Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/695

 @QWWQQQQQ THE UNIFORMITY OF STATE LAWS HE movement for uniformity of state laws has gathered such head way that the desire of the readers of the

Green Bag to help it in every possible way may be taken for granted, and

it is hardly necessary to present any arguments to show why it should re ceive the support of the bar. The evils of diversity in state laws

are obvious. It is particularly to be desired that the commercial laws of the country be uniform, to obviate con fusion, and the hope that this end will be realized ﬁnds its encouragement in

those powerful tendencies which make for-uniformity of commercial usage, not

only in this country but throughout the world. Uniformity of commercial law is more than a theory, it is actual con

quest of the citadel of law by the forces of commercial usage. All that legal conservatism which resists the progress of this movement is foredoomed to de feat, and its triumph is so certain that it stands not so much in need of cham pions as of henchmen. The work which is in the hands of the Committee on

Commercial Law of the Uniform State Laws Conference is thus one which does not call for an active propaganda, but

rather for intelligent cooperation of ex isting active agencies in the labors which this body has under way. Some defects have been discovered in the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Act,

and it has been pointed out that this statute has led to some of the very

conﬂicts of judicial interpretation which it was designed to obviate This fact, however, should not weaken conﬁdence in the methods which are being pursued to unify the laws of commerce. From a statement made elsewhere in this issue by the Chairman of the Confer ence, it is evident that the Conference has amendments to this Act under consideration, and the organization of

the Conference certainly renders it the ideal agency not only for the drafting of laws, but for the mending of their

defects after enactment. A point which cannot be too strongly emphasized, for the beneﬁt of critics of the Uniform Acts, is that they can always be amended by a process similar to that which re

sulted in the original drafts. The Con ference is thus to be regarded not as a mere transient body, existing only to propose certain measures, but as a per manent institution, whose work can

never possibly be completed, existing not only to formulate but to perfect the laws, and always striving to adapt

them to the shifting needs of the times. In view of these considerations, we anticipate the eventual enactment, in practically all the states, of the entire commercial program of the Uniform State Laws Conference. That some of the laws will be adopted more slowly than others should aﬂ'ord no ground for discouragement, but should rather be interpreted as a sign that some sub