¹ In the United States the Standing Committee on Legal Aid Work of the American Bar Association annually publishes figures showing the volume of legal aid applications in this country. At present they exceed 250,000 a year. Unpublished records in the office of the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations break this total figure down into source, nature and disposition. A study of reports of individual legal aid societies would reveal much regarding the international cases handled.

² The National Association of Legal Aid Organizations in 1923 adopted a uniform classification of information regarding cases and clients. These figures, still unpublished, are grouped under seven major headings: cases growing out of contractual relations; torts; cases growing out of property; estates; domestic relations; criminal matters; unclassified. The reader should note that most statistical information about legal matters is available from court records. The legal aid material shows us what happens in the law office. About 90 per cent of legal aid matters never get into court.

³ The movement in the United States is described in Smith and Bradway, “The Growth of Legal Aid Work in the United States,” Bulletin 607, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1936. A more recent survey is “Frontiers of Legal Aid Work,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 205 (Sept., 1939).

⁴ In England recent material includes: Jones, J. Mervyn, Free Legal Advice in England and Wales, 1940;Google Scholar Cohn, E. J., “Legal Aid for the Poor,” in Law Quarterly Review, Vol. 59 (1943), p. 250 Google Scholar. The Poor Person’s Committee of The Law Society publishes an annual report, thanks to the industry of its Secretary, A. Hassard-Short. Recent material in other countries is not so readily available. The Bombay Law Journal published many interesting reports and accounts. In Germany there was much activity: Davis, H. B., “The German Labor Courts,” in Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 44 (1929), p. 397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Wainhouse, David W., “Legal Aid in the German Social Welfare Program,” in The Legal Aid Review, Vol. 32 (1934), p. 1.Google Scholar Of a more general nature are: Sidney Jacoby, B., “Legal Aid to the Poor,” in Harvard Law Review, Vol. 53 (1940), p. 940 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Sinclair, Shaw, “International Aspects of Free Legal Aid,” in Scottish Law Review, Vol. 52, p. 203 Google Scholar. Stone, Robert E., “Certain European Legal Aid Officers,” in California Law Review, Vol. 25 (1936), p. 52 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This list is not intended to be more than illustrative.

⁵ As an indication of the difficulty encountered in compiling lists of lawyers even in this country the reader should consult the Proceedings of the American Bar Association Committee on Law Lists, and, in particular, No. 43 of the Canons of Professional Ethics Rules on Law List Standards; Journal of the American Bar Association, Vol. 29 (1943), p. 474.

⁶ The rules adopted by the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations for the handling of cases referred from one member society to another are available in: National Association of Legal Aid Organizations, “Legal Aid Standards and Records,” 1940: Chapter XIV. Rules Regarding the Charging of Pees in Cases Handled between Two Societies; Inter-Society Relationships: p. 468.

⁷ One of the present writers was for years Secretary of the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations. In that capacity he had occasion to correspond frequently with Adrian Hassard-Short, Secretary of the Poor Persons Committee of the Law Society in London, both sending and receiving problems. The procedure involved merely a letter containing a statement of the facts and the desired action. Occasionally a copy of a court decree or an affidavit was necessary. Frequently an opinion as to the applicant’s legal rights sufficed. See: Wainhouse, David W., “Protecting the Absent Spouse in International Divorce,” in Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. II (1935), p. 360;CrossRefGoogle Scholar the same, “Some Legal Aspects of International Case Work,” in The Family, Vol. 14 (1933), p. 245; Charles Zunser, “Family Desertion: Some International Aspects of the Problem,” in Social Service Review, Vol. VI (1932) , p. 235; “Desertion of Wives and Children by Emigrants to America,” in Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law & Criminology, Vol. 4 (1914), p. 443.

⁸ The initial effort to collect this information was made as a result of an international meeting of experts in Geneva in 1924. The results are embodied in League Document V Legal 1927 V 27 (“Legal Aid for the Poor)”. Descriptions of this meeting may be found in: “ International Arrangements for Legal Assistance for the Poor,” Report by the Secretary General of the League of Nations to the Assembly, Legal Aid Review, Vol. 23 (1925), p. 1; “Legal Aid and the League of Nations,” Massachusetts Law Quarterly, Vol. 10 (1925), p. 92; Memorandum of the Fourth Assembly of the League of Nations, International Arrangements for Legal Justice for the Poor, Legal Aid Review, Vol. 22 (1924), p. 9; John H. Wig-more, “League of Nations Conference on Legal Aid,” in Journal of the American Judicature Society, Vol. 7 (1923), p. 133; Report of the Legal Aid Committee of the American Bar Association, 50 Reports of the American Bar Association, Vol 50 (1925), pp. 451, 452; Reginald Heber Smith, International Legal Aid Work, in Annals, Vol. 167 (1926).

⁹ British and Foreign State Papers, Vol. 99, p. 990.

¹⁰ As in Article 5 of the Declaration Concerning Free Judicial Assistance and the “Cautio Judicatum Solvi,” accompanying the Convention of Establishment of April 25, 1934 between Persia and Switzerland (League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 160, pp. 173, 183).

¹¹ Illustrated in Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention Concerning Certain Judicial Questions of July 2,1930, between Belgium and Bulgaria (League Treaty Series, Vol. 130, pp. 191,197).

^11a As in Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention Regarding Mutual Assistance and Legal Protection in Civil Matters of December 19, 1929, between Poland and Roumania (League Treaty Series, Vol. 130, pp. 205, 207, 209; cf. also Article 8 of the Convention Regulating Reciprocal Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters of March 30,1934, between Greece and Switzerland (League Treaty Series, Vol. 185, pp. 245, 251).

¹² “Legal Aid for the Poor,” note and supra indicates the steps taken at the 1924 Geneva meeting.

PartI. “Laws, Regulations and Treaty Provisions Regulating Legal Aid in Certain Countries” (a matter of information).

PastII. “List of Agencies for Legal Aid Established in Certain Countries” (a step toward this list indicated in the text of the present article).

PartIII. “List of Authorities or Persons Appointed in Certain Countries to Answer Inquiries from Abroad” (a step toward a procedure for the transmission of cases).

This list of steps taken, while certainly a memorable advance, merely points the way to desirable further action, including a continuing information service, a current list of eligible persons, and possibly aid in helping some countries establish their own internal system.

¹³ Financial support, and therefore potential control, regarding legal aid work comes some times from the public treasury and at other times from private sources. Both types of agency have enviable records but neither is as yet so far superior to the other as to warrant adopting an exclusive means. In theory the administration of justice is a public function and the lawyer is a quasi-public servant. In practice the experimentation which should precede the creation of a public institution is better handled by a private agency. Politics affects all public institutions. Lack of money retards the privately supported agency. If a way could be found to combine the availability of public finances with control and policy-making by a professional agency such as a Bar Association considerable benefits might be expected. One such plan which still remains to be implemented appears in the State of Washington: Reports of American Bar Association, Vol. 64 (1939), pp. 226, 235.

¹⁴ No doubt when one comes to attempt to draft the text of a convention suitable for the creation of the proposed international legal aid clearing house the experience of the League of Nations in this respect will be helpful.