General Education When to be Obtained.

In Pennsylvania and in several other states a student must satisfy the requirement as to general education before he begins to study law. Under the Massachusetts rule this is not required. A man is allowed to carry on his study of the law and his study of general subjects at the same time, although this is not considered a desirable thing to do.

A Square Deal.

It is the aim of the Board of Bar Examiners to treat all applicants in the same way and upon an equal footing. Examination books are read and marked by number, no member of the board knowing whose book he is reading.

Hardships.

The decisions of the board are made without regard to the hardships in any particular case. This seems to be the best and fairest way. The hardships are keenly appreciated by members of the board, but the interests of the community and the proper standing of the profession require that rules which are carefully made and are reasonable in their provisions should be followed and lived up to.

Legislation of 1914.

The facts above stated were laid before the legislature and none of the bills as originally presented were passed. The legislature did, however, pass Chapter 670, which provides

"that an applicant for admission to the bar shall not be required to be a graduate of any high school, college, or university."

This statute, however, is not directed against anything which the Bar Examiners have required, for, as already pointed out, the Bar Examiners have never made any such requirement. The present rule, VII., A, quoted and explained above, remains, therefore, unaffected, and as it is an obviously reasonable rule it is to be hoped that agitation about it will cease.

Chapter 699 of 1914 to allow the Settlement of
Estates in One Year.

This bill was supported last year by this Association (Mass. Bar Assn. Rep., Vol. IV., pp. 90-91). The support was continued this year and the bill was passed. We believe it will prove to be of great convenience to the whole community.

The Anti-Injunction Act.

In view of the political importance which labor disputes have assumed this committee has been given no authority by the Executive Committee to take an active part before the legislature in the controversies relating to injunctions in such disputes. Accordingly these subjects have been left to be dealt with by others.

Following out this attitude we simply call the special attention of the bar to the new act, which deserves careful study.

CHAPTER 778.

"AN ACT TO MAKE LAWFUL CERTAIN AGREEMENTS BETWEEN EMPLOYEES AND LABORERS, AND TO LIMIT THE ISSU

ING OF INJUNCTIONS IN CERTAIN CASES.

SECTION 1. It shall not be unlawful for persons employed or seeking employment to enter into any arrangements, agreements or combinations with the

view of lessening the hours of labor or of increasing their wages or bettering their condition; and no restraining order or injunction shall be granted by any court of the commonwealth or by any judge thereof in any case between an employer and employees, or between employers and employees, or between persons employed and persons seeking employment, or involving or growing out of a dispute concerning terms or conditions of employment, or any act or acts done in pursuance thereof, unless such order or injunction be necessary to prevent irreparable injury to property or to a property right of the party making the application, for which there is no adequate remedy at law; and such property or property right shall be particularly described in the application, which shall be sworn to by the applicant or by his agent or attorney.

SECTION 2. In construing this act, the right to enter into the relation of employer and employee, to change that relation, and to assume and create a new relation for employer and employee, and to perform and carry on business in such relation with any person in any place, or to do work and labor as an employee, shall be held and construed to be a personal and not a property right. In all cases involving the violation of the contract of employment either by the employee or employer where no irreparable damage is about to be committed upon the property or property right of either, no injunction shall be granted, but the parties shall be left to their remedy at law.

SECTION 3. No persons who are employed or seeking employment or other labor shall be indicted, prosecuted or tried in any court of the commonwealth for entering into any arrangement, agreement, or combination between themselves as such employees or laborers, made with a view of lessening the number of hours of labor or increasing their wages or bettering their condition, or for any act done in pursuance thereof, unless such act is in itself unlawful. [Approved July 7, 1914."

Auditors in Civil Actions.

A number of bills were introduced to provide various strict rules relative to auditors' reports and the practice before auditors. All but one of these bills were opposed by your committee on the ground that the remedy proposed would not improve matters but would tend to introduce new and inconvenient formal complications into the law.

The following act, however, was passed as

CHAPTER 576.

SECTION 1. No action at law shall be discontinued, nor shall the plaintiff in any such action become nonsuit after the action shall have been referred to an auditor and hearings before such auditor have been begun, except with the written consent of the defendant or in the discretion of the court.

This section was not opposed by your committee. It changes the long established rule discussed in Carpenter & Sons v. New York, etc., R.R., 184 Mass. 98, and places an auditor's hearing on the same basis as a master's hearing in equity as to the absolute right of a plaintiff to discontinue.

SECTION 2 amends R.L. 165, Sect. 55, by striking out all after the word "court" in the sixth line and substituting the following:

"The auditor's findings of fact shall be prima facie evidence upon such matters only as are embraced in the order; but the court at the trial shall exclude any finding of fact which appears in the report to be based upon an erroneous opinion of law, or upon evidence which is inadmissible. Whenever the auditor makes a ruling as to the admissibility of evidence and objection is taken thereto he shall, if requested so to do, make a statement of such ruling in his report. The auditor shall not make any finding of fact which depends upon

the decision of a question of law, unless he makes alternative findings or states in his report the view of the law upon which his finding depends, together with such subsidiary facts as will enable the court to pass upon the question."

This section will soon be tested in practice.

SECTION 3, R.L. 165, Sect. 57, is amended by adding:

"If either party neglects to appear at the time appointed for such hearing, or at any adjournment thereof, without just cause, or if at any such hearing either party refuses to produce in good faith the testimony relied on by him, the auditor or auditors may close the hearings and make a report recommending that judgment be entered for the adverse party. Judgment shall be entered accordingly at the first judgment day after the expiration of ten days from the filing of the report, unless the court, for good cause shown, otherwise orders."

SECTION 4, R.L. 165, Sect. 59, is amended by striking out the last sentence.

SECTION 5, R.L. 165, Sect. 61, is amended by striking out the word " further" in the 4th line.

Other Acts Relating to Civil Practice and Procedure. C. 553. Changing the burden of proving contributory negligence:

"SECTION 1. In all actions, civil or criminal, to recover damages for injuries to the person or property or for causing the death of a person, the person injured or killed shall be presumed to have been in the exercise of due care, and contributory negligence on his or her part shall be an affirmative defence to be set up in the answer of, and proved by the defendant.

SECT. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.