The Green Bag
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jects are receiving the mature delibera tion which may well precede all forms of legislation.
In other fields than that of commer cial law, the forces which make for
the need of uniformity will surely re ceive its thoughtful attention. The
Conference has thus come to exercise a function of great importance in molding the legislation of the several states, and
uniformity are less powerful. In some subjects, indeed, uniformity may be
should be consulted by the state legis
unattainable because of fundamental differences between the institutions of various sections. The Conference recog nizes that a very large group of matters are primarily subjects for local regula
of state legislation, and aided with sug gestions from every source in its work of shaping new uniform acts. Were the examples of Massachusetts, which has
tion, and wisely keeps within bounds in advocating only that uniformity which
seems consistent with due recognition of local exigencies.
Scarcely any sub
ject more imperatively demands uni form legislation than that of divorce,
not that differences in the way this subject is regarded in different states may be reconciled, but chiefly that
confusing questions of jurisdiction may be resolved, and that the decrees of one state may be enforcible in another. This subject, like that of the taxation of property outside a state, and that of the probate of foreign wills, is of con
cern not to one state alone but to the entire community of states. Of necessity
there are strong forces at work to bring about uniformity in the laws governing
this class of subjects. In another group of subjects, falling
possibly within the classification of social legislation, e.g., child labor and work men's compensation, the necessity for uniformity may be less clearly evident, but the advantages of model uniform
acts drawn with the best legal skill obtainable, such as that afforded by the Conference, are sufficiently plain, and
the efforts of the Conference in these directions cannot fail to be remark ably successful.
The Conference has not been reluc tant to assume new tasks, and every topic of state legislation which discloses
latures for advice on important projects
enacted seven of the eight uniform acts, and of Wisconsin, which has adopted six of them, to be imitated by their sister states, the movement would be given a great impetus which would surely produce momentous results, and would strengthen the hands of the most
efficient bill-drafting body in the land to lay hold of many new undertakings of tremendous importance.
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN FTER nearly thirty-four years of
distinguished service as an Asso ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, John Marshall Har
Ian died at his home in Washington, Oct. 14, at the age of seventy-eight. His illness had been brief, and Judge Harlan continued in the possession of vigorous mental powers up to the last, dying
practically in the harness. Justice Harlan’s powerful personality has left its impress on the many deci sions rendered by the Supreme Court during a long period, and so deep is that
impress that his name will loom large in the history of the Court. So distin guished are his opinions for intellectual force and firmness of conviction that they are certain for a long time to attract attention to his unusual per sonality, and always to be remembered as those of one of the strongest individuali
ties that ever occupied the Supreme Court bench.
