October 1886: An American Bar Association report urged codification of law and reduction of judicial activism. “There are now in this country two ways of making law, and these are legislation and litigation,” it said. “Whether there was ever at any time, in any country, reason for judge-made law, … there is not now any reason for it whatever. It is illogical, unsafe and contrary to the American theory of government.” The Law Journal editors were bemused that the ABA was urging codification of common law “so far as it is settled by judicial opinions” — which were made by judges.
100 Years Ago
October 1911: Discussing the pros and cons of the contingent fee, Law Journal commentator F.C. Wilkinson remarked there would be two major casualties if it were abolished: the poor man who couldn’t get access to court and the young lawyer who couldn’t get a start in practice. “That the legal world is slow to trust a young practitioner is as much a truism for the laity as for the bar,” he said. “The young practitioner must often adopt this method to obtain any business at all, be he ever so worthy.”
