the bond of common law and civil liberty which spiritually unites all English-speaking nations. Every American lawyer was thrilled with pride of race and tradition as he entered this great Hall; and when he witnessed the pageant which followed and heard from the greatest judges and lawyers of England, America and Canada, the lofty sentiments expressed in tones and phrase appropriate for the occasion, historic memories were revived which gave him a sense of common ownership of great and inspiring traditions.

Westminster Hall was early filled to overflowing. Representatives of the junior and the senior bar of England and of the inferior courts first ranged themselves on the wide steps and elevated platform leading to the Parliament Building itself. Presently there was a hush, as with great pomp and ceremony and in gorgeous array, came from the rear entrance the highest representatives of the English bench, preceded by officials bearing the gorgeous Mace and Purse. Thus supported, the Lord High Chancellor moved majestically forward, clad in robes of black and gold, his train borne with impressive grace by an attendant in resplendent costume. Then followed the Lord President of the Council, and three ex-Lord Chancellors. Law Lords and Lords of Appeal came in their turn; and then the Lord Chief Justice of England, in his scarlet judicial gown. The Master of the Rolls and his attendants followed. The impressive procession ended as its color was blended in the setting afforded by the distinguished company gathered around the reserved places on the historic platform.

Speeches followed by the Attorney General, the President of the Law Society, the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, representing the Canadian Bar, by Mr. Jus

tice Sutherland, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and finally by the Lord High Chancellor himself and Mr. Hughes, the President of the American Bar Association. The Lord High Chancellor devoted his speech largely to recalling the history of the great Hall, to the end of showing that it was appropriate that American lawyers should regard Westminster Hall as being the symbol of all the great institutions that America had inherited from England. He concluded his speech with these words:

"Those were great memories, and that Hall was, indeed, a thing of which those who came from the United States could be proud; it was theirs as much as our own, and up to the Declaration of Independence it was physically their possession. I have always thought the great event of 1776 a fortunate event in the end. I believe it has done more to fashion and strengthen the ties between the people of the United States and the people of Great Britain and Canada than anything else that has happened in the world's history. It has not prevented you from having a sense of common inheritance with us in this great legal institution of which I am speaking. Here in the Westminster Hall the ancestors of both of us did their work, here they have given their names to some of the great deeds in history and law, and it is surely right that this Hall should be the place chosen in which to accord you a heartfelt welcome."

Then followed President Hughes in an address upon a plane no less elevated than that of the Lord High Chancellor, in which he reviewed in more detail the history of the development of the common law and all that Americans owed to their English forbears, and he closed with a lesson formulated in these words:

"There is one department of endeavor, however, in which we must ever be foremost and that is in that broad field which has to do with the efficiency of the administration of the laws, the promptitude and reasonable certainty of their execution, the removal of the obstacles to justice under law, of vexatious delays and inordinate expense. And in all efforts to improve the laws and their adjustment to new conditions and exigencies, society needs the expert knowledge and the sympathetic understanding of the bar. This meeting

of those who enjoy a common tradition and cherish a common purpose cannot fail to heighten our sense of responsibility as we find our strength renewed, our ardor quickened and our hearts deeply stirred as we sit together at the fireside in the old homestead."

Under the spell of the elevated tone and the noble and inspiring sentiments expressed by the speakers, American lawyers left Westminster Hall impressed with the idea that it was the beginning of a week of events which would prove to have a permanent value in the improvement of the administration of justice in both countries, and in cultivating the friendly relations between the two nations.

Informal luncheons at the Inns of Court were among the interesting functions. I attended one in Gray's Inn, where I participated with the Benchers in the ordinary noon-day meal which they enjoy in the historic Hall of the Inn surrounded by the portraits of former Benchers, notably, the greatest of them all, Lord Bacon of Verulam, and another of Lord Birkenhead, the presiding officer of the institution. In the afternoon all the company attended a party given by Lord and Lady Phillimore, in a charming and spacious garden, which had every appearance of being in a remote country district, but which was within ten or fifteen minutes drive

of the middle of the greatest city of England. Lord Phillimore, a distinguished exponent of International Law, was the Chairman of the British Commission that drew the scheme for a League of Nations which was the formulation upon which the discussion of the League in the Peace Commission mainly centered. In the evening members of the Association and their families attended a reception given by Lord Chancellor Haldane and his sister, in his house in Queen Anne's Gate. This house was built in 1702 and was still in its original condition. Members of the senior bar of this country and many of the junior bar would not regard themselves as prodigal if they maintained an establishment more sumptuous and commodious than the interesting and cosy residence of the highest judicial functionary of the Kingdom; but evidently the Lord Chancellor lives simply and thinks highly.

On Tuesday afternoon came the great reception given by the American Ambassador, which enabled the members to meet Mr. and Mrs. Hughes and the Ambassador (a former President of the Association) and Mrs. Kellogg, and to inspect Crewe House, the Ambassadorial residence, an interesting mansion belonging to Lord Crewe and filled with works of art. In the evening I attended the dinner of the Law Society, Incorporated. That Society is composed of about 10,000 solicitors; about half of the entire number in the country. It is vested by statute with power to admit members to the Bar, and it regularly conducts examinations to determine their qualifications. It has also the power to disbar solicitors. These public functions give to the Society great dignity and importance. It maintains a stately and commodious building in the vicinity of the

Law Courts, which, besides a large library, contains adequate and attractive reception and dining rooms. I have never known a better or a more decorous or enjoyable dinner than that which was tendered to us. I was received with considerable ceremony by the President of the Society, Mr. Dibdin, a cordial and graceful host, arrayed in a court costume of black satin or velvet with appropriate emblems of his office.

May I digress here to say that barristers consider themselves (and they are generally so regarded), as the superior branch of the profession; but the solicitors are a body of able, competent lawyers, highly trained in all branches of the profession except the presentation of cases in court; and it is to them that the barristers must look for their business. The practice of the solicitors corresponds to what 90 per cent. of American lawyers are occupied with, that is, the office work, and their pursuit is of great antiquity, and from its traditions there springs a pride in maintaining standards of honorable professional practice.

When the subject of legal education was sharply agitated in England in 1854 and 1855, a Royal Commission was appointed to consider its improvements. Prior to that time a candidate for admission to the bar (that is, as a barrister), was only required to know something of the Latin language and three or four times a year in one of the terms of Court "to be present at Grace before dinner, during the whole dinner and at Grace after dinner"; and that was generally considered adequate. The chief training of a student for the bar was in introducing himself into the atmosphere of the Inns, having him attend at the chambers of barristers and sometimes by more or less desultory lectures. As early as 1833, how