirit of our Government. |