The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-30 00:00:00

LAWS OF ENGLAND.

There are certain truths which, when promulgated, are
understood, and the discovery is at otter rewarded by the
approbation it deserves; but there are others, perhaps more
numerous by far, and generally of greater importance, for
which neither genius nor eloquence can readily procure
even a fair consideration. They must struggle through the
obstacles raised by prejudice and misrepresentation, until
time open a way to the heartsc and understandings of men.
A remarkable instance of this difficulty is to be found in
some of the improvements onr laws, now introduced
and supported by the highest authorities in the State.
When first they were brought forward, some years ago,
although recommended by the known and approved wisdom
of the proposer, and elucidated by his knowledge and elo-
quence, the most decided opposition was made to their in-
troduction. All the subtlety acquired by long acquaint-
ance with legal proceedings was exercised, and all the
overwhelming influence of power was exerted to stop their
progress. Error and innovation were the only qualities
attributed to them.

At length, after the lapse of several years, an intelligent
Minister of the Crown bars the talent and the courage to
break through the trammels of ancientand much-cherished
error, and to overthrow by a single blow the mass of inc on-
sistency that the person beibre alluded to had only sought
gradually to undermine. Mr. Peel goes much farther than
Sir Samuel Romilly ever attempted to go in the reform of
our penal laws. The latter was treated as little better than
a visionary, and the former receives the applause which his
exertions so justly deserve. We may lament the injustice
of Romilly's contemporaries, but it is a cheeriug proliect
to the well-wishers of mankind to behold the triumph of
Peel. lire may be allowed to hope that a deaf ear will no
longer be turned to those who recommend a'revision of all
the laws of the country—that lie will no longer be treated
as a madman who proposes an attempt to classify and ar-
range the loose enactments scattered over the statute books.
and the far more widely-scattered decisions to be found
with much difficulty in an infinite number of volumes of
Reports, and misnamed the Common Low. So far from
being common, the greater number of the instructed are
only partially acquainted with it. Hoping that now there
is some chance of escaping universal reprobation as inno-
vators and visionaries, we shall endeavour in the sequel
briefly to sketch the outlines of a plan for an object which
great authorities have pronounced to be highly desirable,
and even absolutely necessary, to the future well-being of
this country.
The evils of our present want of system are so manifest,
and come home to so many individuals in society. that it
would be but lost time to expatiate upon them. We may
look on them as rate et concessa. They are rocks that are
seen above water, but upon which, nevertheless we con-
tinue to split, without having done touch towards finding
a safer navigation.
This will be no new attempt. In other countries, and
in other times, the confusion of the laws has been felt as a
serious evil, and means have been successfully applied to
remove it. The Roman laws had become an inextricable
labyrinth before they were revised and systematically ar-
ranged. The laws of France, before the Revolution; not-
withstanding the great ability and commanding genius of
some of the French lawyers, and of various partial at-
tempts to improve them, were full of difficulty and un-
certainty. They have been remodelled, and adapted to the
present state of society; and although the codes are not so
perfect as they might have been, yet they are universally
admitted to be a vast improvement.
Let us consider, for a moment, what must have been the
necessary effect of the mixture of a droll couturnier, or
common law, with tire drat civil, or modification of the
Roman law, differently administered in the different juris-
dictions into which France was divided, and we shall be
satisfied that a most important improvement has been ef-
fected, by making one general and simplified system of law
for the whole country.
The Government of the Netherlands has for some time
been occupied in adapting to the peculiar wants of that
country the codes which the extension of the late French
empire had established there; but it is far from reverting
to the system which had previously existed. As far back
as the time of Frederick the Great, a reformation took
k place in the laws of Prussia. The Empress Catharine
ordered the formation of a co:le for Russia. Even the
Austrians have not always been so fearful as they are at
present of innovation, and Austria possesses a modern
code.

Why should this great country, which boasts of its civi-
lization, and of its rapid advances in every branch of
science, adhere with so much pertinacity to an old incon-
♦enient, and injurious system ; or rather, to an incoherent
mass of confusion ?

It may, perhaps, be urged that, in the instances men-
tioned, codes have been framed by the orders of despotic
governments, or have been necessarily consequent to a
stale of anarchy wnich abolished all ancient laws and
eurtoms ; hut that in this country, where we enjoy a free
constitution, and have ever been ruled by our laws, what-
ever they might be, it will be difficult to introduce a
change.
. . . . . .

-
That there is difficulty must be admitted ; and if it
were proposed to alter the grounds and principles of the
law, it might amount to impossibility. To bimplify, how-
ever, to arrange, and to form a code, even out of the mate-
rials of which our laws consist, cannot he impossible, nor
is it perhaps so difficult as some may imagine. That laws
so simplified and arranged will be advantageous to the
State and to individuals, it is presumed unnecessary to at-
tempt to demonstrate. We will proceed, therefore, on re-
suming the subject, to the means of accomplishing the
undertaking, of which we confess ourselves the warm
advocate.