The Canons of Legal Ethics national, formed, as is the American Bar Association, to promote the administration of justice and uphold the honor of the pro fession. Such a code in time will doubtless become of very great practical value by lead ing to action through the judiciary, for the courts may, as conditions warrant, require all candidates for the bar to subscribe to suitable and reasonable canons of ethics as a condi tion precedent to admission. If this be done, the courts will be in an indisputable position to enforce, through suspension or disbarment, the observance of proper ethical conduct on the part of members of the bar so admitted. Indeed, eventually the people, for the welfare of the community, and to further the admin istration of justice, may, either by constitu tional provisions or legislative enactments, demand that all, before being granted by the state the valuable franchise to practise, shall take an oath to support not only the Consti tution but such canons of ethics as may be established by law. One state already, Ala bama, to its credit be it said, has by statute made it a misdemeanor for an attorney to employ runners to solicit practice, and the public prosecutor is required to institute pro ceedings upon complaint of the council of the state bar association. But whatever measures may in time be developed to pre serve the judicial department of the govern ment, of which the bar forms so important a part, from the taint of unworthy motives and conduct, we believe that, viewed from almost any standpoint, the adoption and promulgation of a series of reasonable canons of professional ethics, in the form of a code by the American Bar Association, cannot but have a salutary effect upon the administra tion of justice, and upon the conduct of lawyers generally, whether on the bench or at the bar. Action by the national Association will also tend to develop uniformity between the various states, not only in form and method of statement, but also in application, and this we deem of practical importance. Indeed, the ultimate measure of success of this movement to keep the bar true to its pristine glory will be largely enhanced by harmony between the different states, and by the moral support given not only by the bars of various jurisdictions to each other, but by the courts of the sovereign states one to the other. 4. A further reason why we report the advisability of canons of ethics being authori tatively promulgated arises from the fact that
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many men depart from honorable and accepted standards of practice early in their careers as the result of actual ignorance of the ethical requirements of the situation. Habits ac quired when professional character is form ing are lasting in their effects. The "thus it is written" of an American Bar Association code of ethics should prove a beacon-light on the mountain of high resolve to lead the young practitioner safely through the snares and pitfalls of his early practice up to and along the straight and narrow path of high and honorable professional achievement. Second, as to practicability. We report that the adoption and promul gation of a code of ethics by the American Bar Association is entirely practicable. 1. It is in keeping with the objects for which our Association was organized, among which the following are declared by the con stitution: "To advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice and . . . uphold the honor of the profession of the law." 2. It is not impossible or indeed difficult to crystallize abstract ethical principles into a series of canons applicable to the usual concrete ethical problems which confront the lawyer in the routine of practice. Several state bar associations have already done so." The most significant statement in that report to me, and I invite your attention to it again, is the assertion "that many men depart from honorable and accepted standards of practice early in their careers as the result of actual ignorance of the ethical requirements of the situation." A few years ago I should have put such a statement to one side as an astonishing misapprehen sion of the facts, but the more I see of the young men who come under my instruction and the more I learn about the young men who are crowding into our profession the country over, the more I am convinced that this state ment is true. It need be true no longer, however, if only the other states of the country will follow the example set by the New York State Bar Association when it adopted the American Bar
