The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-26 00:00:00

Law Digest Commission.

A. second report of the Digest of Law Com-
mission has been printed. In the first report
the commissioners explained the grounds for
their opinion that a digest of the law was
expedient, and in order to avoid the immediate out-
lay of a large sum of money in appointing a Com-
mission to execute the work, they advised
that small portions of the Digest as speci-
mens of the whole work should be attempted.
In this second report the commissioners give the
result of their experience in the three subjects they
selected to begin a digest upon, namely bills
of exchange, mortgages, and easements. Three
gentlemen of the Bar assisted the commissioners in
their undertaking, and laid before them materials of
considerable value, which have enabled them to
form conclusions as to the conduct of the
whole work. The commissioners,' however,
have come to the conclusion that it would
be unadvisable to continue any further their
mode of proce9ding, inasmuch as they found that the
examination and supervision of the materials put
before them would involve serious delay and vast
expense, while on the other hand they were satis-
fied that the specimens would again have to be
revised, and perhaps recast, when the time arrived
for inserting them as portions of a complete and sys-
tematic work. The commissioners, therefore, express
their opinion that it is expedient that three skilled
persons should be engaged, at high remuneration,
to undertake the duty of executing the digest as a
whole, and that they should in their labour act under
such directions and control either of a committee of
the Privy Council, or otherwise, as her Majesty
may think fit. To this recommendation
one of the commissioners, Sir James Shaw Willes,
appends his dissent. Although agreeing that a first
rate modern digest of English law is to be desired
(for professional men) he thinks it will when made,
after all be only a makeshift for a code, or rather
series of codes. This is the groundof his objection.
Women Electors.

Miss Lydia Becker is not going to allow the defeat
of the Women's Disabilities Bill to be passed over in
silence, or without investigation. Mr. Love Jones
Parry, member for Carnarvonshire, is the first
voter on Mr. Bouverie's side who has been
taunted with faithlessness to a cause which
Miss Becker asserts he" distinctly pledged himself to
support." He received a letter from that lady, and
he replies that his devotion to the Liberal party
caused him, reluctantly, to vote against
his interests and the ladies. Without en-
tering into the gallantry of this course, it may
be noticed that Mr. Parry's excuse is an old one, a
refutation of which Mrs. Fawcett has already
attempted to make. He says in North Wales all
the women are Liberals, whereas in Bath and
other places they are Conservatives. He considered,
therefore, that if he was to vote for the enfranchise-
ment of electors who, in certain boroughs, constituted
a large Conservative majority, he would be tending
to uphold his enemies to the danger of his party.
Of course that answer will not satisfy the ladies,
but Miss Becker does not, as might have been anti-
cipated, pooh-pooh the hon. member's attempt to get
himself out of a fix. She acts very honourably in the
matter for, in her letter of comment, she merely
observes that many of the members may
have been induced to vote against lady electors
on the same grounds as Mr. Parry, and ex-
presses an opinion that women bad a right to
expect that votes would be given on the merits of
the case, and not out of party considerations.