all over this country at the present time. I am in favor of a progressive measure. I have been called a Progressive in this Statae, but I am not in favor of the recall of judes by popular vote and I never have been, but I am in favor of some such plan as this, and I hope this Association will go on record in favor of it, and that we, in our several communities, will go back and agitate this matter from now until the first of January as well as we can, so we can determinedly go before the legislature at its next session and insist that some such provision as this be put into the Constitution of the State.

Mr. Henderson: I understood there was a motion to lay on the table.

Mr. President: There was no motion to lay on the table. There has been a motion to adopt this part of Judge Holcomb's recommendation, with this recommendation that the number be reduced to six.

You have heard the motion, gentlemen, to adopt this part of Judge Holcomb's suggestion that has been read to you, with the amendments that have been consented to, the most important of which has been that this number of seven be reduced to six as belonging to one particular party.

Mr. Burcham: I take it our adoption of this section and recommendation there will not be taken as binding upon the committee in any way, but simply leave them to work out the proposition as best they can. Is not that correct?

Mr. President: That is correct.

All in favor of this motion say aye; contrary, no. The ayes have it. That is carried.

The next order of business will be the report of the Committee on Uniform State Laws, Mr. C. H. Winders, Chairman. I believe he has gone to Seattle. Has he left his report?

Mr. Secretary: He has left his report here some place.

We will now hear the report of the Committee on Uniform State Laws:

(Report read by the Secretary.)

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS. To the Washington State Bar Association:

We, your committtee on Uniform State Laws, respectfully submit the following report:

A report of a committee of this association on Uniform State Laws can be little more than a report of progress in the work carried on by the conference of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and a report as to the action of our Legislature with respect to commissioners appointed from this state, and the action taken upon the laws prepared by such conference.

The movement resulting in the annual conference of commissioners appointed by the several states on Uniform State Laws was in fact born with the American Bar Association, one of the principal objects of organizing that association being to secure uniformity of state laws. The conference of commissioners on Uniform State Laws is made up of commissioners appointed by the Governors of the different states meeting in conference and organizing themselves into a national body for the better accomplishment of the work for which its members were appointed by the states.

Three commissioners have been appointed from the state of Washington-Mr. Charles E. Shepard, Mr. Alfred Battle, and Mr. W. V. Tanner. These commissioners are vested with authority to confer with the commissioners of the other states, and recommend forms of bills or measures to bring about uniformity of law.

The Uniform Law Commissioners have held twenty-three conferences in the course of twenty-two years since the organization started, the last being held at Montreal in August, 1913, at which time fortyeight states were represented, together with the two territories of Alaska and Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and the two island possessions of the Philippine Islands and Porto Rico. At the last meeting of the conference the number of jurisdictions which had adopted the Negotiable Instruments Act, as recommended by the Uniform Law Conference, was forty-two, being all of the states except California, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, and also the two Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, the Philippine Islands and the District of Columbia. Thirty states have passed the Warehouse Receipts Act; eleven have passed the Wills Act; three have passed the Divorce Act; nine have passed the Stock Transfer Act; eleven have passed the Bills of Lading Act; nine have passed the act relating to wills executed without the state, and six have passed the act relating to family desertion. This does not include, however,

action taken on any bills prepared by the conference by state Legislatures which met last winter. Three of these acts have been adopted by the Legislature of this state, namely, the Negotiable Instruments Act, the Wills Act, and the Warehouse Receipts Act.

The Legislature of this state for 1913 passed the Warehouse Receipts Act, as prepared by the conference of commissioners, appropriated $376.43 to cover expenses incurred by two of the commissioners from this state who attended the 1912 conference, and also appropriated $500 for the expenses of the commissioners of this state for the 1913 and 1914 conferences.

As the securing of uniformity of state laws will be accomplished only as a result of the labor of the National Conference, it is the opinion of your committee that this association and its members should recommend to the 1915 Legislature that not only an appropriation should be made for the expenses of our three commissioners, but also an appropriation for the purpose of defraying a part of the expenses of the National Conference. A great many of the states have in the past made such contributions, but this state has as yet made no appropriation except such as would partially cover the actual expenses of its own commissioners.

Mr. Charles E. Shepard, of Seattle, who has long been a comissioner from this state, and who is probably more familiar with the progress being made by the National Conference, in discussing its work with the chairman of your committee a few days ago, said:

"The thoroughness with which the work of these conferences is done is illustrated by what occurred at its meeting in 1913. The time of that meeting was almost entirely consumed in a very thorough discussion of two bills. One of them consisted of several amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act, which were recommended by eminent lawyers, but they were finally voted down upon the ground that although the Negotiable Instruments Act might be bettered in some slight particulars if the work were to be done over again, still it was altogether preferable not to start a series of amendments which would destroy uniformity. The other of the two bills above referred to was the Seventh Tentative Draft of an act to make uniform the Law of Partnership, and that after long discussion and much amendment was referred back to the committee and will be discussed again at the coming conference to be held at Washington, D. C., in October."

An idea of the work being accomplished by the National Conference, and the amount of labor and care which is being exercised by the commissioners, can be appreciated by referring to the annual reports of the American Bar Association. The proceedings of the Twentythird Annual Conference will be found on pages 951 to 1076, inclusive, of the Annual Report of the American Bar Association for 1913.

Although this association and its committee can do nothing directly to promote the uniform law movement, much can be done in

directly by assisting in getting our Legislature to adopt the bills, or at least the most important of them, recommended by the Uniform Law Conference. One or more of these bills will be presented to the State Legislature at the coming session, and we commend such bills to the careful consideration of the members of this association. Copies of all bills which have been recommended by the Uniform Law Conferences may be obtained from any of our Uniform Law Commissioners. C. H. WINDERS,

Chairman.

Mr. Dovell: Move the adoption of the report.
Mr. Arthur: Second the motion.

The motion was put and carried.

Mr. President: Next will be the report of the Committee on Code Commission, Mr. John Arthur, of Seattle, Chairman.

Mr. Arthur: This is merely a report of progress and a request to stand pat. The Association has, three years in succession, upheld our Brother Jones' proposition to have a code commission established, by which, and in a short time, we could have a civilized body of laws instead of the barbarous body we have now, and he is a standpatter himself; he stands right by it, and I am in hearty sympathy with him. We got some encouragement at the last session of the legislature.

(Reads report.)

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CODE COMMISSION. Seattle, Washington, August 2, 1914.

To the Honorable Ira P. Englehart, President, Washington State Bar Association, and said Association:

Gentlemen-At our session last year, the committee, of which I have the honor to be chairman, was continued in force for the purpose of bringing up at this meeting and again urging upon our association its continued support of the measure prepared by Richard Saxe Jones, Esquire, of the Seattle Bar, providing for an act of the Legislature upon the subject of a permanent Code Commission for the State of Washington.

I attach hereto a copy of the proposed act of the Legislature which was recommended by this association in 1911, and again in 1912, and in 1913 the committee in charge of the matter was continued in force

without further action because there would be no meeting of the Legislature until after this meeting now being held.

Referring to the report of our committee, found on pages 58 and 59 of the proceedings of the State Bar Association for 1913, there has been no reason why the committee should change its report, but we continue to urge upon this association that it should firmly adhere to the honorable, patriotic, public-spirited and self-sacrificing stand which has been taken by it in support of the Jones Code Commission bill and should again urge its enactment into the laws for the good of the people and for the high credit of the state. It is a measure looking to the reduction of the volume of legislation, to the relief of the courts, to the attainment of needed precision, clearness, certainty and permanence in our body of laws, and for the saving of large expense to the people of this state.

Similar laws have been urged upon Congress by the Committee on Jurisprudence and Law Reform of the American Bar Association, and we find in the last number of the North American Review an article by the honored Governor of Alabama, urging the adoption of a similar statute for the codification of laws and their permanency.

I therefore move you, sir, that a committee of five, with full power to act, be appointed by the President of this association, with directions to take all reasonable steps for the enactment of what is known as the Jones Code Commission bill by the next pending session of the Legislature of this state.

Respectfully submitted for the committee,

JOHN ARTHUR,

Chairman.

PROPOSED ACT.

AN ACT entitled An act providing for a permanent code commission for the State of Washington; the submission of proposed acts of the Legislature thereto; providing the method of preparing a permanent code of laws of the State of Washington, and maintaining the same.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Washington:

Section 1. That there is hereby created a commission to be known as the Code Commission of the State of Washington.

Sec. 2. Said Code Commission shall consist of five members to be appointed from time to time, as herein provided, by the Governor of the State of Washington, approved by the State Senate, which members shall be appointed and approved as follows: Immediately upon the taking effect of this act there shall be appointed by the Governor of the State of Washington five members of said Code Commission to be selected from among the attorneys at law of the State of Washington who are admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of said state and are members of the State Bar Association, two of whom