Henry W. Taft, of New York:

Mr. President, and members of the Association: This report has been printed, and has been on the table in this room yesterday and to-day, and I do not think it will be necessary, unless the Association expresses a different wish, that I take up your time by reading it. A few words will suffice. to explain its purport. Last year the Committee recommended that nothing should be done by the Association until an opportunity had been afforded for examining the completed work of the Joint Committee of the Legislature, which was engaged in an intensive study of the entire situation and in the preparation of a scheme for amendment of the existing code which it was thought would accomplish such an improvement of the entire scheme of procedure as to deserve a careful examination. The Committee expressed the view last year, and reiterates it this year, that the skeleton plan in the matter of form recommended by the Board of Statutory Consolidation was more scientific and more satisfactory than the mere amendment of the existing Code of Civil Procedure, however drastic it might be. At the same time they saw merit in the work of the Joint Committee so far as it had progressed, and, in view of the fact that it was undertaken by the Legislature itself and that the prospect of favorable action was good, the Committee then recommended and again recommends that this Association wait until the completed work of the Joint Committee shall be presented for examination. That has this advantage also: We are informed that it is the plan of the Joint Committee to present for the consideration of the Legislature a complete scheme of amendment of the existing Code of Civil Procedure which shall be denuded of a vast mass of provisions which it will be recommended shall be embodied in the Rules of Court. The Committee will recommend Rules. of Court to the Legislature. Their recommendation will be

accompanied by a further recommendation, namely, that their report lie over for a year; that in the meantime a commission be appointed, composed of judges and lawyers, and that the commission shall proceed, during the year, to examine the Rules of Court proposed by the Joint Committee; and that this commission shall meet in convention and examine the rules proposed by the Joint Committee, which will be advisory only, and shall then recommend to the Legislature a code of Court Rules which shall be considered by the Legislature in connection with the amended code. So that there will be presented to the Legislature a completed scheme of procedural regulations, part embodied in the statutory law, and part in the Rules of Court, the Rules of Court having received in advance the approval of this convention of judges and lawyers. It is then proposed that the Legislature, if it be so advised, shall approve of the amendments of the code, and, in the first instance, as I understand it, shall approve the Code of Rules.

That is the existing situation, and, in view of the fact that the Committee is of the opinion that there is so much merit in the proposal of the Joint Committee, and recognizes the thoroughness of its work, it practically recommends that the whole subject lie over for the year, when the entire scheme may be examined and a definite recommendation made.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE THE PRACTICE ACT PREPARED BY THE BOARD

OF STATUTORY CONSOLIDATION

To the New York State Bar Association:

This Committee; appointed pursuant to a resolution of the Association adopted January 30, 1914, begs to make the following report:

The subject referred to this Committee has excited little or no general interest during the past year. The attention of

the world has been engrossed with the war and with the peace negotiations. It is not probable that for a long time much. interest can be aroused among members of the Bar in the subject of court procedure, and still less can it be expected that the topic will attract the attention of the general public. Nevertheless, a certain psychological effect of the war may tend in an indirect way to promote procedural reform; for we mistake the signs of the times if the experiences of the last four years will not incline the world to be less tolerant hereafter of forms of a procedure which cause delays and complications in the administration of justice.

In its last report to the Association the Committee set forth the work which had in the previous year been done by the Joint Legislative Committee charged by the Legislature with the duty of reporting a statutory plan of procedural reform. The work of that Committee was not then complete and the comment and criticism of your Committee was confined to the general character of the plan of the Joint Committee and to certain tentative chapters of a proposed code and proposed rules of court prepared by it. The general features of the plan were explained, and particular sections of the proposed code and rules were examined by your Committee, not for the purpose of making a detailed and critical examination, but in order to illustrate the manner in which the Joint Committee was proceeding with its work. Your Committee pointed out that it still favored the scientific plan for a short practice act and court rules which had been devised by the Board of Statutory Consolidation, but said that it "would not be understood as belittling the admirable work done by the Joint Committee;" and added:

"and, furthermore, in view of the indubitable advance toward a simplified practice which would be accomplished if the plan of the Joint Committee were adopted, we do

not feel that this Association should range itself among those opposing it. Except in so far as that Committee has failed to recommend a few of the fundamental reforms which we have favored, what it proposes differs in the main from that proposed by the Joint Board and approved by this Association only in form and arrangement."

The report of your Committee continued as follows:

"The report of the Board of Statutory Consolidation has not received the approval of the Legislature, and it seems reasonably certain that, without important modifications, it never will. The Joint Committee, on the other hand, has adopted a different plan which, when completed, may prove to be the only plan presented to the Legislature. If the times were more propitious it might be possible by arousing public interest in the subject to procure the substitution in place of the project of the Joint Committee, a plan like that of the Board, modified and corrected to meet the many sound objections. which it has evoked. But your Committee is not hopeful that that can now be done; and we are, therefore, probably confronted with the dilemma whether we will encourage the Joint Committee to complete its work and procure its approval by the Legislature, or whether we will oppose it, in the hope that we may thus secure something more perfect, both in form and substance. The matter really becomes one of expediency; and having stated the situation, the Committee thinks that it resolves itself largely into a question of individual opinion. A majority of the members of the Committee believes that the adoption of the plan of the board, however modified, could not be secured for many years, and that we should bend our efforts to secure within the next two years the substantial reforms embodied in the Joint Committee's plan, and particularly since, if that is done, it may be easier at some future time to secure a form and arrangement of the new provisions more nearly in accord with that devised by the Joint Board."

Your Committee adheres to this view of the situation. During the year, as your Committee is informed, the Joint Legislative Committee has made steady progress and it is thought that it will be prepared to present to the Legislature at the present session a final report which will include a complete code of procedure and suggestions for a set of court rules. During the year the Joint Committee has completed a number of code provisions. But many important provisions were not ready for publication when this report was prepared and it has not been possible to present comprehensive comments and criticisms of the Joint Committee's work. Furthermore, your Committee is informed that the Joint Committee, after its report is made to the Legislature, is to allow the whole matter to lie over for final action by the succeeding Legislature, and that, in the meantime, provision is to be made for a convention of judges, or of judges and lawyers, empowered by law to frame rules of court. The proposed code, together with the rules of court approved by the convention, is to be presented as a complete project of reformed procedure, to the Legislature of 1920.

Under these circumstances, your Committee is of the opinion that it would serve no useful purpose to take up for critical examination the provisions of the code and rules of court which have been thus far proposed by the Joint Committee. Upon the presentation of the report of the Joint Committee the amended code of procedure will no doubt be printed in a convenient form for examination, and your Committee considers it advisable to await its publication before attempting a comprehensive examination of its provisions. Furthermore, a report by your Committee will be much more useful which Ideals also with the rules of court which are to be formulated by the proposed convention of judges.