The Press.
London, England, 1855-08-04 00:00:00


I

726

kr
" combined weight of the past and present
urdens must become too great for the most
osperous people to support."
here are limits to ear population as to our
soil. When taxation rips bey a certaill
height it becomes intblittible, ktitt Indust*
seeks refuge in othet %Ade fr lottrdens it
cannot support. Of this action *e have had a
memorable example shape 184.. In future
years we shall net on hate to dieoharge OW
interest of the debt we now contract, but
shall most probably have to maintain larger
ihments than in our late security we
imiieveti to be Beeessary, .
These considerations render it of the first
.nce that our expenditure should be
ly watched. Whatever efforts arc ne-
_. for the honour of the country, must
ilw should be made. But we dread that reck-
less profusion—dealing with millions as
abstract quantities of little real significance—
' that levity, destitute of plan or foresight,
have marked the career of the present
•overnment. The country will yet have to
- dearly for the Premiers happy heedless-
Our resources are squandered without
ig to our strength, or contributing in any
to our success. While we urgently
men, it looks like a mockery or a cheat
mond additional millions for the Com-
Oisse.riat. The contest may, after all, prove a
ngthened one, calling for powers of endu-
-ne at home, as well as for active courage in
_!ld. And it is positively appalling to
Itntemplate what must be the effect on
ngland of a few such years of enormous
ponse and of indecisive warfare as have
arkod the twelve months since our expedi-
tionary army set sail from the shores of
Varna.

establisi

LAW REVOR M.
the summary of proceedings of the Law
Commission, inserted in our last number, we
no encouraging inference as to the fate

this well-meant endeavour. It is evident

, the task of consolidation, already most
arduous, grows more so every year that its
completion is deferred ; for Parliament is pro-
Mid of , and each session makes a point
'igno what has been done in the last.
Lord CRANWORTH and his friends are, there

engaged on a labour strictly analagous

that of drawing water in a sieve, or trying
divert a river by ladling it out in buckets.
_ the Commissioners have other and even
*raver obstacles to encounter. They have
been set to work on a principle, as it seems to
radically vicious, but the acceptance of
ch is, we admit, made almost inevitable
the existing state of English law. They
dealing, not indeed exclusively, but
mainly with the statutes, and only take power
oases of absolute necessity to incorporate in
consolidated acts portions of the Common
I nwritten Law. Of that Common Law by
the larger part remains, and will still
in, in its present condition, i.e., literally
-nwritten, and only to be gleaned from the
recorded decisions of judges—the tradition of
Westminster-hall. Therefore, supposing the
mission to succeed beyond their own ex-
\dons or those of anyone else, and lite-
to be able to say on closing their sittings,
, have done everything that power was
tven us to do," what, after all, will have
n effected ? Only this, that you will have a
catalogue, arranged with admirable method
skill, of exceptions to legal rules, such
exceptions exceeding in number the rules
themselves. We state that which is the strict
theory of British law, undisputed and indis-
putable, however it may startle those who
hear it for the first time. The statutes are
only supplementary to the Common Law. It
proposed to methodise the statutes ; but
t Common Law itself is deemed too
venerable to be touched, except where some
little interference may be rendered inevitable
by the possible oollision of the two. "But."
it may be asked, " why not go on to
" consolidate the Common Law separately ? "
reply, " Because in that case you will have
consolidations instead of one ; much of
work will have to be done twice over ; a

THE PRESS.

continual reference from the first set of laws
" to the second will become necessary; no-
" thing will be gaine in the way of simplicity
id
" and uniformikt ;In , the accomplishment
"of theite objettts w be more distant that
" evet, ta OA nioibaki will have been pet.
" mandiAly adopted, and disorder itself or-
" ganitted into a system." In other words—yotll
cannot, eonsolidata the Common and Statuta
Law aaparately, kr by itself each is imperfeeb;
a complete performance of that labour re-
quires their union ; and they can only be
united by the fusion of both into a single
code. Really to co.uolidate, you tnuot codify— ,
an alternative not willingly faced by English-
men, who dislike organic change, but one of
which to us the adoption sooner or later seems
unavoidable. There lies the choice before
us—confusion amounting to chaos on one
side, the gigantic labour and large innovation
of a code on the other. No wonder the reso-
lution of even earnest reformers should falter
and give way. No wonder that every plausible
expedient should be tried, before the uncom-
fortable admission is finally made that no
' middle course exists, or can by any ingenuity
be discovered. We do not blame those who
shrink from such a responsibility as the future
of law reform seems likely to bring with it :
we only desire to prepare the public mind
for that which, though long deferred, cannot
be finally averted. Meantime, what can the
Commission do ? Something, we believe,
though not much. It may sweep off a good
deal of superfluous matter which at present
encumbers law-books; it may simplify the
style of future Parliamentary enactments; it
may sift the accumulated mounds of legal
rubbish for the few grains of valuable matter
which they contain, and dispose them in
regular order to be hereafter carted away.
Such preliminary work lies fairly in the line
of its functions. More it cannot accomplish,
wanting the necessary powers from Parlia-
ment—wanting also leisure and reforming
energy among its members, and having com-
menced the execution of its functions on a plan
essentially faulty. Our generation needs
another Brougham : collective mediocrity can-
not supply the absence of individual genius.

These co
importance
narrowly wt
oessary for
yr should ti
less proful
abstract qu
and that le
which have
Governmer
pay dearly
ness. Our
adding to
degree to
want men,
to demand
piissariat.
lengthened
ranee at ht
the field.
contemplal
England o
expense a
marked th
tionary ar
Varna.
FROM the k
Commissic
drew no
of this wo
that the t
arduous,
oompletiot
lifid of bill
of igno
Lord Ci
fore, enga
to that of
to divert
But the C
graver ob
been set ti
us, radios
which is,
by the ex
are deali
mainly w•i
in oases o
their eons
or Unwrit
far the I
remain, ii
unwritten
recorded
Westmint
Commissi
pectation,
rally to 131
"We hav
" given
been effe4
catalogue
and skill
exception
themselvl
theory 01
putable,
hear it f
only supi
is propot
the Coin
venerable
little into
by the pc
it may
" consolio
We reply
.0 two eon
the wot
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