ADDRESS OF W. C. MIKEL, K.C., OF BELLEVILLE, PRESIDENT OF THE ONTARIO BAR ASSOCIATION, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION, 1912.

SIX YEARS' EXISTENCE.

The Ontario Bar Association has completed the sixth year of its existence, and while the past six years may be regarded as a formative period, still the Association has justified its existence even during this struggling period of infancy by achievements that would do credit to an older and stronger organization.

It has been fortunate in having Sir Mortimer Clarke, Sir J. M. Gibson, and E. F. B. Johnston, K.C., for Honorary Presidents, and A. H. Clarke, K.C., M.P., of Windsor, Hon. Mr. Justice Hodgins (before being called to the Bench) and Mr. Charles Elliott of Toronto, and S. F. Lazier, K.C., of Hamilton, for Presidents. With such men as these as its head, failure was impossible.

CAME BY EVOLUTION.

It did not come into existence suddenly and meteorlike, but came by the slow and natural process of evolution. In what may be called the embryonic stage (a period of gestation of nine years) delegates from the various County Law Library Associations once a year journeyed to Toronto to discuss matters of interest to these organizations, but it was soon found that there were many topics of interest to the legal profession generally outside of the scope of the County Law Library Associations, and which needed also representatives from counties where there were no such Associations.

STARTED WITH FIFTY MEMBERS.

The formation of a permanent organization of the members of the legal profession for the Province was discussed from time to time at these meetings, and as the year 1906 was drawing to a close the Ontario Bar Association was launched with about fifty members. So well has this step been appreciated by the lawyers of Ontario, that the membership has increased to over five hundred and the Association

has developed into a force of great strength and activity, capable of exercising a useful influence in the Province generally.

NOT A UNION TO KEEP UP PRICES.

The Association is a factor that must be reckoned with, if for nothing else than because of the unselfishness of its aims. The members are not banded together to compel the public to employ only themselves or restrain each other from rendering their services below a fixed price. The Ontario Bar Association has no object except that which is for the benefit of the whole people.

LAWYERS' UNION DIFFERS FROM ALL OTHER UNIONS.

There is nothing in the rules of the Association or in the regulations governing the legal profession generally, that prevents a lawyer giving his services for as small a remuneration as he wishes or for no remuneration if he chooses. There are however stringent provisions preventing him from charging more than the fixed scale of costs. In these respects lawyers' unions differ from all other trusts, combinations and unions of the present day, which prevent their members charging less than a fixed amount but permit them to charge as much more as they like, and therefore have for their chief object enhanced prices, which necessarily increase the cost of living.

LAWYERS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR INCREASED Cost of LIVING.

The legal profession cannot be charged with having contributed to the increased cost of living which has in recent years featured so largely, as the scale of costs now in force has been practically the same for the last twenty-five years.

LAWYERS ENTITLED TO THE GRATITUDE OF THE PUBLIC.

There is no other class which has done so much for the public. It is the lawyer who is in the forefront of every great struggle for liberty. It is the lawyer who has overthrown the tyranny and oppression of monarchs, oligarchies, and powerful classes. It is the lawyer who has guided barbarism along the treacherous march to civilization. It is the lawyer who has made the great power of the press possible. There is no community in which the people are in such abject control of

designing, powerful and cruel interests as the one in which there are no lawyers. They have to do with the weightiest questions of life, liberty and property. In the business world employees deceive their principals, partners deceive each other, one set of shareholders conspire to wreck the interests of the other, husbands deceive their wives and wives their husbands. But lawyers, though possessing the business, domestic and other heart secrets of their clients, the disclosing of which would bring disaster, have never been known to sell their clients. With it all they are the poorest paid class in the community. Chief Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court said the history of lawyers is to work hard, live well and die poor.

LAWYERS BROUGHT TOGETHER BY THE ASSOCIATION.

One of the objects of the Ontario Bar Association is to bring lawyers together for sociability as well as the discussion of subjects of interest to the profession. Never has there been a time when so many members of the legal profession gathered together and at such frequent intervals, never has there been a time when the members throughout the Province generally were so well acquainted with each other, never has there been a time when so much discussion has taken place on subjects of such great importance, never has there been a time when the members of the profession have had the advantage of listening to so many interesting and useful papers prepared and delivered by lawyers and Judges of eminence, as since the inception of the Ontario Bar Association. The intercourse of lawyers has not been confined to this Province. Lawyers from other Provinces of the Dominion and from the United States have attended our meetings and left behind them words of wisdom and food for profound thought. Representatives from our Association have returned these visits and brought back reports full of interest.

So that if the Association had accomplished nothing else

in the last six years, its existence is fully justified by the above

results.

During last year it has also, through its committees and members, devoted a great deal of attention to the new Conbe given to the public. Law Reform and General Legislation solidated Rules and High and County Court Tariffs, soon to have

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ner by the profession than ever before, and now that the several standing Committees having charge of the various departments of Law Reform, of Legislation, of Legal Ethics and of History, have become somewhat accustomed to their work, the Association will acquire an influence never before enjoyed by any such organization in the Province.

RELATIONS OF THE BENCH AND BAR MORE CORDIAL SINCE THE O. B. A. WAS FORMED.

At no time have the relations between the Bench and Bar been so well understood and so cordial as since the Ontario Bar Association was formed. Judges have come to our gatherings and in the most friendly and brotherly way pointed out our faults and admitted their own. In passing it might be well to remind lawyers of the necessity of keeping constant watch for that fault which is ever ready to creep insidiously upon us, that is, coming into Court with an unprepared case. It has a most pernicious influence upon the lawyer himself, is dangerous to the client's interest and annoying to the Judge.

The Hon. Mr. Justice Middleton, the Hon. Mr. Justice Kelly, the Hon. Mr. Justice Hodgins, and His Honour Judge Denton, having been called to the Bench, and Mr. Donald McIntyre, K.C., having been appointed Chairman of the Ontario Railway and Municipal Board, all since our Association was organized, removes from active participation in our work, gentlemen who have rendered splendid service to the Association. While these appointments mean to us a heavy loss, we are consoled with the thought that they constitute a distinct gain to the Province as a whole.

SIR CHARLES Moss.

The circumstances which gave rise to the appointment of the Hon. Mr. Justice Hodgins (a former President of our Association) to the Court of Appeal remind us of the sad loss to the Bench. to the Bar and to the Province as a whole occasioned by the death, since we last met, of Sir Charles Moss, late Chief Justice of Ontario. He was respected by all, for his high character, admired for his ability and erudition and loved for his kindly and gentle nature.

LAW REFORM ACT, PART I.

The great outstanding feature of importance to the lawyer during the past year is the Proclamation bringing into force

Part I of the Law Reform Act, ch. 28, 9 Edw. VII., by which there will be but one appeal from a judgment within. this Province, and that appeal made easier and perhaps less expensive than the present appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is to be hoped the highest expectations of its supporters will

be realized.

ALL GREAT PROBLEMS OF THE PEOPLE ULTIMATELY COME TO THE LAWYER TO BE SOLVED.

There are some great questions which the Canadian people are facing, the correct attitude as to which, and the correct administration of which, will greatly affect the future of our Province and of the Dominion. They are Public Ownership, the form of Municipal Government, and the System of Municipal Taxation. All great problems of the people ultimately come to the lawyer to be solved and these will form no exception to the rule.

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.

The demand that is uppermost in the public mind to-day is Public Ownership. People have seen the evil effects of great interests and valuable franchises being handed over to private corporations, and they are willing to accept whatever defects there may be in Public Ownership, only to again get control. It is needless to say to the lawyer that while the principle is sound, constant vigilance is necessary to guard against dangers quite as odious as the worst effects of ownership by private corporations.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

No class of law comes as close to the individual as that emanating from the municipal governing bodies. We have had municipal government by Boards of Magistrates, and the direct voting of the people at the Town Meeting, later by Councils, elected by Wards or the General Vote System, then the Board of Control, and last by a small paid elected Council called a Commission. One municipality in the United States has proposed to hand over the whole business of the town to a manager. After all it is more a matter of men than of system, and the system that will produce the best men will give the best results. It is generally conceded that none of the