Robert W. Steele, Jr.,

Second Vice-President Albert J. Gould, Jr........ .Secretary 502 Symes Bldg., Phone Champa 3449

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Charles C. Butler Henry McAllister, Jr. Robert W. Steele Wilbur F. Denious Stanley T. Wallbank W. W. Grant, Jr. William E. Hutton

such efforts and the method of enforcement of such a system.

Would such a system, whether adopted by by-laws or by legislation, be legal in this State? Would it be ethical? Should we attempt it? How could it be enforced? WHAT DO YOU SAY?

The editors of the Record will be very glad to receive letters concerning the above subject of Minimum Fees or other topics of interest to the Association from members of this Association and will print in this Record such letters as may seem suitable.

The Denver Bar Association and devoted to the interests of that Association.

Office, 502 Symes Bldg., Denver, Colo.

Vol. II Denver, July, 1925 No. 7

MINIMUM FEES

The Bar Association of the City of New Orleans has sent to most of the Bar Associations throughout the country a form letter requesting information as to the activities, if any, of the respective Associations in securing the adoption of legislation or by-laws respecting minimum fees among practitioners at the Bar.

We understand that a number of the smaller Associations throughout this State have unwritten rules concerning minimum fees and that these rules are generally observed by the members of the respective Associations. There is nothing of this sort in force in this city and in this day of price-cutting, such as examining abstracts of title for $5 per. etc., this question of the adoption and the enforcement of rules or by-laws or legislation concerning minimum fees is one of interest to all attorneys. Many interesting points are involved in the consideration of the legality of

USE THE RECORD

The columns of this publication are for the use of the members of this Association. If the Record is to fulfill its function and justify its existence and repay us for the expenses of publishing and distributing the same, it must reflect the true spirit of this Association and advocate and assist in the dissemination of the principles and objects for which this Association exists. It can do this only through the co-operation of the members of this Association.

If you believe the membership certificates which are delivered to each member, who has paid his dues for the current year, are unnecessaryif you have ideas other than those now in force regarding the publication of this paper, the conduct of our meetings, the number of meetings held, the participation by this Association in political activities, the amount of our dues, or any other subject pertinent to lawyers or to the legal profession, address a letter to the Record containing your views with reference to any of these matters. Suitable letters signed by members of this Association will be printed in this publication and a discussion invited concerning the matters contained therein.

Let us make this publication a sort of liaison between the members of this Association. Then its existence will be justified and it will accomplish the good for which it was intended.

Daniel Webster said, "Lawyers work hard, live well and die poor."

Two or three months ago we received in the mail a brown colored envelope, across the left corner of which was typewritten the words, "The Jealous Mistress." Thinking this was a new form of advertising, we were about to throw the same into the common receptacle for such matter, but curiosity led us to look within. We then encountered for the first time the monthly publication of the Colorado Bar Association. In subsequent issues, we have noticed a considerable controversy waging as to who first designated the law as a "Jealous Mistress,' " and in the last issue we discovered that they have now decided to give the credit to our old friend, Blackstone. It seems that a layman by the name of Herbert Quick, who has a habit of writing for the Saturday Evening Post, has been the possessor of this valuable information and has at last released the same. We refer the editor and those in quest of the author of this appellation to Mr. Quick's article in the current Saturday Evening Post, the material part of which reads as follows:

"One of the really scholarly and profound lawyers then practicing in Mason City was Mr. John Cliggitt, who had been the partner of Capt. George R. Miller in his lifetime. Captain Miller was the father of my good friends, Tom B. and Reverdy J. Miller, and I suppose they spoke a good word for me to Mr. Cliggitt, as did my dear friend, Duncan Rule, then clerk of the courts, who had studied under Mr. Cliggitt and was merely awaiting the expiration of his term of office to assume a partnership in the firm of Cliggitt & Rule. So when I went to Mr. Cliggitt to ask the favor of a place in his office and the benefit of his guidance in my studies, I found him ready to receive me.

"He was a remarkable man. When I went into his office for my first interview he was sitting at a desk half covered with books, in a hard, straightbacked chair, with its legs

drawn forward so that it stood on its two hind feet. This was his characteristic attitude when studying. He had a theory, as I discovered, that a man engaged in legal investigation should not be too comfortable in his chair. He was what we used to call a textbook lawyer; that is, he placed great value on commentaries and legal principles as against reports of actual decisions. Therefore, he had the best textbook library in that part of the state.

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"There are two points of view,' said he, looking me over seriously with his large brown eyes, 'as to the best course of study for a man trying to learn the law. One is the oldfashioned system of studying the commentaries on the law written by the great legal lights of the profession, and mastering its basic principles. The other is to emphasize the cases which have been decided by men who as a rule don't average as great legal lights, but happen to sit on the benches of our courts of last resort. Some of our law schools are adopting the case-law course of study. I do not believe in it. Therefore I think you had better begin, as I did, with Blackstone. After you have gone through that, we'll see.'

"John Cliggitt took his law mighty seriously. I must have been a source of some annoyance to him, for my tendency was to make a joke of everything. He had his sense of humor; but when I looked over the titles of his textbooks and laughed at such titles as 'Ram on Facts' and 'Rorer on Railroads,' he did not respond. Who was I to make a jest of such things?

"Captain Miller, his former partner, had been for a long time an invalid, and had brought into the office a great easy chair. One day Mr. Cliggitt came in and found me comfortably ensconced in this chair, reading Blackstone. He gently suggested that such sybaritism was antagonistic to the stern pursuit of the basic principles of the law.

""The law,' he said. 'is a jealous mistress.'

* *

Thus endeth the quest.

Chief Justice George W. Allen of our Supreme Court, on June 13, 1925, delivered an address before The Larimer County Bar Association at a dinner tendered the judges of our Supreme Court. Into his remarks he injected the following bit of judicial humor:

"Of course you are familiar with our rule limiting oral arguments to a half an hour on a side. It used to be one hour. The change has not given the lawyers any trouble, and on the other hand has helped to expedite the business of the court. While this rule may deprive a lawyer of the pleasure of speaking for a full hour, it has a compensating quality in that it saves him the pain of listening to his opponent for an hour.

"Sometimes it may occur that when the attorney for plaintiff in error has finished his argument, the court may be satisfied that he is wrong and that it would be a waste of time and energy for opposing counsel to make an argument. The court may then suggest to the coun

sel on the opposite side: 'We don't Lawcare to hear from you, sir.' yers, of course, understand what it means. Such circumstances occurred at one time when the great and far famed Matt Carpenter of Wisconsin was engaged in a case in the United States Supreme Court. When at the close of the very ably and comprehensive argument, such as he was in the habit of presenting, and the opposing counsel was rising from his place to answer it, the Chief Justice remarked: 'We don't care to hear from you, sir.' It happened that this opposing counsel was so deaf that he did not understand the remark of the Chief Justice. As was his habit, he placed his hand to his ear, as if asking for a repetition of the remark. Thereupon, the generous, yet facetious Carpenter, in a very kindly way of helping his opponent along, said to him in a confidential manner, but sufficiently audible that the court did hear: "The court says they would rather give you the case than hear you talk.''

In the death of Edward L. Shannon the Bar of this city lost one of Mr. its most esteemed members. Shannon passed away August 26, after a lingering illness of six seven weeks.

or

Mr. Shannon was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University and moved to Denver in 1891. He studied law in the offices of George C. Manly and the late William L. Moore and was admitted to the Bar on February 6, 1893. He has practiced law in Denver continuously since that time. He gave considerable of his time to church and educational ac

tivities and was a member of the Denver and the Colorado State Bar Associations.

In the loss of Mr. Shannon the Bar of this city and this Association have lost one who ever adhered to the highest principles in the practice of his profession and was known among his fellows as an ethical practitioner.

The members of the Association extend their sympathy to the members of his family in the loss of one of whom we say, "He fought a good fight."