Thormodsgard, O. H.

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North Dakota Law Review Volume 24 Number 1 Article 3 1948 The Fifty-Seventh Annual Conference - 1947 O. H. Thormodsgard Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Thormodsgard, O. H. (1948) "The Fifty-Seventh Annual Conference - 1947," North Dakota Law Review: Vol. 24 : No. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr/vol24/iss1/3 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Dakota Law Review by an authorized editor of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact und.commons@library.und.edu. BAR BRIEFSTHE FIFTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE-1947The fifty-seventh Annual Conference on Uniform State Laws washeld in Cleveland, Ohio, September 15 to 20 inclusive. President W. E.Stanley of Wichita, Kansas, in his excellent address emphasized thatin fifty-seven years the Conference had produced ninety UniformActs. Of these the Conference now only lists fifty-three of them ascurrent, that is, those that are approved for printing and are submittedto the legislatures for adoption.As lawyers, we should take note that the Conference is composedof judges, practicing lawyers, and teachers of law from the forty-eightstates, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.There are 138 regular Commissioners and approximately twenty lifemembers, that is, those who have served as Commissioners for twentyyears and were elected to life 'membership in the Conference pursuantto the Constitution of the Conference.The Conference has been successful in securing qualified personsto prepare drafts of proposed uniform laws and model acts. TheConference has also made considerable progress in getting the statesto agree on uniform laws in order to end conflicts which affect theproperties of every person residing in the United States. Some stateshave adopted as many as forty-nine uniform or model acts. NorthDakota has enacted twenty-eight. In a large measure, the responsibilityof securing more of the uniform acts enacted by this state rests uponthe lawyers of this state. Special responsibilities fall upon the Commis-sioners on Uniform Sales Laws, the officers of the North Dakota BarAssociation and the Legislative Committee of the Bar Association.When a Uniform Act is adopted that does not mean that it willremain forever in our code. No law is static, neither is a Uniform Act.The Conference is now at work revising and redrafting several of theearlier uniform laws. The commercial law subjects which have beensponsored by the Conference are as follows: Negotiable Instruments(1896); Warehouse Receipts (1906) ; Sales (1906) ; Bills of Lading(1909); Stock Transfer (1909) ; and Trusts Receipts (1933). It isevident to all that the above acts do not cover the entire commercialfield. Furthermore, there is a lack of integration between the severalacts. Likewise, since their promulgation, new business practices havedeveloped. Because of these changes in business practices, the NewYork Merchant Association prepared -and recommended to Congressfor adoption a new Sales Act to govern interstate commerce. Thisproposal prompted the National Conference on Uniform State Lawsto plan a revision of all the Uniform Acts dealing with commercialsubjects. A Commercial Code has been proposed. The New YorkMerchant Association then withdrew its special act. The proposedCommercial Code will include Sales, Commercial Paper, Bank Collec-tions, Investment Instruments, Bills of Lading and Warehouse Receipts,Chattel Security, and Commercial Agency. Work on these separatechapters is going forward simultaneously. The major portion of theConference week was devoted to the consideration of the materialsection by section with criticism and suggestions. It is the plan of theConference to have the work completed in its entirety on the, Com-mercial Code by January 1, 1950.Stated meetings were held on the proposed Uniform AncillaryAdministration of Estates Act, Uniform Probate of Foreign Wills Act,BAR BRIEFSUniform Reciprocal Judgment Act, and the Uniform Divorce Recog-nition Act.At the Saturday morning session of the Conference, on September20th, two proposed Uniform Acts were approved. However, at thepresent time, both of these acts are not in such a status that they arebeing promulgated by the Conference. One of these two acts was theUniform Ancillary Administration of Estates Act. The Conferencedoes not promulgate Uniform Acts until they have been approved bythe American Bar Association through its House of Delegates. Whenthis act came before the House of Delegates of the American BarAssociation during the week of September 22, it was referred to theAmerican Bar Association's Section of Real Property, Trusts, andProbate Law for the recommendation of that Section for final approval.Until this act has been approved by the House of Delegates, it will notbe promulgated by the Conference.A second act, known as the Uniform Divorce Recognition Act,was approved by the Conference at that morning session. The resolu-tion for adoption provided that the act should be submitted to theAmerican Bar Association at such time as seemed appropriate to theExecutive Committee of the Conference. It was felt advisable by themembers present to withhold reference of the Uniform Divorce Recog-nition Act until there was an opportunity to examine any furtherexpression of opinion concerning the subject matter by the SupremeCourt in pending cases. When the opinions are available in the twocases which raise the issue of validity of interstate divorces of Sherrerv Sherrer and Coe v Coe (16 L.W. 3119), the Executive Committeewill make a further study of the draft which the Conference approvedin the light of the new opinions. Although the 1947 Conference didapprove two proposed Uniform Acts, neither of them at present areready for promulgation.Although the Conference is an instrumentality engaged in prepar-ing Uniform Acts, it is in fact an agency of the several states andterritories, an agency of every state legislature and of the lawyers ofthe United States. The National Conference on Uniform State Lawsinvites the interests and co-operation of all lawyers of this state.0. H. THORMODSGARD, Commissioner

The Fifty-Seventh Annual Conference - 1947

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The Fifty-Seventh Annual Conference - 1947

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