Address of Welcome

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my special privilege this morning to make you welcome here, to the city of Seattle, and to this University of Washington on whose campus we are met. It is perhaps, I should say, somewhat superfluous to do this since I am sure all of you know that you are always very welcome here. I want, however, to affirm and to fortify your knowledge in that respect

Report of Committee on Reducing the Volume of Published Opinions

Under the common law system of jurisprudence, the decided cases are the primary tools and source material with which the Bench and Bar work in solving the problems of the public. The tremendous bulk of that source material in America and the great size of the annual accretions to it have caused serious concern to lawyers and judges in this country for many years. Particularly during the past twenty years many writers and several committees of various bar associations have published comments and reports on the subject. The suggested solutions vary but all agree that the problem is a very real one and that unles some solution be found, our legal system—like a man suffering from a lung disease—may drown in its own secretion. Being aware of the problem and of the fact that it besets this state, as well as all of the United States, your President and Board of Governors have appointed this Committee to study the matter and make recommendations

The Growing-Up Stick (A Book Review for Washington Lawyers). \u3ci\u3eMiniumum Standards of Judicial Administration\u3c/i\u3e, edited by Arthur T. Vanderbilt (1949)

The book at hand goes a considerable way to fill this need for a set of standards, although the editor, Hon. Arthur T. Vanderbilt, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and a former eminent President of the American Bar Association, vigorously emphasizes the fact that these are the minimum standards needed in a practical way to make our court procedure work in the twentieth century. These standards have the firm support of the American Bar Association and the National Conference of Judicial Councils. In the introduction to the volume Judge Vanderbilt tells how and why these standards were developed

Book Review: \u3cem\u3eThe Goldmark Case\u3c/em\u3e by William L. Dwyer

The book is about a libel case tried to a jury in the Superior Court for Okanogan County, Washington. You will not find it in the law reports, for it was not appealed. It ended twenty-one years ago, so it is an old case. Yet in the author\u27s mind it is as fresh as the dawn breeze; and, as the wine people say, it has cellared well. The author is a good man and good lawyer who was lead counsel for the plaintiff. He takes us through the background facts and through the fascinating detail of the many tough decisions that daily went into the preparation and the trial. He tells us of the jury verdict for the plaintiff and of the elation that accompanied it; and then he relates the strange irony that resulted in the verdict\u27s having to be set aside

Criminal Law—Perjury—Depositions—Suggested Legislation

By an amended information, in a recent Washington case, respondent was charged with the crime of perjury in the first degree, the information alleging that respondent came before a notary public for the purpose of giving his deposition which was to be used in a pending civil case, that he was sworn according to law to tell the truth, and that he thereupon testified falsely with the intent that his testimony as written in the deposition be used in that civil case. It affirmatively appeared, both from the allegations of the original information and from the state\u27s admission in open court, that the deposition was never subscribed by respondent. The superior court sustained respondent\u27s demurrer and dismissed the prosecution. Upon the state\u27s appeal, it was held that the demurrer had been properly sustained

The Doctrine of Constructive Fraud in the Washington Law of Taxation

Two recent Washington decisions, Bellingham Development Co. v. Whatcom County and Grays Harbor Pac. R. Co. v. Grays Harbor County present separate phases of a problem which has been frequently considered by the Supreme Court of Washington and concerning which that court has formulated a general rule: namely, that the court will relieve a taxpayer from the burden of an excessive tax where the conduct of the taxing officers has been so improper that it can be called constructively fraudulent , even though the officers acted in good faith. The rule is clearly a proper one, but, like so many general rules , the application of it to a concrete case presents many difficulties, and it is hoped that here some light may be thrown on the characteristics of that will o\u27 the wisp, constructive fraud, so that its presence, or absence, in future cases can be more nearly ascertained. At the outset it must be noted that it is beyond the scope of this comment to attempt a discussion of the remedies available to a taxpayer who has been the victim of improper conduct on the part of the taxing officers, nor does this comment purport to exhaust the field of situations in which the taxpayer has a remedy, because the constructive fraud cases form only a segment of the cases in which the court will grant relief from the effects of improper conduct of the taxing officers

Jurisdiction Over Lands Ownedy by the United States Within the State of Washington: Part I, The Subject in General

Among the unique characteristics of our federal system of government is the concept of the dual sovereignty of the national and state governments over land, things, and persons located within the boundaries of the states. In addition to its position and rights as ultimate sovereign over all territory within its borders, the United States is also a corporate body politic and as such can make contracts, and can hold property, both real and personal. Under this power to own property in its own right the United States has become a great landed proprietor, owning many tracts of land within the exterior boundaries of the states, and it is this fact which gives rise to the problems of jurisdiction and control with which this paper is concerned

Book Review: \u3cem\u3eThe Goldmark Case\u3c/em\u3e by William L. Dwyer

The book is about a libel case tried to a jury in the Superior Court for Okanogan County, Washington. You will not find it in the law reports, for it was not appealed. It ended twenty-one years ago, so it is an old case. Yet in the author\u27s mind it is as fresh as the dawn breeze; and, as the wine people say, it has cellared well. The author is a good man and good lawyer who was lead counsel for the plaintiff. He takes us through the background facts and through the fascinating detail of the many tough decisions that daily went into the preparation and the trial. He tells us of the jury verdict for the plaintiff and of the elation that accompanied it; and then he relates the strange irony that resulted in the verdict\u27s having to be set aside