amendment thereto, or by special petition and pleading for that purpose. All existing laws as to amendments of pleadings and making parties, are hereby adopted as part of this Act.

SECTION 5-Be it further enacted, That no petition need to be verified, unless it seek an extraordinary equitable relief or remedy, in which case it must be; but in every case the petitioner may verify his petition, stating what facts are true of his own knowledge, and what he believes to be true from information and belief, and when so verified, the defendant must verify his plea and answer in the same manner, or be considered in default.

SECTION 6.-Be it further enacted, That the form of process to the petition referred to above, shall be that at present required in actions at law, varied to meet the nature of the action, relief and remedy sought, and shall be annexed to the petition, and filed and served as now required in actions at law, unless this is impossible, when service shall be made as is now required in equitable proceedings. The time of filing in office said petition shall be as prevails in actions at law. When service by publication is required, the party to be served must be notified of the pending proceeding by letter through mail, addressed so as to inform him of such proceeding.

SECTION 7-Be it further enacted, That the defendant may, by proper proceedings, raise issues of law or fact, legal or equitable, or both. Such issues of law must be raised by demurrer in writing, specifying on which ground said demurrer is filed. All grounds of demurrer now existing at law or in equity may be used, when applicable to his case, by the defendant. Issues of fact may be raised by plea or answer, which may be of a dilatory nature or to the merits, and must be set forth as required in Section 2 of this Act, and these grounds of defense shall be such as are now allowed at law or in equity.

SECTION 8.- Be it further enacted, That whenever the answer of the defendant is the general issue, which shall be in writing, and in this form: The defendant comes and denies the truth of each and every allegation of fact in plaintiff's petition-then the plaintiff is required to prove every material fact alleged, and the defendant is allowed to dispute every such allegation, and no other proof is admissible under the general issue. If defendant fails, after pleading the general issue, to rebut the evidence in support of the various allegations of the plaintiff, the court shall impose costs on him for each allegation which the plaintiff has been compelled to prove by the defendant's plea, and not supported by his proof. This rule as to payment of costs shall also apply when the defendant has set forth in his defense an issuable fact which the plaintiff controverts, and yet offers no proof to support his contest. The defendant may answer by a special denial of such of the plaintiff's allegations as he seeks to controvert, and all material allegations not controverted shall be taken as admitted. For frivolous issues made by plaintiff and defendant, the court shall impose costs. Laws in force,

which require pleadings to be sworn to, are hereby continued in force as to pleadings herein specified, when applicable.

SECTION 9.-Be it further enacted, That whenever a plea or answer is filed, notice in writing must be given of the same within ten days after the filing of the same, and failing to do so, he shall be held in default as if the same had not been filed. Pleas and answers may be demurred to as now provided by law, and if new matter is set up by defendant, not controverting the plaintiff's petition, it is required to be met by the plaintiff, as plaintiff's allegations are required to be met in Section 2 of this Act.

SECTION 10.-Be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall affect the mode of any special statutory proceedings now required by law, such as the foreclosure of liens and mortgages, proceedings to eject tenants and intruders, claims and illegalities, mandamus, quo warranto, prohibition, habeas corpus, possessory warrant, partition, dower, establishment of lost papers, petitions to the judge of the Superior Court at Chambers, or other special proceedings of like

nature.

SECTION 11.-Be it further enacted, That all laws inconsistent with. this Act, are hereby repealed, but none other.

14

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL EDUCATION AND ADMISSION

TO THE BAR.

At the second annual meeting of the American Bar Association, held at Saratoga, on the twentieth and twenty-first days of August, 1879, the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of that body submitted an elaborate report, in which they discussed at length the necessity to the legal fraternity of an ample and liberal course of preliminary study, general as well as professional; and they concluded their report with the following resolutions, the adoption of which they recommended:

That the several State and other local Bar Associations be respectfully requested to recommend and further, in their respective States, the maintenance, by public authority, of schools of law provided with faculties of at least four well paid and efficient teachers, whose diploma should, upon being unanimously granted, after a fair and full written examination, be essential as a qualification for practising law.

That the said State and other local Bar Associations be respectfully requested to recommend and further in such law schools a general course of instruction, to be duly divided, for ordinary purposes, into studies and exercises of the first year, of the second year, and of the third year, including at least the following studies:

I. Moral and Political Philosophy.

II. The elementary and constitutional principles of the Municipal Law of England; and herein, 1st, of the Feudal Law; 2nd, the Institutes of the Municipal Law generally; 3rd, the origin and progress of the Common Law.

III. The Law of Real Rights and Real Remedies.

IV. The Law of Personal Rights and Personal Remedies.

V. The Law of Equity.

VI. The Lex Mercatoria.

VII. The Law of Crimes and their Punishments.

VIII. The Law of Nations.

IX. The Admiralty and Maritime Law.

X. The Civil or Roman Law.

XI. The Constitution and Laws of the United States, and herein of the jurisdiction and practice of the Courts of the United States.

XII. Comparative Jurisprudence, and the Constitution and Laws of the several States of the Union.

XIII. Political Economy.

That the said State and other local Bar Associations be respectfully requested to recommend and further, in such law schools, the requirement of attendance on at least the studies and exercises appointed for said course of three years, as a qualification for examination to be admitted to the Bar.

Upon this report the American Bar Association took no action; and your committee are not advised that any State Bar Association has recommended or furthered its suggestions. We do not feel able to urge them before this body. We admire and applaud the lofty standard of professional attainment erected by this report. We yield to none in our high appreciation of the great benefits to be conferred upon a legal career by a liberal and ample course of preliminary culture; and we recognize the brilliant lustre it must impart to all the professional weapons with which the work of conquest, in this cultivated era, is to be achieved.

But your committee, especially in view of the previous course of this Association upon the subject, deem it wise to limit their suggestions and report within the scope of practical attainment.

A brief review of the action of this body may not be inappropriate. At the first meeting of this Association, at Atlanta, on August 14, 1884, the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, through its chairman, the Hon. Joseph B. Cumming, submitted a report, the salient features of which were the requirement of a preliminary course of preparation, for say three years, before admission to the bar; a thorough and regular examination of the candidate by written questions and answers, and the appointment by the Supreme Court of a board of four examiners for each judicial circuit in the State. This report, without a discussion, was laid upon the table. At the second annual meeting of the Association, held at Atlanta, on the fifth and sixth of August, 1885, this report was brought to its attention, and in connection therewith, Mr. Cumming, the chairman of the committee, submitted the draft of a bill to carry its provisions into effect. A protracted and interesting debate ensued, which developed opposition to the report of the committee and to the bill, and to a bill submitted by Mr. Dessau. Both bills, on motion, were referred back to the committee, which

offered, through Mr. Thomas, an amended bill. After further debate, the whole matter was laid upon the table. The main opposition to the report and bills seemed to be directed to the provisions requiring a preliminary course of study of thirty months, and the appointment of a board of examiners by the Supreme Court. At the third annual meeting of this Association, held at Atlanta, on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh days of August, 1886, the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, after referring to the fate of previous reports, recommended only that the examination of candidates should be in writing, and offered an amendment to section 394 of the Revised Code to that effect. Without debate the report was received and adopted, and a motion was carried that a committee formed, to prepare other bills for the legislature be charged with framing a bill in accordance with said report. Your committee are not advised whether said resolution has been carried out.

In view of this summary of the previous proceedings of this Association upon the subject referred to your committee, they do not feel greatly encouraged either to reiterate former suggestions or to advance new ones. But the By-Law under which they are constituted charges. them with the duty of examining and reporting what changes it is ex-pedient to report in the system and mode of Legal Education, and of admission to the practice of the profession in the State of Georgia.. Having made the examination required, they feel in duty bound to report certain changes in the existing law which they deem expedient, and demanded by the best interests of the profession and the State,. leaving to the Association the resposibility of enforcing or rejecting their views.

And, first, your committee are of the opinion that no one should be admitted to practice at the bar until he has attained the age of twenty-one years, and shall furnish to the committee of examination satisfactory evidence that he has enjoyed a preliminary training and experience of at least one year, within a period of three years next preceding his admission, in some approved law school or college, or in the office of some practitioner of recognized standing and ability. Your committee think that a definite portion of practical experience should be a recognized element of qualification for admission, and that no amount of mere book lore can compensate for the lack of that demonstrative ability, which can be acquired only in the practical pursuit of the profession. In no other business is the student permitted to prosecute his work until he has learned to handle his tools. Physicians