VACATION OF JUDGMENTS. Section 1303, Code of Procedure, relating to vacation and modification of judgments should be amended by omitting the words, "after the term at which such judgment or order was made,” and fixing a specific time for action of court therein. APPEAL. It is suggested that the appeal law be modified (Laws of 1893, p. 130, 21) regarding exceptions so as to require either service of proposed findings on adversary or that exceptions should be deemed to be taken thereto by operation of law; and that the requirement (Acts of 1893, p. 111, §-) to the effect that court must sign statement of facts as presented unless prevailing party make all amendments consistent with truth, be modified to permit the court to correct the same and tax appellant with costs of amendment which he neglects to make in conformity with the truth of the matter. TRIAL- DISCHARGE OF JURY, ETC. It is suggested that § 360, Code of Procedure, be amended by striking out the last clause, relative to discharge of jury, where illness, etc., has reduced number of jurymen, and providing that the jury shall not be discharged except where a less number than ten remain to deliberate upon the verdict, so as to conform the same to the new principle of verdicts on agreement of ten or more jurymen; and that § 368, Code of Procedure, be amended so as to authorize the court to take a "recess instead of "adjourn," and that it be permitted, of its own motion, to direct a sealed verdict to be returned. LIENS ON STEAMERS. The statute relating to liens on steamers and other water-craft should be redrafted to make it conform to the changed condition consequent upon the adoption of the constitution. INSANE CRIMINALS. Section 1323, Code of Procedure, should be amended, requiring the incarceration of a prisoner in the insane asylum, etc., on his discharge upon that plea in a criminal prosecution. (See Cal. P. C. § 1167.) DEPOSITIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES. Section 1362, Code of Procedure, should be amended by striking out the proviso authorizing the use of depositions in criminal trials as being unconstitutional. (See 5 W. 499; 8 W. 584; Const., article 1, § 22), and the latter part of section 1596, relating to deposition, is subject to the same objection. (Cal. Const., article 1, § 13, specially authorizes such legislation, but the Constitution of Washington does not.) DISPOSITION OF FINES. Section 1335, Code of Procedure, and § 3054, Hill's Code, providing that all fines shall be paid into the county treasury for the use of the county, is in conflict with numerous special provisions directing fines in particular cases to be paid into the treasury for the use of the "school fund," etc. The law on the subject of escheates is not sufficiently provided for. The revenue laws should be reformed to make them more economical and efficient. Numerous other defects which are proper subjects for reform legislation have been called to the attention of your committee, but were not deemed of sufficient importance to detail in this report. Your committee is also conscious that it does not possess the prescience to have found all the omissions and incongruities existing in our laws, and therefore submits this, not as an attempt to give an exhaustive outline of necessary reforms, but a mere superficial statement of some of the most glaring defects. It is recommended that statute in relation to disbarment and suspension of attorneys be broadened in its scope to include cases of breaches of professional conduct, such as the improper withholding of funds or property belonging to clients. R. A. BALLINGER, J. A. SHACKLEFORD, Samuel R. Stern, chairman of Committee on Commercial Law, submitted the following report: TACOMA, July 14, 1896. Hon. Charles S. Fogg, President Washington State Bar Associ ation: DEAR SIR No reply has heretofore been sent to your notification of the 15th ult., for the reason that I have communicated with my associates upon the Committee on Commercial Law, with the hope of receiving from them some suggestions to be embodied in a report. I have not heard from them, however, with the exception of Judge McClinton, whose reply I annex hereto. I had hoped that the custom habitually indulged in by the standing committees of our Association would find an exception this year, at least, in our committee, for there is much that can be suggested respecting the commercial laws of our state. These laws now embody such a variety of subjects, that almost every matter that is brought to our attention as lawyers is tinctured, at least, with a "commercial law" aspect. That the attachment law, which permits the affiant, in almost every instance, to commit wholesale perjury, and which does not compel him to state the facts by reason of which he claims fraud, non-residence or any other allegation which the statute contemplates, needs amendment, so as to conform more nearly to the statutes of other states which have proven more efficacious, goes almost without saying. That the distinction between injunctions and restraining orders should be abolished, would seem advisable. That a statute should be passed defining carefully and clearly the rights of husband and wife respecting community property and their liability upon written instruments, seems worthy of recommendation. It would also seem advisable that an act be passed providing for the entry of judgment by the clerk in default cases upon written instruments for the payment of money only, without the interposition of the court, and especially where, as in Spokane, the court takes a vacation for two months; the judges agreeing meanwhile not to grant default judgments, thus, at times, depriving a creditor of rights which should not be abridged. The right of trial of summary proceedings in the superior court, which should properly be brought in the justice court, is a matter that should also receive the attention of the next legislature. These are but a few of the subjects which, perhaps, come within the term "commercial law" and affecting the business community to a considerable extent, which occur to me at this moment, and which could properly be delegated to a committee of the Bar Association, whose duty it should be to attend the session of the next legislature, to give aid and counsel to the committee having in charge the legislation affecting these and kindred subjects. If our Association would aid in the passage of only one good act, or in the amendment of an existing bad act, it would at least have done something more than listen to able papers and enjoy the festivities arranged by the cities entertaining the members of our Association, and thus serve one of the purposes for which, I believe, the Association was organized. Faithfully yours, SAMUEL R. STERN. On motion, the Association adjourned until 10 a. M. to-morrow. N. S. PORTER, Secretary. SECOND DAY. TACOMA, WASHINGTON, July 16, 1896. Association called to order at 10 A. M., President Fogg in the chair. An invitation was extended to the Association by the bar of Pierce county to join in an excursion on the Sound and to participate in a supper and clam bake on the beach, on the afternoon of the 17th. On motion, the invitation was accepted. Mr. C. E. Shepard, for the Committee on Uniformity of State Laws, submitted the following report, which was, on motion of Mr. Forster, adopted: The Committee on Uniform State Laws respectfully reports: In the early history of the United States, and until a considerable amount of inter-state business arose, little inconvenience was caused by the diversities, often wide and startling, between the laws of different states pertaining to private rights. But with the increasing and of late years enormous amount of inter-state dealings of every character, involving legal rights and duties, a growing degree of inconvenience has been felt. This is the case not only in matters of form, such as the execution and acknowledgment of deeds, the execution of wills, the forms of conveyances and other solemn acts, the need of seals and witnesses, but in matters of substance too, such as the validity and effect of conveyances, or of certain forms of covenants, the liabilities of sundry parties to commercial paper, weights and measures, and other subjects of everyday occurrence and moment to the lawyer, the banker, the farmer, and the merchant. In consequence there has gradually grown up a decided opinion, naturally strongest among the bar, but shared in by the more intelligent business men, in favor of a concerted movement for uniformity of law throughout the union on those topics on which it was feasible and desirable that the statute law |
