The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 20, 1850.

Upon one point in the character of Lord BROUGHAM
posterity will be unanimous,—his name as a Law Re-
former will be inscribed "on a fair and enduring
monument," and it will be conferred that no man in
the times in which he lived originated so many valu-
able improvements in the jurisprudence of this
country, or promoted more successfully the practical
amendment of the law. His Lordship has just pub-
lished a letter to Lord DENMAN reviewing the legis-
lation of the session of 1850 as it regards legal ques-
tions, and, with his characteristic force and perspicuity,
suggests several topics of the highest importance con-
nected with the even and pure administration of
justice, which deserve the most attentive consideration.
For many years the desirableness and necessity of
reducing the criminal law of this kingdom, which at
present lies buried in a pile of statutes, or scattered
in the pages of some hundred folio volumes of reports,
into a Digest or Code has been universally recog-
nised; hut, although it is now above seventeen
years since Lord BROUGHAM, then Lord Chancellor,
issued the Criminal Law Commission, specially with
a view to have the subject of a Digest thoroughly con-
sidered, and although the Commissioners with infi-
nite pains and very great labour reported on the ge-
neral state of the department of the law to which
their attention was confined, and prepared an elabo-
rate Digest of the law relating to crimes and punish-
ments, and criminal procedure—the country being put
to an expense of nearly 100,000/_ in the preparation of
this great national work—nothing is absolutely yet
done, and we are still debarred, to quote the Noble
Lord's words, of " the possession of a benefit so pre-
cious to both the people, the Bench, and the Bar, as a
complete digest of those laws which the subject is
commanded, under the severest penalies, to obey, and
the magistrate is swore to administer." The de-
sire to have a Code of Laws as perfect as possible,
might account for the tardy progress of a work of
this kind, but here the progress has been so slow,
that one almost suspects that it is about to be allowed
to come entirely to a standstill. Indeed, but OA
we happen to know th it in the early part of the
present year the draft of a Criminal Consolidation
B 11 was printed for private circulation, with a view
to its being introduced into the House of Commons
by the Attorney-G: nerd], \v.! might have been led
to suspect thst there was some hidden obitacle to
the enactment of a Code. The C nie of the Roman
Lave, it is recorded, was prepared in f,urteen months,
and the Pandects were accomplished in three years.
Seventeen years have been expended on the prelimi-
nary preparations for an English Criminal Cole! 'We
I eleve that the Bar would be grateful for the pro-
mulgation of a work of authority, that could
be referred to as conclusive and binding in all contro-
versies, which now require appeal to the Mirror, to
BRACTON, COKE, HALE, HawarNs, and every text-
bek, to the latest editions of " Archbold on Criminal
' Pleading," and " Russell on Crime ;" not to mention
the countless Acts of Parliament, and the reports
from the Year-books and " Crok. Eliz ," down to
, DENNISON ! There can be no stronger proof of the
necessity of the work, for the completion of which
Lord BaouGnass so strongly pleads, than the fact
that within the present or the last year it was neces-
sary for the Court of Appeal at Westminster to pro-
nounce a considered judgment, defining the common
law offence of larceny.
The Criminal Law Commission, we hear with great
regret, has been suffered to expire, although but 2,000/.
more were required for the completion of the Digest,
which expense Lord BROUGHAM, with commendable
Dublic spirit, offered to take upon himself rather than
'that the labours of so many years should be wasted.
What stronger argument need we have of the neces-
sity ' which exists for having all matters connected
• with 'legislation on law, and the administration of
justice, confided to one superintending mind, which
should be responsible for the preparation of all public
measures of this nature ? "An individual," remarks
Lord Baetronam, " unarmed with official authority
can do little in carrying through so great a work.
Even aided by a commission, he requires the support
. of the Government. As Chairman of Select Corn-
, mittees he may make some progress, but the machi-
nery of Parliamentary proceedings is cumbrous and
unwieldly compared with that of the Executive power,
' .And I feel absolutely certain, that if, instead of
this work devolving upon an individual Member of
Parliament, A public functionary, clothed with the
Weight of high station, and enjoying constant access
to the other departments of the Government, had su-
perinteryled and stimulated the proceedings, our whole
criminal law woull some years ago have been reduced
to a systematic Cade, ar,d the whole civil law would
also at this day have been likewise formed into a Di-
gest. Instead of this great benefit conferred upon
the people—together with all the other improvements
in our jurisprudence, which the completion of a Code
clan pee have failed to suggest—we are, at the end
410yenteekt :, I will not say es far as ever from
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k4.04i t -:. .. fhf our purpcse, but certainly we
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