The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1858.

the entire framework of society, and with it all
the difficulties arising from the existence of tra-
ditional principles and prescriptive rights. His
task was, therefore, comparatively easy, and he
brought to its performance dictatorial powers,
centering in his person and individual will, such
as it rarely falls to the lot of the founder of a
code of laws to wield. Neither of those advan-
tages to which the Code Napoleon is indebted for
its singular simplicity are, we apprehend, coveted
by the people of this country—not even by the
most extreme section of Radical Reformers on
whom Lord Joint It t-ssELL ever has leant, or
endeavoured to lean, in the greatest extremity
of political necessity. We are scarcely prepared
to pull down the entire edifice of English Juris-
prudence, and to reduce its foundations to such a
dead level as that 'on which the French Revolu-
tion enabled the military dictator of France to
erect his legislative structure. Nor, if all the
great lawyers of the British empire were embodied
in a royal commission of codification, would it
be easy to bring their collective wisdom into one
focus by the overpowering will of a legislative
dictator. Such a function could obviously not
be devolved upon her Most Gracious Majesty ;
nor could the Prince Consort supply her place,
as his Royal I lighness did in presiding over the
Commissioners of the Great Exhibition. The
Commander-in-Chief would scarcely be thought
the most proper functionary to superintend the
remodelling of the " leges Anglia ; " nor do we
know of any Premier or Lord President,
in esse or in posse, that would venture to assume
or accept such a position, unless, indeed, Lord
H JON RUSSELL himself should volunteer for the
task with the proverbial courage which, it is sup-
posed, would enable him to undertake the com-
mand of the Channel fleet at an hour's notice.
While, on these grounds, it is pretty clear that,
as regards the codification of British law, the
mode in which the Code Napoleon was prepared
is nihil ad rein, still less weight can attach to the
other precedent relied on by Lord JOHN RUSSELL
in his remarks on that subject. When, in 1827,
Messrs. Joini Danz, BENJAMIN F. BULLER,
and Joini C. SPENCER took in hand the revi-
sion of the laws of the State of New York, they
had to deal with a young and small community,
whose population was below that congregated at
this time in and about London, and whose legis-
lative powers were, from the first commencements
of provincial self-government, not quite a century
and a half, and, from the declaration of indepen-
dence, not more than half a century old. What
analogy the Noble Lord can see between the
process of preparing a digest of the laws of such
a community and the codification of the entire
body of British jurisprudence—a jurisprudence
applicable to three distinct though united king-
doms, and, in part at least, to colonies and depen-
dencies scattered all over the globe—a jurispru-
dence many of whose principles and customs run
up to the remotest ages of unwritten tradition,
or to periods of our history which have passed
into the domain of antiquarian research, while
its lex scripta is the cumulative work of upwards
of six centuries—we are at a loss to understand.
But if Lord Joirsi RUSSELL is somewhat un-
lucky in the choice of his illustrations as to the
process of codification, he is still more infelicitous
as to the objects to be aimed at in such an under-
taking. There are two which he particularly
refers to as " examples of what he would wish to
" see " ; and the first of these is "an amendment
"of the law of real property." That the tech-
nicalities incident, in the present state of the law,

STAMPED ....SIXPENCE.
UNSTAMPED-FIVEPENCE.

to the proving of titles, to the transmission of
this kind of property from hand to hand, and to
every kind of dealing in regard to it, might be
greatly simplified, giving at once greater security
and effecting a considerable saving of expense—
that, too, facilities which do not now exist might
be created for improving such property and turn-
ing it to better account—are points on which
there is a pretty general agreement, and a good
deal has, if we mistake not, been done of late,
and is still in contemplation, by way of amending,
in this sense, the law of real property. But this
seems scarcely to come up to Lord JOHN Rcs-
SELL'S ideal of the law of real property, as he
" would wish to see " it. Ile quotes with evident
satisfaction the statement of an American jurist,
who observes that the regulations of the Code
Napolgon concerning the enjoyment, alienation,
and transmission of real estate form " a very
" small and perfectly intelligible portion
"of that immortal work," and " may be
" sufficiently understood by a few days of
" diligent study." What sort of simplicity it
is which the Noble Lord admires, may be gathered
from the commendation which he bestows on the
revisors of the law of the State of New York,
for having suggested a provision, adopted by the
New York Legislature, that "no disposition of
" real property should extend beyond the lives of
" two persons living at the time of the creation
" of the estate, who should live to attain their
" majority." The Noble Lord does not, indeed,
say, point-blank, that this provision should be
adopted in this country. It has occurred to him,
it seems, that "in some instances" it might "
harshly," and that—sagacious discovery !—in
others it might " sweep too widely." Still, his
evident meaning is that the " consolidation " of
the law of real property should involve consider-
able " amendment " in this direction. Adverting
to the dictum of Lord ST. LmoNalto's, that
" a young society should not be entangled in the
" complications of our law of real property,"
Lord JoHN significantly asks, "If so, why should
" an old society not be freed from them ?"
If this question has any meaning—and we will
not pay Lord JOHN RUSSELL the discourtesy of
supposing that he had none in asking it—it is
this, that whatever may be the ramifications of
our law of real property as it stands at present,
through every part of our social and political con-
stitution, whatever the bearings which it has upon
the various relations of public and private life,
are regarded by him in the light of cumbersome
complications, to be got rid of to a great extent in
the proposed codification—that while it may be
necessary to act with some degree of caution and
tenderness for fear of "acting too harshly" or
" sweeping too widely," still it is desirable to
begin, as far as possible, de novo, so as to deliver
our social system from the drawback of being old,
and giving it all the advantages of " a young
society." It is not often that so revolutionary
a sentiment has escaped from the lips of a
man aspiring to direct the Imperial interests of
the British Crown and nation.
little inkling which Lord
us of what he has in his
specious name of codification,
doubt as to the facility with w
a work may be accomplished.
we confess, in his proposed
missioners of competent -
" in a few years to present
" plete code, worthy of the
" and improving our laws,
" adopted in an enlightened

&bon. Considering the
JOHN has thus given
mind's eye under. tile—
ion, we entertaioeigina4
th which he ifiitdas. •
hed. We hiseve
red " four oir-t TN'
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he country, 9: 'a, '".11144
s, on prince tti • n,••
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