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

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

(ABA) was a

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

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 provi ...

(1908–1914, 1933). The first

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

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''.

History

Bureau

In 1905, a committee of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

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 (dean at Harvard), George Kirchwey (dean at Columbia), William Draper Lewis (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 limited to 3,000 elected members and established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and i ...

), 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 firs ...

(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 was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. 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 to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), 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. Special bulletins also were foreseen, such as that issued in March of 1908, which consisted of a multi-country bibliography on marriage and divorce law. Moreover, pursuant to point 2 of the Bureau's aims noted above, the Bureau also published numerous translations of foreign laws as separate volumes. These included modern laws such as the German Civil Code and Brazilian Civil Code, as well as ancient laws, e.g., the Visigothic Code and Las Siete Partidas. 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, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

; Ernest Lorenzen (George Washington) and

Roscoe Pound Nathan Roscoe Pound (October 27, 1870 – June 28, 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 was dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He was a ...

(then at Northwestern) for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

; Charles Wetherill for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

; Masuji Miyakawa for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

; Leo Rowe (University of Pennsylvania) for

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

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

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

; Samuel Parsons Scott for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

; and Gordon Sherman for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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

. In 1910, Smithers added Charles Lobingier to be editor for the Phillispines and Samuel Williston of Harvard as editor for German. Scott, Lobingier, Wigmore, Williston, and others in the Comparative Law Bureau were also Roman Law scholars. 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 World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 O ...

"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 a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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.