Executive Director's Report, 0114 ALBJ, 75 The Alabama Lawyer 12 (2014)
| Author | Keith B. Norman. |
| Position | Vol. 75 1 Pg. 12 |
THE ALABAMA STATE BAR 135 YEARS OF SERVICE
Keith B. Norman.
As we move into this new year, it is worthwhile to look back to 1879, particularly to the months of January and February of that year. Of historical note, former Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes was in the second year of his first and only term as president after a fiercely-disputed election. Frank W. Woolworth opened his first five-and-dime store. Congress passed the first Timberland Act and also authorized women lawyers to practice before the United States Supreme Court. On February 12, 1 879, the first artificial ice rink in North America opened at Madison Square Gardens.
During the first two months of 1879, Alabama's legal profession was busy creating a professional organization. On January 15, delegates from the existing county bars assembled at a conference in Montgomery to organize the Alabama State Bar Association. This organizational meeting was held in the hall of the House of Representatives and was the result of prior gathering1 in Montgomery on December 13, 1878, where a call to form a state bar association was issued. The conference concluded on January 20, with the adoption of a constitution and by-laws. On February 12, Governor Rufus W. Cobb signed a charter that had been enacted by the state legislature incorporating the Alabama State Bar Association, thereby formalizing the new entity. The purpose of the newly-formed association as explained in Article I of the constitution was: ...to advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice throughout this State, uphold the honor of the profession of the law, and establish cordial intercourse among the members of the Bar of Alabama.
Article II of the constitution provided that anyone who was a member of the legal profession in Alabama was eligible for membership in the association so long as the person was in good standing and appropriately nominated and elected for membership.
The conference also elected W. L. Bragg of Montgomery as the association's first president. The five vice presidents selected, as provided for in the constitution, were L. P. Walker of Huntsville, James L. Pugh of Eufaula, Peter Hamilton of Mobile, E. W. Pettus of Selma, and H. M. Somerville of Tuscaloosa. Alex Troy of Montgomery was the association's first secretary and...
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