Every person receiving a copy of this JOURNAL who is interested in improvements in the administration of justice is invited to become a member of the American Judicature Society. All that is necessary is to send in one's name.

Through this first issue of its JOURNAL the society hopes to extend widely its membership and acquaintance. It is appropriate, therefore, to present briefly the history of the society, the scope of its work, and its methods.

The organization was chartered by the State of Illinois in July, 1913. As the name indicates, it has been from the beginning national in its membership and aims. Preliminary organization work had been in progress for a year and a half before the charter was applied for.

The decision for organization was based on the belief that the times called for an association created for the sole purpose of encouraging efficiency in the administration of justice. In this field, as in every other, specialization and concentration appeared to be indicated. It was presumed, of course, that there would also be cooperation with other agencies, and especially bar associations.

In recent years the distinction between substantive law and adjective, or procedural, law has become conspicuous, and interest in the latter has steadily increased. The almost universal complaint concerning our courts is found, upon analysis, to be less with the character of the decisions rendered than with the administrative work forming a necessary part of adjudication. These were expressed frequently by the litigation of non-essential procedural questions, by congested calendars, by slow and costly appellate procedure, by needless retrials, by blundering in the inferior courts, by the nerveless administration of criminal justice.

There is no need to complete the list.

The point is that there are numberless complaints which are perfectly wellfounded and that the grounds of complaint have no need to exist.

We would not underrate the importance of abstract justice. There will always be difference of opinion as to what is justice. But when the chance to do, real justice has been foreclosed by some mere defect of machinery, it is not a theory that we face, but a condition, the persistence of which beyond a reasonable time is a source of national weakness.

When the American Judicature Society was organized there were various reform proposals current. But there had been no thorough study of judicial administration. Nor was there any complete and consistent program.

The society began with a board of eleven directors. The first step was to form an advisory and critical board known as the Council, composed of judges, law yers and teachers of law representing all of

the states.

In the course of a year or two the Council reached a membership of three hundred. It has served admirably to criticize proposals and drafts submitted by the society, to afford counsel, and to keep the society in touch with thought and experience throughout the country. Every state bar association was given representation, as was also the American Bar Association and the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

The method of work to be adopted presented a difficult question at the very outset. The decision was reached that propaganda should be deferred until fairly definite proposals could be formulated on a basis of thorough study of all conditions. and needs.

The method of work has been substantially this: draftsmen employed by the society for particular lines of work submit first drafts, which the directors go