The Legal World Judge D. E. Hydrick was installed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Caro lina April 15, succeeding Hon. Y. J. Pope, resigned. Judge F. M. Bixby, a prominent lawyer of Plymouth County, Mass., died April 11. He acted as senior counsel for Jane Toppan, the nurse who was tried for murdering several of her patients and was adjudged insane. Hon. Rodney C. Abell, a prominent lawyer of Vermont, died at West Haven, Vt., April 14. He had the reputation of being one of the best parliamentarians ever having served in the Vermont Legislature. Former Judge Alton B. Parker made an admirable toastmaster at the Appellate Divi sion Dinner given by the New York County Lawyers' Association March 20. Judge Dil lon's address of welcome charmed all present. Justice William J. Gainor gave a lecture on "Code Pleading and Practice," in the audi torium of Brooklyn Law School April 24. Another lecture by Justice Gainor will follow later, on "Have the Courts made a New Con stitution for Us?" The Florida State Bar Association held its annual meeting at St. Augustine February 19 and 20. The following papers were read: annual address of the President, "Which, the Mob or the Law?" by Frederick T. Myers, Esq., Tallahassee; "Remarks on the Judiciary Article of the Constitution of the State of Florida," by Rhydon M. Call, Esq., Jackson ville; "Proximate and Remote Cause in the Law of Torts," by A. A. Boggs, Esq., Miami; "The Science of Jurisprudence," by Hon. Hannis Taylor, LL.D., Washington, D.C. It has been maintained in some quarters that the Elkins law no longer has any force, since Judge Anderson reversed the decision of Judge Landis in the Standard Oil fine case; but while the Department of Justice will not attempt to overthrow the decision, there are other cases against the Standard Oil which will be prosecuted under the Elkins act. Some "high official of the government" pointed out that the United States Court of Appeals held substantially, in the re-trial of the fine case, that the government had to prove that the shipper knew he was getting the legal rate, a thing which rarely if ever could be done. But, as the Boston Advertiser appropriately observes, "There is every reason to believe that the Elkins law suffices to furnish adequate machinery for obtaining con victions where the evidence is sufficiently strong and where the case is prepared with sufficient thoroughness and care."
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justice John M. Davy, for seventeen years ustice of the New York Supreme Court, died April 21 in Atlantic City. He was born in Ottawa in 1835. Going to Congress in 1875, he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court in 1888, and was one of the state's best-known jurists. Causten Browne, a prominent Boston lawyer, died in Brookline, Mass., April 8. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1828, he began the practice of law in Boston in 1852. He was the author of a treatise on "The Con struction of the Statutes of Frauds" which has passed through five editions. "International arbitration has so progressed in our time," said Secretary of War David M. Dickinson at the Appomattox Day banquet of the Hamilton Club in Chicago April 9, "that no one can doubt that it is the most powerful force now working upon the nations for the temporal happiness of mankind. Inter national arbitration as we know it, is no more the product of the last hundred years than was the federal Constitution of 1789 a product of that era. It is the flower of our time. There can be no disarmament until the greater powers agree upon a system of con current action. The tide of public sentiment all over the world is setting strongly in this direction." The prosecution of the Standard Oil Com pany for alleged violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act came to trial April 5 at St. Louis before the full bench of the United States Circuit Court, Judges Sanborn, Van Devanter, Hook and Adams. The arguments in behalf of the Government were made by Frank B. Kellogg, assisted by former United States District Attorney Morrison of Chicago. The corporation was represented by John G. Milburn of New York, Moritz Rosenthal and John S. Miller of Chicago, David T. Watson of Pittsburg and John G. Johnson of Phila delphia. An entire week was occupied in hearing the arguments. After the hearing the judges retired and held a consultation concerning their long and tedious future work of going through the evidence and briefs of counsel, each of the latter having presented a separate pivotal argument on both the law and the facts. It is not expected that a deci sion will be rendered before early next autumn. The record in the case embodies 11,000,000 words, and the case has employed the attention of a score of eminent corpora tion attorneys for almost two years. It is estimated that the total expense of the suit will finally represent an expenditure of about $5,000,000. The case is one of the most important and far-reaching civil actions that has ever been tried in this country. The issue is so important that, whatever may be the result of the trial before the Circuit Court, the case certainly will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
