office expenses. when that item has been posted into the ledger. That gives us a very complete record of all of our petty disbursements which are made for account of clients or We then have a cash book-an accountant would call it a column cash book, that can also be used to meet the needs of an office, however small, and it is a very convenient thing to do. Here are the two sets of our cash book. Under cash receipts there is a column under "Date," then there is a column "Private ledger," for moneys that go to the credit of one of our controlling accounts, like office expenses, or for the credit of one partner, etc. (We keep two accounts, one a client's ledger and one a private ledger for office expenses, stationery, partners' accounts, and things of that sort which are not very numerous, and which really operate to make up the balance sheet of a law office just like any other business.) Here we have a column which we call "Exchange." In it we enter those items which merely come in and go out immediately, as in every law office, where a great many items come in just for transmission-they come into our hands and go right out again. The next column is the magic column of "Fee," and when anybody pays up, as sometimes happens, it goes in there. The next column is "Disbursements." We enter there money which is received on account of disbursements paid for clients, and the next column is "Dividends" which we call collections made for the account of a client. If it is money collected on a judgment, it is entered under the heading of "Dividends," and of course it is paid out to the client-less the fee, and at the end of it all we have a column "Total." Then, on the disbursement side, we have items very similar to those on the receipt side like "Total," "Private ledger," "Exchange," "Dividends" and "Disbursements," and then we have a column which we call "Office expense account." That makes a simple but a very convenient cash book: if you want to find out the approximate amount of your fees in any month just total up your "Fee" column. If you want to find out what your office expenses are for a certain month, you just total up that column. We have found it a very great convenience to have that kind of bookkeeping. Now, this (indicating) represents our ledger. It is a sheet that goes into a loose-leaf folder. At the top is the name of the client, with the title of the matter. When a disbursement is made, the bookkeeper charges it not to the client but to the matter. We simply keep the name of the client at the top for purposes of identification in case his name does not directly appear in the title and we should happen to forget the client responsible for the matter. Otherwise the sheet is very simple. Here is the date; this column is for disbursements, and this is the debit and credit column. All disbursements charged against the client go in there. The only other debit is the fee debit which is entered in there when the bill is paid. On the credit side is entered the receipt from the client of the disbursement and the fee, and counter entries in the original made by the bookkeeper, so that the only difference there is the transfer from the original into the controlling fee account of the private ledger. The only other book of account we have is that private ledger which, of course, has the controlling accounts to which I have already referred. We have found it very useful to have some periodic audit of our books made. We have a very able accountant in our own office, and every month we get a statement from a firm of accountants, but where the number of accounts is small, a statement once a year should be sufficient. The great advantage of a periodic audit is that invariably it turns up things which otherwise would have been overlooked and which frequently result in substantial increase in revenue. ADDRESS OF JOHN M. TIERNEY (Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County, formerly Justice of the Municipal Court, New York City) MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: When the Municipal Court was constituted, I was elected a justice. of that court in the first election. I served eighteen years. For several years—the last that I served-I was president of the board of justices by the kindness of my colleagues. That long experience might suggest to my mind that I might say to-night that I have forgotten more about that court than the two distinguished gentlemen who will follow me here ever knew, but I won't make any such claim. I know that they are thoroughly informed in respect of that court and of all its adjuncts, and all that the justices of that court have to do, and I know that they are so much more informed on the subject than I that I feel somewhat diffident in speaking of a subject that they are masters of by knowledge and by experience. I will confine the brief remarks that I intend to make to some general considerations of the functions of this court and their importance to the community. The evolution of this court has been from the basis or unit of the time-honoured and still-surviving institution of the court of the justice of the peace. That is the elementary tribunal which has no limit of jurisdiction in the descending scale beyond which a suitor ventures to invoke its aid at the peril of a penalty for employing its machinery over matters of too little pecuniary consequence. There has to be a court in every community that may take free cognizance of petty claims and the Municipal |