The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-25 00:00:00

et plaint

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LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1849.

On the first day of the next session of Parliament
Lord BROUGHAM will present a Bill containing a
digest of the law touching the offences against the
person, together with the introductory provision of a
general digest applicable to all offences. He will also
submit, on the same day, a re-arrangement of the
Bankrupt Law Digest, introducing certain correc-
tions and supplying important omissions which the
strange and unaccountable proceedings of the House
of Commons, with reference to that well-considered
and highly valuable measure, have rendered necessary.
This interesting announcement has been made by
his Lordship in a postscript to the second edition of
his admirable letter to Sir JAMES GRAHAM " On the
Making and Digesting of the Law ;" and we may feel
well assured that if health and strength be spared,
the arduous undertaking will be strictly and literally
fulfilled.
The extensive and much required alterations in the
law that have already been effected through his Lord-
ship's zealous and indefatigable exertions, afford the
most auspicious auguries of what may still be hoped
for from his useful labours. He has indeed grappled
with a subject that might easily have discouraged the
most energetic and active mind. Although of in-
calculable importance, the matter was peculiarly
dry and uninviting; it could not advance party
interests; it afforded but little scope for brilliant
eloquence or polished oratory. No animated discus-
sion could be anticipated to reward the unceasing
toil that might be encountered. Nothing but a
feeling of the purest and most disinterested patriotism
could have induced his Lordship to enter upon the
forbidding and gloomy track. If once commenced,
it was necessary that he should devote himself during
the,-best years of his life to the wearisome task.
He could scarcely hope for the aid and assistance
absolutely essential to the due performance of this
more than Herculean labour. Nay, he might reason-
ably anticipate that professional prejudices—the
doubts and fears of timid men, would have interposed
almost insuperable obstacles in his way. But, unde-
terred by these formidable difficulties and impedi-
ments, he boldly applied himself to the gigantic
undertaking, and, although much remains to be per-
formed, he may look back with pardonable compla-
cency to the extraordinary progress he has made, to
the valuable ameliorations in the law which he has
already accomplished, and to the prospect he has
opened of a speedy attainment of all that could be
desired by the most ardent and enthusiastic legal
reformer. He has brought us within si6ht of port.
We may at length look forward to the consum
mation so devoutly to be wished for, when every
British citizen of average education may understand
the provisions of the law under which he lives ; when
there shall be a simple statutory definition of every
offence, and digests of the various enactments within
a reasonable length, so that they may be read and at-
tentively considered without the labour of a life being
devoted to the purpose. When these desiderata have
been accomplished, as accomplished we verily believe
they will be, the gifted author of these reforms will
have earned for himself the undying gratitude of his
countrymen, the praise and admiration of posterity.
No party leader, no statesman that ever lived, will
have deserved a more endurieg monument than the
Great Legal Reformer of the nineteenth century.
The name of ROMILLY is still, and will long be,
cherished in English hearts, and deservedly so, for
he it was who, during the corruptions and abuses of a
period when the people were practically unrepresented,
and when the boroughmongers ruled the nation at
their mere will and pleasure, suggested the imperfec-
tions of some of the existing laws, and the necessity
for judicious alterations. But he merely indicated
the defects and the nature of the amendments that
were desirable ; ;he did not:himself succeed in carry-
ing, or even bringing before Parliament, many of the
measures he had contemplated. The deplorable
catastrophe which terminated his valuable existence
deprived the country of services such as could not
easily be replaced. But, happily, his mantle fell upon
no slothful or unworthy successor. " A double por-
tion of his spirit" descended upon HENRY BROUGHAM,
and at this moment almost every one of the legal
reforms proposed by Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY have been

introduced into our system of jurisprudence. In
1828, Mr. BROUGHAM, in his great address to the
House of Commons on the improvement of the law,

specified more than seventy glaring defects in the

existing law and its administration, and of these
imperfections no less than sixty have since been

remedied, and those relating to matters of paramount
and vital importance.

His elevation to the peerage and to the highest seat
of the judicial bench did not restrain or diminish his
ardour for the amelioration of the law. Notwith-
standing his multifarious avocations, and the nume-
rous pressing demands upon his time, Lordßßouumsaa,
the Cabinet Minister, the Speaker of the House of
Peers, and the Chief Judge of the highest Equity
1
tribunals, continued the reforms which HENRY
BROUG RAM, the leader of the Opposition, and a
member of the outer bar, had originated. He did not
cease from his labours because he had ac-
quired rank, distinction, and emolument for
himself. He did not seek to enjoy the " cilium
cum dignitate " which he had so honourably and
so fairly earned for himself. Ile felt that 'the
laws should be clearly and distinctly published to the