My next field was a strange and' distant one. In 1901 our govern—ment established a new and" re organized system of courts for ther Philippines and when my term on the Supreme Court Commission had expired T was given an opportunity: to share in a great piece of constructive work. In the Philippines I found in actual operation a lineal descendant of. the Roman My first work in the Philippines. was in the provinces and there J came in contact with the native. justice of the peace courts, which offered a fertile field for practical law reform. They exercised a°* rather important jurisdiction, and were nearer the people than any other Philippine comts, but ther were presided over by men who were: usually without the elements legal training. To inaugurate some remedy for this condition I called and held in Samar, which was one of the two provinces of my judicial district, an assembly for the justices of the peace. who were there. given elementa inst.uction in the law wi ich th Were supposed to ad-Subsequently T held more of these assemblies or including a memorable one in Leyte during 1906 and the basis of my work on' procedure in the Philippines was a manual which prepared for the justices of the peace. with special reference to-these assem! Still later. the Philippine Commission, which wae then the sole legislative body, requested mo to draft an act for: the. re-organization of these costs. I did so in the carly months of 1907 avd it was paced by the Gommis—sion so as to became effective om March 31 of that year.
IN CHINA, The earliest of my legal studies was International Law, in which T became deeply interested and the theme of my graduating oration was "International Arbitration." When the opportunity came for service in China. I was enabled for ply in a prac—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.