Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/61

 42

influence of the discussions. Many a youthful barrister spends his evenings at a local parliament in the fond hope that some of his fellow members who belong to the lower branch of his profession may be led captive by his eloquence and give practical proof of their admiration by affording him the opportunity of earning fame and riches in another sphere. I do not think these dreams are often realized. I fancy a phenomenon familiar in our own courts is also observable in yours; I refer to the fact that certain branches of law, after occa sioning constant litigation for a decade or even much longer period, gradually cease to figure for one reason or another among contentious matter. To give an instance, the law of bills of exchange was during the greater part of this century a source of immense profit to practitioners; then came the Bills of Exchange Act of 1882, which codified and elucidated this important branch of mercantile law, and left but scanty opportunities

for subsequent litigation on the subject in cases other than those turning on mere questions of fact. For some years there has been an enor mous growth in the number of cases of libel and slander dealt with by the court. This is due obviously to the extraordinary development of journalistic enterprise and the adoption by so many periodicals of the highly spiced personal paragraph, and other features of what is styled the new journalism, following, as we are always told, in this respect, American models. I make this statement, as you will readily understand, en tirely without prejudice. The great subject of the future is undoubtedly local government. So -many acts of the highest importance and novelty have lately been passed and are in process of enactment that the amount of con sequential litigation is almost incalculable. Keep your eye on local government, would be my carefully considered advice to the budding Demosthenes. -»*