The Secretary read the letter, the object of which was to invite the Association to send delegates to the meeting of the American Bar Association to be held in Chicago on August 28, 1889.

George L. Christian, of Richmond: Mr. President,-I understand that there are members of the Bars of other States in attendance at this place, and I move that they be invited to take seats on the floor of this Association.

Carried.

Alfred P. Thom, of Norfolk: I see the President of our Supreme Court of Appeals here, and I move that he be invited to a seat upon the floor of the Convention.

Charles M. Blackford: I would state that he has already been invited by the Executive Committee by letter.

Mr. Thom: Then my motion being unnecessary, I withdraw it. The President: The next order of business is the reports of the Secretary and Treasurer.

Secretary James C. Lamb, of Richmond: Mr. President,-The By-Laws require that your Secretary shall, in his annual report, give a summary of his transactions during the preceding year, and an outline of the business which is to come before the Association, so far as it relates to propositions or resolutions referred to any special or standing committee at the previous meeting.

On September 8, 1888, by direction of the President, I formally announced the standing committees and notified the members of their appointment. Beyond this my transactions have mainly consisted of a voluminous correspondence with the officers, members, and committeemen of the Association, the details of which would not be of interest now.

A programme of the proceedings to be had at this meeting was duly prepared by the Executive Committee, and was mailed by me to each member of the Association. Copies thereof can now be had here at the Secretary's table.

At the last meeting the subject of admission to the Bar was referred to a special committee, who made a verbal report with the recommendation that the subject be referred to a permanent committee, with instructions to report to this meeting. And by a resolution then adopted, it was ordered that the report of the committee, when completed, be printed and circulated among the members of this Associa

tion before this meeting. The subject was accordingly referred to the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, and their report has been prepared, printed, and circulated, and will come up for action this morning when the name of that committee is reached in the order of business. Copies of that report are here for the use of the members.

There was also a special committee appointed at the last meeting, who reported to the Association a Code of Ethics, which, upon motion, was laid upon the table and ordered to be printed and circulated among the members. It was so printed and circulated as an appendix to the proceedings of that meeting, and will come up for discussion and action at this morning's session. If the members present are not supplied with copies of the proceedings of the last meeting they can be had of the Secretary.

I trust that the members in attendance here will not fail to enter their names in the Register of the Association. This Register will probably be of great interest hereafter, and will be useful in many ways.

I desire, in conclusion, to announce that we have now two hundred and fifty-seven members on the roll, and since the last meeting have lost by death one member, the Hon. Charles E. Stuart of Alexandria.

Mr. Lamb then read his report as Treasurer.

(See the Report at the end of the Minutes.)

The President: The report of the Executive Committee is next in order.

Thos. D. Ranson, of Staunton: I think it proper that some action should be taken on the President's address. I therefore move that the address read by the President to-day be referred to the standing Committee on Legislation and Law Reform, to be appointed at this meeting, to take into consideration the suggestions contained in that address and report thereon at our next annual meeting.

Carried.

R. T. W. Duke, of Charlottesville: I rise to make an inquiry. Do I understand that the resolution of Mr. Ranson carries over all the President's suggestions, all the questions contained in the address, to the next annual meeting, to be then reported on by the committee?

Mr. Ranson: My motion was to that effect.

Mr. Duke: I move to reconsider Mr. Ranson's resolution. I think that at least some of these suggestions had better be taken hold of at once and discussed and acted upon at this meeting.

W. W. Henry, of Richmond: I rise to second the motion of my friend, Mr. Duke, in reference to reconsideration. When the report of the Committee on Legislation and Law Reform has been read, which will be directly, the Association will see that we recommend a resolution which probably covers the ground which is intended by the gentleman who made that motion, and perhaps that report had better be laid before the meeting before any motion of reference is made. I second Colonel Duke's motion to reconsider.

Mr. Duke: After it is reconsidered, if it is the pleasure of this meeting to reconsider, then let us leave that question open-not to refer it to any committee now.

Camm Patteson, of Buckingham: I fully concur with my friend, Colonel Duke, upon his motion to reconsider. I think that we ought to reconsider the motion, because it was adopted under a mistake. I voted for it under a misapprehension, and a number of others did the same. If the changes suggested are to be postponed for twelve months more, it amounts to indefinite delay. I was very much interested, charmed and delighted with the address of our President, and I believe that the time has come when we ought to act promptly upon his suggestions, and believe that they ought to be referred to this Association as a body. I therefore second the motion of Colonel Duke, and

ask the action of this meeting on these suggestions.

The motion to reconsider was carried.

The President: The question now comes up upon Mr. Ranson's resolution.

William J. Leake, of Hanover: I move that this matter be passed by until the report of the committee is read.

Carried.

The President: The next order of business is the report of the Executive Committee.

Charles M. Blackford, chairman of the Executive Committee, then read the report and certain amendments to the Constitution suggested therein.

(See the Report and the amendments at the end of the Minutes.)

The President: The next order of business is the report of the Committee on Admissions.

George L. Christian, chairman of the Committee on Admissions, then read the report and certain amendments to the By-Laws suggested therein.

Mr. Christian: We have found, sir, as stated in the report of the committee, that the machinery we now have for admissions is too cumbrous for practice, and several members whose names would have been acted upon have been unable to get their names in in time to be acted upon for this meeting. I think the machinery we propose will effect everything that is necessary in order to throw the proper safeguards around the subject of admissions.

Wm. A. Glasgow, of Lexington: Mr. President, I desire to ask whether we still have the same safeguards as we had before?

Mr. Christian: We have practically the same safeguards that we had before. Under the machinery now proposed, five members of the committee will constitute a quorum, and those five members in session can act upon the question. The duty of seeing that the candidates are proper for admission is thrown upon the member of the committee from the circuit in which the applicant resides; the responsibility is put upon the member who is likely to know more about the candidate than anybody else.

The report of the committee was received and the proposed amendments adopted.

(See the Report and the amendments at the end of the Minutes.)

The President: The report of the Committee on Legislation and Law Reform is next in order.

Wm. W. Old, of Norfolk, chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Law Reform, then read the report.

(See the Report at the end of the Minutes.)

Mr. Old: We have not been able to have a quorum of the committee here, and this report was made in Richmond; but we considered that this Association was the starting point in this matter, and that whatever we did in the way of legislation would have to go through that channel. The reasons why the judges of the Court of Appeals have never acted in this matter, I suppose, are those the President has set forth in his address, and none other. That the time is ripe for reform there can be no question, and we considered that this matter should be brought before the Association so that it may be put in practical shape. Now, some expense will attend the labors of this committee, and we have provided in a resolution for that expense. I suppose

if we are in earnest in the matter of reform in our system of pleadings that we ought to be willing to take upon ourselves, to a certain extent, the work in conjunction with the Court of Appeals; to give them such assistance and at the same time to defray such expense as may be necessary, and we submit the resolution to the Association with these remarks. I will also read, at Mr. Henry's request, the suggestions of the National Bar Association. I will state that our object in bringing these matters before the Association was to have them presented as they have been adopted by the National Bar Association (without any recommendation), so that we might act upon them. The fact is, when we were in the committee we did not have this report before us so that we might act upon it, and the chairman of the sub-committee, who was directed to draw this report, having our general views, drew it without any recommendation. Now I will read (it is not very long) the report of the Committee on Uniformity of Laws of the National Bar Association, to which our report refers.

Mr. Old then read the report.

Mr. Old: We offer this resolution, which I will read :

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed who shall confer, on behalf of this Association, with the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of this State and pray that they prepare a system of rules of practice, and a system of pleadings, and the forms of process to be used in the courts of this State, as provided by section 3112 of our Code; and that said committee be requested to give said judges such assistance in said preparation as shall be accepted by them. That the said committee be authorized through its chairman to draw on the Treasurer of this Association for a sum not exceeding $- —, to meet

the cost of clerical labor, printing and other necessary expenses.

Mr. Duke: I move as a substitute for that, that a committee be appointed at once to take charge of this thing without conferring, except to get their views, with the judges of the Court of Appeals. The judges of the Supreme Court are overworked now, they have no time to attend to this matter, and the resolution makes this committee subordinate to the court in requiring it to first confer with the court and get their views. I propose to appoint a committee to act independently of that court, but to confer with the court in making these changes. James Lyons, of Richmond: I am opposed to both resolutions. think another reason can be given why the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia have never acted upon that statute, which is now almost barred by the statute of limitations, and that is this: If there ever was

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