The ''Annual Bulletin'' of the Comparative Law Bureau of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acade ...

(ABA) was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

specialty

law journal A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pro ...

(1908–1914, 1933). The first

comparative law Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law (legal systems) of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal "systems" (or "families") in existence in the world, including th ...

journal in the United States, it surveyed foreign legislation and legal literature. Circulated to all ABA members, it was absorbed in 1915 by the newly formed ''

American Bar Association Journal The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is n ...

''.

History

Bureau

In 1905, a committee of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...

State Bar Association considered the creation of a

society and recommended to bring such large project to the

.Clark 2005. The ABA created such entity at its 1907 annual meeting, as a new section named the Comparative Law Bureau: the Bureau members would meet annually at the ABA's summer meeting and publish an annual bulletin. The Bureau's officers included: Simeon E. Baldwin (as director, 1907–1919; ABA co-founder and president, later Governor of Connecticut) and William Smithers (as secretary, also the chairman of the ''Bulletins editorial staff). The Bureau's managers included:

James Barr Ames James Barr Ames (June 22, 1846 – January 8, 1910) was an American law educator, who popularized the "case-study" method of teaching law. Biography Ames was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 22, 1846; son of Samuel T. and Mary H. (Barr) Am ...

(dean at Harvard), George Kirchwey (dean at Columbia),

William Draper Lewis William Draper Lewis (1867–1949) was the first full-time dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1896–1914), and the founding director (1923–1947) of the American Law Institute. Personal life and education William Draper ...

(dean at Pennsylvania, later the founding director of the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs ...

), and

John Henry Wigmore John Henry Wigmore (1863–1943) was an American lawyer and legal scholar known for his expertise in the law of evidence and for his influential scholarship. Wigmore taught law at Keio University in Tokyo (1889–1892) before becoming the first ...

(dean at Northwestern). The Bureau's aims were presented in the ''Bulletins first issue: (1) to publish an annual ''Bulletin'' with foreign legislation and reviews of foreign legal literature; (2) to translate and publish foreign legislation as well as relevant expert opinions; (3) to hold an annual conference for discussing comparative law; (4) to improve means by which foreign laws can become available to U.S. lawyers; (5) to promote research in the areas of foreign law; (6) to establish a list of foreign correspondents; and (7) to gather information on foreign law, such as bibliographies, for the benefit of practicing lawyers, law teachers, and students. The Bureau met annually and published its ''Bulletin'' (separately, then within the ''Journal'') until financial difficulties in the 1930s due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

. In 1933, after publishing an ultimate separate ''Bulletin'', the Bureau was merged with the ABA's International Law section, forming the ABA Section of International & Comparative Law.

Bulletin

In July 1908, the ''Annual Bulletin'' (no

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

) was founded by the Bureau. The first

journal in the United States, it provided a survey of foreign legislation and legal literature. Its first issue was a 200 or so page bulletin. The editor (chairman of the editorial staff) was Bureau secretary Smithers (from Philadelphia, where was also the ''Bulletins printer). The editorial staff in 1908 included: Simeon E. Baldwin (Yale) for general

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

; Ernest Lorenzen (George Washington) and

Roscoe Pound Nathan Roscoe Pound (October 27, 1870 – June 30, 1964) was an American legal scholar and educator. He served as Dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1903 to 1911 and Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He was a memb ...

(then at Northwestern) for Germany; Charles Wetherill for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

; Masuji Miyakawa for

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

; Leo Rowe (University of Pennsylvania) for

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

; William Hastings (University of Nebraska, dean in 1910) for

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

; Samuel Scott for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

; and Gordon Sherman for

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. There were foreign correspondents from fourteen countries, including Gaston de Leval from Belgium and

Eugen Huber Eugen Huber (July 31, 1849 – April 23, 1923) was a Swiss jurist and the creator of the Swiss Civil code of 1907. Biography Huber was born in Swiss Canton of Zürich on July 31, 1849. His father was a physician. At the University of Zürich, H ...

(creator of the Swiss civil code of 1907, still in force) from

. The ''Bulletin'' was circulated to all ABA members and to other subscribers. Published by International Printing Co. in Philadelphia, it ran from July 1, 1908, to July 1, 1914,LOC, "Annual bulletin". for volume 1 to 7. The separate ''Bulletin'' was discontinued for two reasons: in 1914, World War I disrupted cross-Atlantic connections; and in 1915, the ABA started publishing its own ''Journal'', into which the ''Bulletin'' was merged as an annual issue. (Though in 1933,LOC, "Bulletin for 1933". there was an ultimate separate ''Bulletin'', 215 page long. And in 1964,

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OC ...

"Annual bulletin" (1964 reprint), OCLC 22590456
two backissues were reprinted.)

Journal

In 1915, the ''American Bar Association Journal'' () was founded by the

as a quarterly magazine (it became monthly in 1921). From 1915 to 1928, the ''Bulletin'' was merged into it: the Comparative Law Bureau controlled the second issue each year, the April number. Bureau issues stopped in 1929, but comparative and foreign law articles still regularly appeared in the ''Journal'' (about five to ten per volume).

Notes

References

Sources used for this article: * Clark, David S. (2005)
"Establishing Comparative Law in the United States: The First Fifty Years"
(HTML fro
the original PDF
, '' Washington University Global Studies Law Review'' (), vol. 4:583–593, October 28, 2005, esp. p. 584 & 588–589 — With a short history of the ''Bulletin'' and early ''Journal''. * LOC (2009). "Annual bulletin (American Bar Association. Comparative Law Bureau)", (also ),

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Online Catalog, consulted in March 2009 * LOC (2009). "Bulletin for 1933", (also ),

Online Catalog, consulted in March 2009 — With a brief history of the ''Bulletin'' in Notes.