ment of the facts in issue will not always be effective. Substance and not form must be of the first importance. It does not mean that we should substitute haste and want of consideration for deliberation and judgment. But it does mean that our judicial machinery must be so modeled that justice will be literally brought home to the people and that busy men can afford to litigate questions arising in our complex industrial life. This reform, however, is dependent at every stage upon a wide discretion of an enlightened and independent judiciary. Whether we substitute elastic Court rules for the rigid statutory procedure, or appeal to the Courts to apply their judicial discretion in minimizing the archaic rules of evidence which now obscure the ascertainment of the facts in issue, or if we make the trial judge more than a mere umpire in the game of litigation, or if we seek to reduce the overwhelming mass of printed reports that are only useful as precedents, or even if we seek to reduce the interminable volume of judicial opinions, and if more than all we seek to remove the ancient presumption of prejudice from error, and to make our appellate hearing more than mere quests for error, in each and every one of these methods of reform, we find as an indispensable factor the enlarged discretion of an independent judiciary. Our past failure, or rather our halting steps in seeking these reforms, are owing to the mistaken policy of distrusting and limiting the judicial power and preventing the exercise of judicial discretion. Unless our judges are independent and protected against popular clamor and the demand of political changes, they cannot perform their duty to the people in the administration of justice for the people. This independence of the judiciary cannot be secured without a supporting public opinion, and this cannot be insured without the co-operation of an intelligent and conscientious bar. This means that we must control our conten tious spirit in the trial of causes and make the quest for error subordinate to the demands for justice. Lawyers have in the past been the leaders in the movement for popular and judicial reforms. May we also be leaders in guiding and directing public opinion so that the administration of justice may be adequate for modern wants and the integrity of our constitutional system be preserved for the generations to come. APPENDIX E REPORT OF SECRETARY-TREASURER CHARLES A. DUCHAMP OF NEW ORLEANS To the President and Members of the Louisiana Bar Association: Your Secretary-Treasurer would respectfully report: Since the last report submitted to you in New Orleans on April 12th, 1913, our membership rolls show the following: |