CANADIAN EVIEW

THE CANADIAN BAR REVIEW is the organ of the Canadian Bar Associa- tion, and it is felt that its pages should be open to free and fair discussion of all matters of interest to the legal profession in Canada. The Editor, how- ever, wishes it to be understood that opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the individual writers only, and that the REVIEW does not assume any responsibility for them. Special articles must be typed before being sent to the Editor, Charles Morse, K.C ., Room 85.6 Electric Building, Sparks Street, Ottawa. Notes of Cases must_ be typed before being sent to the - Assistant- Editor, Cecil A. Wright, B.A., S.J.D., Law School of Osgoode lull, 2, Canada.

®F THE MONTH. The Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Bar Associa- tion will be held in the City of Winnipeg on the 28th, 29th and 30th days of August, 1935.

COUNCIL MEETING OF THE C.B.A.-The customary mid- winter meeting of the Council of the Canadian Bar Association was held in the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, on Saturday, the 9th February. Mr. Isaac Pitblado, K.C ., LL.D., President of the Asso- ciation, was in the chair. - There was a verylarge attendance of the members of Council, and the interim reports of committees showed that the various activities of the Association were being carried on with vigour and success. The announcement by Mr. Springsteen, K.C., Chairman of the Committee on Member- ship, that there was a substantial increase in the number of members of the Association during the year 1934 was greeted with applause. - The report of the CANADIAN -BAR REviEw Committee showed that since the date of the last annual meeting of the Association, Cecil A. Wright,- B.A.,-S.J.D., a member of the staff of the Law School of Osgoode Hall, had been chosen to fill the position of Assistant Editor of the REviEw made vacant by the retirement of Sidney E. Smith, M.A., LL.B.,- now Presi- dent of the University of . Dr. Wright possesses exceptional qualifications for the position and his appointment

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has been received with great satisfaction by the members of the Association. During the meeting of Council Mr. Pitblado announced that the Association was the recipient of a very handsome silver gavel, for the use of the chairman at meetings, from Lord Tomlin who was a guest of the Association at its last annual meeting. He also announced that Sir Frank Boyd Merriman, President of the Probate, Admiralty and Divorce Division of the High Court of Justice in England, had accepted the invitation of the Association to attend the annual meeting in August as the representative of the English Bench and Bar. The French and American representatives will be named later. It was decided to accept the invitation of the Winnipeg Bar to hold the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Association in that city. Following the meeting the members of Council, the Right Honourable R. B. Bennett, , the Chief Justice and some of the Judges of the , the President and Mr. Justice Angers of the Exchequer Court of Canada, and several members of the Dominion Cabinet, were entertained at luncheon in the Jasper Room of the Chateau Laurier by Mr. Pitblado. After the luncheon the guests were addressed in a very happy speech by the Prime Minister. In the evening the members of the Council, with others, were guests of the County of Carleton Law Association at dinner in the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. Mr. F. H. Honeywell, President of the local Association was in the chair. On this occasion, Mr. Justice Davis, recently appointed to the Bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, was introduced to the gather- ing and made an interesting address. Other speakers were Mr. Pitblado, President of the Canadian Bar Association, the Hon- ourable N. W. Rowell, Mr. Justice Cannon, of the Supreme Court of Canada and Mr. Justice Maclean, President of the Exchequer Court of Canada.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE.--As it finds a place in the domain of economics the term laissez-faire is now suffering an extremely bad quarter of an hour. But yesterday the word might have stood against the world, now none so rich as to do it reverence. Treated as a principle in economics it is to be understood as a repudiation of the right of Government to interfere with individual liberty in industry and commerce. It is interesting to turn to the books and find how it first came into use in that connection. In speaking of Sir 's policy for tranquillizing England

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after its long period of political and religious tumult, Dr. Hearnshaw tells us in .one of his books that in order to liberate the strength of the nation for healthy and profitable activity in the spheres of commerce- and colonisation, "Walpole antici- pated in practice the laissez=faire policy advocated so powerfully, half a century later, by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. He allowed merchants and shippers to seek their own ends in their own ways ; he removed hampering - duties from both exports and imports, refrained from enforcing exasperating restrictions, fostered and encouraged the development of both home and colonial freedom of trade." But it seems that the term laissez-faire had slipped into the vocabulary of economics before the time of Adam Smith. It is said . that the term originated in a conversation between Colbert, the great finance minister of Louis XIV, and a merchant of the name of Legendre . as far back as the year 1680. . The minister asked the man of business, ".Que faut-il faire pour vous aider?" and the blunt answer was - "Noes laisser faire." At . all events -"Laissez faire, laissez passer" became an axiom of the "Physiocratic" school of -French economists of the middle eighteenth century. While the principle for which the term in question stands has been chiefly - associated with the name of Adam Smith, it would be a mistake to reduce his teaching entirely to so negative- a doctrine. Notwithstanding some apparent contradictions in the , Wealth of Nations, the following,view may fairly be deduced from it: State intervention is necessary . when the individual is - unequal to the economic problems confronting him, but when he can act for himself the Government must stand aside and let him carry on to the top of his bent.

PAST AND PRESENT.-The President of the University of Toronto in the course of his report on the, activities of that_ institution for the year ending 30th June, 1934, said "Many of the social, economic, and political institutions which have been built on the foundation of liberty are being challenged in idea and in institution . We are told they have failed after the slow growth of a thousand years. Shall we quietly allow these- principles by which we have evolved our best modern life to be thrown into the discard? Or, shall we defend them and show that they can be adapted to changed conditions; that we can remove injustice, privation, unhappiness, caused by new economic factors,, without destroying the very founda- tions upon which our civilisation -has been erected? It "is of vital - importance to our democracy that our citizens should have an accurate knowledge of our history, and of the real values in modern civilisation, and of the basic principles of freedom . . . . . Our . British

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democracy will be best preserved by a diffusion of knowledge and by an increased sense of responsibility among the whole body of citizens . We seek a government which will be established, retained or dismissed by an informed and well-disposed citizenship . For the right kind of knowledge to meet the crisis men will more and more look to the universities." The essence of this appeal for the inculcation of a better knowledge of our-that- is to say, English-history is that the traditions of the race of which so many of us are sprung, and with which. all Canadians are politically affiliated, may be reflect- ed in our attitude towards the reforms in our social structure which are imperatively demanded by the spirit of the age. Our civil traditions are the historical embodiment of the ideals of right social living entertained by our ancestors in their supreme moments of vision ; and while these traditions were politically purposive, ethical ideas pervaded them because they were ideals. Indeed, so much of liberty, stable order and justice as was manifest throughout the civilized world in the nineteenth century was due to the realization of pre-existing ideals, and England was certainly not behind her European neighbours in the measure she enjoyed of those cultural values. "It is'nt cricket" was a locution very generally used to express the Englisnman's regard for decent team-play in all the relations of life. Early in Queen Victoria's reign an Austrian writer said that "With all his defects, foibles and faults, the old English gentleman was one of the most striking and admirable forms of civilized national education in any period of time or in any nation ; and it was in fact, this race which ruled and represented England in the last period. To them she principally owes her power, her glory and her importance; and they were essentially the production of the university education of that period." Hence the soundness of the affirmation of the President of the University of Toronto (Dr. Cody) that the right kind of knowledge: to qualify the citizens of a democracy to cope with their present-day problems is to be had at the universities . It is there, or it ought to be there, that history is viewed and reviewed as philosophy teaching by examples, as Bolingbroke and Thucydides before him very truly said. It is there, or ought to be there, where the student will learn how English consitu- tional ideas that still quicken our minds trace their origins back to the thirteenth century, and how they served to keep the country on its way to national and international greatness until the present century began to turn things awry at the centre of empire as well as overseas. But spes bona dat vires; if our tra-

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ditions still inspire us the path to prosperity will again be made straight.

HOUSE OF COMMONS SPEAKERSHIP.-Mr. James L. Bowman, K.C., Conservative member for Dauphin, Manitoba, was elected Speaker of the House of Commons at the opening of on the 17th instant. He succeeds George Black, K.C., M.P., for the Yukon, who was forced by ill-health to retire. In nominating Mr. Bowman for the Speakership-an office which dates back in English parliamentary history to the reign--of Edward III-the Prime Minister referred to him as "a fair-minded man who will discharge- his duties as presiding officer fairly and dispassionately, carrying out the high traditions of the office as they obtain in the Canadian and British parlia- ments." The Right Honourable W. L. Mackenzie King, Liberal leader, rose immediately to associate himself with Mr. Bennett's " remarks about Mr. Bowman, observing that the Opposition very . cordially approved the Government's choice for the post. Mr. King added that it must be a most acceptable compliment to Mr. Bowman personally in being chosen Speaker during his first term as a member of Parliament. Speaker Bowman, on being escorted to the chair by Mr. Bennett and Honourable Hugh Guthrie, K.C., Minister of Justice, said he very deeply and sincerely appreciated the honour con ferred on him. He thanked Mr. Bennett for his very flattering remarks and Mr. King for his kindly and generous observations about himself. Speaking modestly of his- own qualifications for the Speakership, Mr. Bowman assured the House that he would endeavour at all times to discharge his duties with justice and impartiality, and in his task, he besought the, earnest, kind co- operation of all members of the House. - The House stood as one, maii as Speaker Bowman, after retiring, assumed the chair in the traditional black silk gown, white gloves and tri-cornered hat. * * Referring to the origin of the Speakership it is interesting ,to note that the Rolls of Parliament in the last year of the reign of Edward III: (1377) contain the following entry : " Monsieur Thomas de Hungerford, Chivaler, qi avoit les paroles pur les Com- munes d'Engleterre en cest Parlement." (Rot. Parl. ii, 374) . This is looked upon as the earliest record of the precise -character of the Speaker's office, and from then on there is a succession of these officers individually described as `pourparlour' or `parlour et procuratour' while_ the records-continued the u_ se of .Norman- French. .

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ACADEMY OF COMFARATINE LAW . -The International Academy of Comparative Law will hold its next quinquennial session in Paris during the year 1937. The executive committee will meet at The Hague, in the Peace Palace, on August 1st and 2nd, 1935, to prepare the programme of subjects to be discussed and make preliminary arrangements . An invitation has been extended to the Canadian Bar to send representatives of the common law provinces as well as that of , to represent Canada in these preliminary dis cussions. engaged in the summer term of the sittings of the Privy Council could easily wind up their stay abroad with a few days' visit at The Hague, after which the committee will move to Brussels, where the members will be the guests of the Belgian Government . Information may be obtained from the Secretary-General of the Academy, Mr. Steiner Balogh, 151 bis, rue Saint Jacques, Paris.

UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD COURT.-It appears from a pamphlet recently published by the American Bar Association under the of "In re The World Court" and under the editorship of Professor Manley O. Hudson, that the organized Bar of the United States has clearly and unmistakably expressed an opinion that the American people should participate in the maintenance of the Permanent Court of International Justice. The American Bar Association has passed five resolutions in favour of this being done, and the State Bar Associations of no less than 32 States in the union have similarly expressed them- selves. In a foreword to the pamphlet Mr. Homer Cummings observes "I have said of the World Court on a previous occasion, and I now repeat, that `in the fullness of time it is destined to become the most useful, the most majestic judicial tribunal in all the history of the human race.' I am confident that at some future time-when I know not-the United States will fall into step with sixty other nations on this subject; we cannot permanently remain out of line . When such action is taken, I hope that the lawyers of this country will receive for it the credit which they deserve."

ANTI-BANDIT DEVICE .-The Law Times (January 12th) has an interesting editorial comment on a device for the protection of those who are subjected to "hold ups" in banking institutions and like places. It is said to be the invention of two members of a rural bench of justices in England, and we learn that it

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consists of a foot-operated counter so constructed that it can be raised to a vertical position and automatically connected with a shutter dropped from the ceiling and with an outside alarm bell and red light signal. Simultaneously with this opera- tion, ochre mixed with oil can be generously sprayed at the exits upon any members of the genial profession of "banditry" who, having called, seek -to leave the premises in a hurry when they find they have received a counter-check instead of cash. In commenting upon .this invention-which has been proved to be workable-our contemporary says : "There is about - the device a flavour which consorts oddly with its origin in a rural bench, but who in future shall say that lay justices are not in touch with present day problems?"