[423] Nelson, _Scandinavians in the United States_ (1st ed.), I, 541-542. [424] _Revised Codes of North Dakota_, 1895, sec. 887 (_Laws of 1891_, chap. 60). Another statute having still more distinct Scandinavian earmarks was passed by the legislature of North Dakota in 1893, providing for tribunals of conciliation, to be composed of four commissioners of conciliation elected in each town, incorporated village, and city. The measure was modelled in a feeble and tentative fashion after a statute of Norway, where such courts have been in operation since 1824, proving especially efficient in securing amicable adjustment of petty neighborhood difficulties.[425] But the law in North Dakota speedily fell into "innocuous desuetude," in spite of the enormous percentage of Norwegians in that State; its construction was defective; its constitutionality was questioned; its machinery was cumbersome and expensive. During its first two years, many communities failed to elect commissioners, and no serious attempt was made to comply with its provisions; even the Norwegians themselves manifested no anxiety or haste to make use of this characteristically Norwegian court. Nor did the amendment of 1895, substituting for compulsory use of the tribunal hearings at the request of one party and with the consent of both parties, improve matters. One Norwegian attorney pronounced the law "an unmitigated absurdity under present conditions," because most suits in the United States arise out of contracts, debts, titles, etc., rather than out of neighborhood quarrels, slanders, and the like. [425] Letter of Siver Serumgard, City Attorney of Devil's Lake, N. D., March 24, 1896, and various other letters.