constitutional law discussing other matters, but on account of the time necessarily involved in calling attention to such matters the address is usually limited to this point alone. I have decided to trespass upon the time of this body and conclude this address by referring briefly to the progress of our Bar Association in this State, and to discuss certain changes in the organization which have been made in the constitution, and to urge greater interest and concert of action among our lawyers.

At our last meeting, the membership was greatly increased, largely through the efforts of our former President and the Secretary and Treasurer. Notwithstanding this increase, there was still found to be a great majority of the members of the Bar of Alabama who had not joined this Association, and the Executive Committee authorized the President to appoint a membership committee, composed of a member from each county, which was done, and this committee has done good work in this particular, and there are many additions to the membership due to their efforts. I would suggest that this membership committee be made a permanent committee of the Association.

In order to give effect to the purposes for which this Association was created, and to give it the power and create respect for it that it is entitled to, more than mere increase of membership is required. It is necessary to increase the interest of those who are members and to have co-operation among the lawyers throughout the State. We all know that this is the day of organizations. Every profession is organized, even those who perform the most menial labor have their organizations. I see by the daily press that the undertakers have organized under the name of the Alabama Morticians.

Almost every doctor within the State belongs to the Medical Association. This is largely true of teachers and other professional or labor organizations. The result is when these organizations speak their requests are given

attention by the legislative bodies and people at large. Is this true of our Association?

The question of how to create more interest as well as a larger membership among the lawers of this State is one which we have been considering during the last year or more, and I think should continue to have attention, and it seems to me if we could get such legislation adopted or such procedure followed as would give to the lawyers or this Association more voice in selecting the judiciary of the State and perhaps in regard to the selection of officers who represent the state in their legal departments it would do much to create interest in this direction.

It seems to me also that perhaps it would be beneficial for this body to refer to the coming Executive Committee the power to review the present constitution and by-laws and at the next meeting suggest changes, if any, that should be enacted which would be helpful to create more interest among the lawyers in the State in this Association. In this particular, I will state that the Executive Committee has already suggested or will suggest several changes in regard to the present constitution. These amendments may meet all the requirements, but it seems to me it would be well to have this question specifically referred to the Executive Committee for consideration.

I am sure all will agree that any steps which we can take to create a stronger and more united Bar Association and more unity of thought and action among the lawyers of this State will be for the good not only of the lawyers themselves but of the State at large.

L. E. JEFFRIES

OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE LAW

Mr. President and Members of the Alabama State Bar Association:

It has been said of a great teacher that "he taught the law and the reason thereof." According to this teacher, a correct understanding of the law could not be had in the letter alone, but must be found in the spirit as well as in the letter of the law. I believe that the application of this philosophy of the interpretation of our Constitution made possible the development and growth of our government and that its future is dependent upon its interpretation in the light of this philosophy. Because of this belief, it is my purpose to talk to you today on what I have chosen to term the Philosophy of the Law. Under this theme, I want to present to you in a homely way some of the ideas that have occurred to me in connection with the application of this philosophy and some of the influences that are affecting its present-day application.

ment.

Our Republican form of government was welded together by the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It was neither feasible nor practicable, however, to embody in this written instrument all the essentials necessary to insure the development and growth of this Republican governThe nature of this Constitution required, as said by Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, "that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose these objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves." Inasmuch as the written Constitution contains only these broad outlines, the development and perpetuation of this gov

ernment cannot be found in the written Constitution alone, admirable though it be. What then in addition thereto has made possible this great government?

Behind the written Constitution, and forming as it were a background thereto, was and is an unwritten Constitution. that is as essential to the perpetuation of democracy as the written instrument itself. This written Constitution was begot by men surrounded, on the one hand, by oppression, trials, and life perplexities; on the other, by visions of love. citizenship, freedom, liberty, property, and sacredness of life. The American government, both State and Federal, is founded upon the unwritten as well as upon the written Constitution. In construing the written Constitution, the unwritten is the yard-stick by which the meaning of the written is measured.

It has been said: "It is not the words of the law but the internal sense of it that makes the law: the letter of the law is the body; the sense and reason of the law is the soul." So the written Constitution is the body, and the unwritten is the internal sense, the reason and soul of the law.

The growth and perpetuation of this government and of civilization have been accomplished at every step by giving meaning to the written law through the unwritten. The Philosophy of the Law, that is the ascertainment of the meaning of the written through the unwritten law, must extend as far as civilization and human rights extend.

Our Federal Supreme Court, in its consideration of a case before it, has said:

"We are not yet discussing the particular case before us but only are considering the validity of the test proposed. With regard to that we may add that when we are dealing with words that also are a constituent act, like the Constitution of the United States, we must realize that they have called into life a being the development of which could not have been seen completely by the most gifted

of the begetters. It was enough for them to realize or to hope that they had created an organism; it has taken a century and has cost their successors much sweat and blood to prove that they had created a nation. The case before us must be considered in the light of our whole experience and not merely in that of what was said a hundred years ago."

The adoption of this organic law was, as said, the first step in molding a Republican form of government. The Constitution as adopted, however, did not have in itself the vitality necessary for the growth and perpetuation of the government. It yet remained for men like Marshall, Taney, Story, and others, as jurists; Martin, Webster, and others, as lawyers; Washington, Hamilton, and others, as statesmen, to give it the breath of life, to endow it with that elasticity which makes it the mudsill upon which the government rests and upon which it must rest as long as it exists.

It was at this juncture that Marshall gave us his great state papers-they are more than legal opinions; that Martin and Webster, as lawyers, contributed their wisdom in briefs and in argument; that Washington and Hamilton as statesmen, disclosed their vision of a stable and enduring government. All these, united in the common cause, kept the Republic together until the breadth of the written law could be comprehended by the people in the light of the unwritten. Each had his task, and sometimes in our better moments we conclude that they were Divinely guided in its performance. Their duties being done, the result is a perpetuating form of government that will endure as long as the precepts of these men are followed. As the great tasks of these men so ably performed loom before me, the eloquent words of a recent author applied to another great judge are fresh in my mind as peculiarly applicable to Marshall: "Instead of looking first at the record, he looked first at the Constitution. He saw a vision of the