the Legislature. The chairman of your committee went to Nashville at the meeting of the last Legislature, placed a copy of the report on the desk of every member of that body, and, with the chairman of this Association, went to the Governor and delivered a copy to him, and urged the importance of the subject upon him. He also presented the matter to the Judiciary Committee of the House. He also met Judge Dickinson, and he being then on the supreme bench and unable to serve on the committee, requested President Pickle to appoint some efficient lawyer in his place. Your President appointed Hon. F. S. Wilson. Hon. J. J. Turner came down from Gallatin, and these three members of your committee had a conference as to what further should be done. It was determined that, as the chairman had to leave, the other two committeemen should present the matter to a joint committee of both houses; but the Legislature did nothing whatever. Nothing will ever be done until the bar of Tennessee more effectively asserts its power.

Your committee beg to suggest that the report be fully discussed at this meeting, and that the whole matter, with the suggestions of the debate; be referred to a new committe» with instructions to report a bill or bills to the rext meeting of your body, so that when the Legislature meets again it will have a bill before it on the subject of taxation with the indorsement. of the Bar Association of the State. Your present committee ask to be discharged. Respectfully, C. W. HEISKELL.

J. M. Dickinson.-I move that the report be received and spread on the minutes and the committee discharged.

Carried.

J. S. Pilcher.-I beg to report that the Central Council has examined the accounts of the Treasurer up to the beginning of the present session, and has found them correct.

A. W. Chambliss.-I move that the report of the special committee on the jury-system be referred to the standing Committee on Judicial Administration and Remedial Procedure, with the request that they report to the next meeting of the Bar Association a bill to be presented to the Legislature for passage on this question. I think that would give us some time. to consider the matter. Some of the suggestions of the report

are admirable, and might be passed upon now; but there will be no meeting of the Legislature before our next meeting, and I think it desirable to take the action I suggest.

The motion carried.

THE PRESIDENT.--We will now proceed to the election of officers-a President, three Vice-presidents, a Secretary and Treasurer, and members of the Central Council.

J. A. Pitts.-Are nominations in order?

THE PRESIDENT.-Yes.

J. A. Pitts.-I present to the Association for President for the ensuing year the name of M. M. Neil, of Trenton.

B. M. Estes. I have the pleasure of presenting for this of fice James M. Greer, of Memphis, and recommend him to the consideration of this convention.

A ballot was taken, resulting in the election of M. M. Neil. THE PRESIDENT.-Mr. Neil is elected President for the ensuing year. I will appoint Messrs. Dickinson, Pilcher, and Hays to inform Mr. Neil of his election and conduct him to the chair.

THE PRESIDENT.-Gentlemen of the Association: In retiring from the office of President, I desire again to return to you my thanks for the honor and confidence reposed in me, and for the very hearty co-operation that I have had during my administration from all the members of this Association, and for that courtesy and indulgence which the chair has had from the members present on this occasion. I now have the honor to introduce to you our new President, Hon. M. M. Neil, of Trenton.

M. M. Neil.-Gentlemen of the Bar Association of Tennessee: I thank you most sincerely for this expression of your confidence. There is no man who loves the law and lawyers more than I do. All of my labors are centered in the law; all my hopes and ambitions rest there. I care for no honors save the honors that come through the law. I believe that our profession is the grandest and the noblest that belongs to our system of civilization. In every age, under our system of law, the lawyer has been in the vanguard of progress; in every age he has been the protector of civil liberty; in every age the lawyer has borne a character for honor, for integrity, for courage, for learning, and for wisdom. I seek no higher honor than

to receive the plaudits of a body of men so wise and so just and so honest as are the lawyers of this Association of Tennessee. I know most of the gentlemen here. I have met with you from year to year. I have followed you, and have found you just and true. I have experienced the greatest pleasure in this Association from year to year in the companionship of the members of this body, and now to be elevated to the highest place in your gift is a source of the deepest and most sincere gratification. Gentlemen, all that I can promise you is that I will endeavor to understand my duty, and will do it to the letter.

J. M. Dickinson-Mr. President: I believe nominations are now in order for Vice-president, one from each grand division of the State. I desire to nominate Tully Brown, of Nashville, for Middle Tennessee.

W. C. Caldwell.-I desire to nominate for West Tennessee J. M. Greer, of Memphis.

J. W. Bonner.-I nominate for East Tennessee George T. White, of Chattanooga.

J. M. Dickinson.-I move that the Secretary be authorized to cast the unanimous vote of the Association for the three candidates named.

Carried, and the vote cast accordingly.

Tully Brown (being called upon).—I am glad to be elected Vice-president of the Bar Association, but I am sure nobody here expects me to make a speech on the subject. You have a good deal of business to attend to, and I will let the two other gentlemen speak.

Geo. T. White (being called for).-White is absent, but is here to thank the Association for the honor.

THE PRESIDENT.-The election of a Central Council is in order. M. M. Hope.-1 nominate John Ruhm for Middle Tennessee. The Secretary.-No qualification as to sections of the State is fixed. It is usual to have three members near together so that they can easily get a quorum.

M. M. Hope.-I am willing to have three from Nashville. I nominate John Ruhm.

J. L. Jones.-I nominate John A. Pitts, of Nashville.

J. W. Bonner.—I nominate Stokely D. Hayes, of Jackson. W. A. Collier.—I nominate L. R. Campbell, of Nashville.

R. A. Bright.-I nominate Jerome Templeton, of Knoxville. The Secretary was instructed to cast the vote of the Association for the five gentlemen named, which was done.

THE PRESIDENT.-The election of a Secretary and Treasurer is in order.

J. M. Dickinson.-We have had a wonderfully successful meeting, and I think it is largely attributable to the energy of our present Secretary and Treasurer; and I do not think we can do any better, if he will consent, than to continue him in office. I therefore nominate A. D. Marks.

Mr. Marks was unanimously elected.

M. M. Hope-I would like to get something in the proceedings of the Bar Association that is especially important to Hamilton County, and possibly to Davidson, Shelby, and Knox. We have a statute in Tennessee which provides that a person can get a license from the county court to practice law before a justice of the peace. I want to get this Association, if I can, to take some action on that matter. I do not know how you are afflicted over in Nashville or Memphis or Knoxville, but I take it that you are troubled with these lawyers there and in Jackson like we are here.

THE PRESIDENT.-We cannot entertain a motion except by unanimous consent.

Flournoy Rivers.—He is a justice of the peace. He knows what he is talking about.

M. M. Hope.--I tried to get here at the morning session, but could not. The resolution is this:

"Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association that no person ought to be allowed to practice law before any justice of the peace in this State who is not a regularly licensed attorney, authorized to practice in any of the courts of record in this State."

F. O. Wert.-I am with Mr. Hope on this matter, but I believe that the Association will have to go at it in a different way. Under the Acts of 1867 this law was passed allowing men over the age of twenty-one years to go before the county court, and on the payment of five dollars to the clerk of the county court, to be paid into the school-fund, receive a license to practice before a justice of the peace. That law is still in

force, and this Association, I take it, can do nothing other than to appoint a committee to draft a bill, or, rather, a committee to go before the Legislature when it meets in regular session, and seek to have such portions of the act repealed as relates to the licensing of these parties. I think a committee ought to be appointed for this purpose, and I think it is the only way to treat the matter.

J. M. Dickinson.—We have a regular order of business, which we had better take up. We have delegates to elect to the National Bar Association, and I insist upon the point of order.

The following gentlemen were nominated as delegates to the American Bar Association: W. G. M. Thomas and R. L. Bright, Chattanooga; W. H. Washington and J. W. Bonner, Nashville.

The ballot resulted in the election of W. H. Washington, J. W. Bonner, and W. G. M. Thomas.

THE PRESIDENT.-Messrs. Washington, Bonner, and Thomas are elected delegates to the American Bar Association. The election of delegates to the National Bar Association is in order.

The Secretary.-We are entitled to five, two of them to be selected now. Tomlinson Fort, II. H. Ingersoll, and J. J. Turner are hold-over delegates.

The Secretary was directed to cast the vote of the Association for Messrs. Jackson and Rivers, which was done.

S. D. Hayes. I move that the Chair appoint alternates. THE PRESIDENT.-I will consider the matter, and announce their names in time for publication in the proceedings. Mr. Hope's resolution recurred.

M. M. Hope.-Colonel Fry has prepared a more elaborately written resolution than I have, which I would be glad to have him present.

G. T. Fry.-I drew this at the suggestion of Mr. Wert, carrying out the sense of Mr. Hope's suggestion and overcoming the difficulty that Mr. Wert suggested:

"1. Resolved, That it is the sense of the Bar Association of Tennessee, that no person should be allowed a license to practice law in the justices' courts of this State who has not been admitted to practice in the courts of record.