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forty or fifty thousand dollars in his pocket, and he ought not to be responsible if the bank fails. That is why I say the governmental part of our code is a disgrace; it hasn't been changed to meet modern conditions. I believe if we can do something towards pushing up the Legislature to revise the code it would do good. My opinion is that we want good lawyers on that, and maybe we want somebody that is not a lawyer but a man of good common sense, who doesn't know about the Rule in Shelley's Case, but who does know how the schools are run and how the roads are worked. I understand that the last Legislature didn't do anything about it for two reasons, one was that there were too many politicians down there and they were disgusted, and another was that they didn't have the money. If this Association will get behind the movement to have three practical men take up the code and revise it according to modern conditions, they will do something.

Mr. Frick: Mr. President, I think myself that the code ought to be revised, but that is not the question before this Association now; the question is revising laws already enacted. We have criticized ourselves, and I think very justly, because we do noɩ do anything at these meetings. It is said that we have no weight with the Legislature. My friend Mr. Page says that we have, and I am glad to know it. Now this report is before us and we ought to do something; it is a report that has been prepared with great care by the committee, presented at our last meeting, and made the special order for to-day. I know something about the adoption of this statute in Maryland; it was drafted with great care; the Baltimore City Bar Association had a very intelligent committee appointed which prepared a bill for the admission of expert testimony; the Maryland State Bar Association had a committee which also prepared a bill. The Baltimore City Bar Association adopted a resolution recommending its bill to the Legislature; and when the report of the committee of the Maryland State Bar Association came up at the meeting at Old Point, it was adopted by the State Association. The members of the Baltimore City Association insisted that their bill was a better

bill than that of the State Bar Association. The matter was then referred to a committee of two committees, a committee of the State Bar Association and a committee of the Baltimore Bar Association, and those two committees together took the bills prepared by the individual associations and made a bill which was commended by the Maryland State Bar Association, and the General Assembly of Maryland enacted it into law. Now I have read that and I think it is an admirabie law; I have nɔt heard any criticisms of it in Maryland, and I am prepared to vote for it without reading it. But it does seem to me that this Association ought not to recommend to the General Assembly of Virginia a resolution to enact a bill which it has not read. I do not think any member remembers it, and so I think at the expense of a little time it ought to be read and then I think we ought to vote on it.

Mr. Rosewell Page: Mr. President, the attitude that some of my friends occupy here with reference to this and other measures before this body seems to me to be one of undue and rather unjust criticism of what the General Assembly of Virginia has done and ought to do. I am not sensitive to abuse of the General Assembly; I am a member of that body and have been for the last two terms, and anybody who is a member of that body knows that the members are like the steers that Mr. Horace Lacy used to tell about, that were owned by a pious Father who had an impious driver-they were brought up on cussing and wouldn't pull unless they were cussed. So the General Assembly of Virginia is able to take care of itself in the matter of general criticism.

But I do feel that it is due to the members of the Committee on Judiciary, all of whom are lawyers and eligible to membership in this Association, if they are not already members, to say something in their behalf. My friend makes the general statement that he could get nothing done. That Committee sat for sixty days, and they heard everybody and everything, all the people that came there and all the things that were discussed; we sat and sat and listened and listened and listened and listened, and we decided that the best thing that could be done was to do nothing. Now my learned friend from Nelson (Mr. Whitehead)

came down there with a measure and he is entitled to have respect paid to him and his views, and we did pay respect to him and them, but his views did not prevail. I do not think it is on account of a lack of respect to a lawyer that we did not change laws that have endured for a thousand years. Mr. Stephenson can prove that I voted in a minority of one in the General Assembly, much less on the floor of the committee. I think that my friend ought to get up and argue his matter on the floor here and find out what the lawyers of Virginia want. I will say, while the charge is being made, that this Bar Association adopted a resolution that we should revise the code and I was on the committee to bring the resolution in. When I got down to the General Assembly, I found that we did not have the money, and I took pleasure in seeing the bill killed in committee because the Commonwealth did not have the fifty thousand dollars, and I voted against it there, although I voted for it here. We have not long since had a constitutional convention-some of you gentlemen may remember it-and the respresentatives of the people were there; well, they were so much the people that they would not swear before God they represented the people, for they were the people. They legislated on every question except those mentioned by Prof. Minor last night; and now my friend wants to cut everything loose again and say that everything has been done wrong.

Mr. John T. Harris, Jr., of Harrisonburg: Mr. President, I would like to ask to what question the gentleman is addressing himself.

Mr. Page: I am rising to a question of personal privilege.

The President: The Chair rules that the gentleman has consumed his time.

Mr. Hill Montague: Mr. President, I hope that the report will be read and that we will either approve or disapprove it. The indictment should not be against the General Assembly

in these matters; it should be against this Bar Association. I do not like to say anything about such matters, but, gentlemen, this Bar Association will dry up if we go on never expressing ourselves on any legal subjects. Mr. Page said yesterday that our expression on a matter of legislation was the same as a command to the Legislature, but if we do not give the command how can we expect them to receive any ideas from us? You appointed a committee, and that committee made a report, and a minority report too I believe. It has laid over a year. We will not do ourselves justice if we pass it over without consideration.

Mr. S. S. P. Patteson, of Richmond: Mr. President, I call for the reading of the bill.

The Secretary then read the report, as follows:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL EXPERT

TESTIMONY.

We the undersigned Committee appointed by this Association at the last annual meeting to consider and report a Bill concerning the introduction of Medical Expert Testimony, after consideration recommend a Statute which was reported to the Maryland Bar Association at its last meeting with such changes as we deemed necessary, which Statute will be found reported in the proceedings of that Association for 1909, page 337. Said Statute reads as follows: with the proper changes:

"1. Any judge of any court of record in this State shall, in any cause, civil or criminal, pending before said court, on motion of any party therein, or of its own motion, at any time before or during the trial thereof, when the ends of justice seem to require it and after notice to the parties and a hearing, appoint one or more disinterested skilled persons to serve as medical expert witnesses therein; Provided, that the reasonable fees of such experts, according to the character of the service to be performed, as fixed by such judge,

shall be paid by the party moving for such appointment to the clerk of the court at such time as the judge shall prescribe, or upon his failure to do so, the same may be so paid by any other party, and the amount so paid shall form part of the costs in the cause. But in all cases in which the court shall be satisfied that the party applying for such expert testimony is unable to pay the fee of such expert witness, the court shall have the power to require the fee of such expert to be paid by the State. And in cases in which the court may of its own motion appoint such expert, it may require the fee or charge of such expert to be taxed as a part of the costs of the cause. In criminal cases in the discretion of the court, on request of the defendant, expert witnesses may be so furnished at the expense of the State, on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the

court.

"2. Such experts, being first duly sworn to make a faithful and impartial examination into the matters and things committed to them, and true report thereon to make according to the best of their knowledge, belief and understanding, shall thereupon proceed to view and examine such persons, matters and things, to read and hear such evidence, and in such manner, times and places, whether by attendance at the trial of such cause or otherwise, as the court shall direct; and to report their findings, views and opinions thereon, jointly and severally, in writing to the court where such cause shall be pending, before or at the trial thereof, in such manner as the court shall prescribe; and such report or reports shall be filed among the papers in the cause, not as evidence, but as a basis for the examination of the expert witnesses who made it by the court or counsel of either party, and such experts shall attend at such trial until excused by the court; Provided, that such experts shall not be deemed the witnesses of either party, but shall be called by the court, and that any party to the cause may further examine or cross-examine, any such experts as to the matters, persons, things, views, findings, and opinions

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