New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-04-06
The Codi6ers.

The Codi6ers.
The Albany correspondent OF the Courier O.
Enqui,sr thus exults over the choice of Commits
sioners 10 Codify the Public Laws Of our State
"Itis a fixed fact that Chancellor Walworth John A.
Collier end Alvah Worden are TO be our Commission
ers of Codhcation--dA Of ekteh troubles orr PToSres
Sizes amazingly
Let us frankly meet this taunt and ask the pub
lie TO Judge how far it is deserved
That the selection of Il. H. Wm(~orM as one OF
the Cod6ers of the Law seems to US most unit and
improper, we need hardly say. For, in the first
place. this Mr.. Walworth is now Chancellor OF the
State. an office which he has rendered so oppres-
sive and odious that ninetenths OF the whole
People who ever thought at all on the subject ur'
gently demanded its abolition, and the Cow enton
voted it very emphatically. If there be one man
in the State who has done more than another to
create and magnify the necessity for this very
Codificaton we think that man is Reuben Hyde
Walworth. And now, on what principle he is
selected as Codifier, unless it be the Homeopathic
one of the hair Of the dog to cure his bite we
cannot imagine
But again MIR. Walworth is still Chancelor-a
very important office, in which the arrears of bust
ness-his business-are enormous 1t has been
nubiclv stated that he requires whole year in
which to decide the cases which have already been
arcs.ed before him, and which must Of course sub.
iect the sutors to great and wanton expense If he
leaves them to be reheard and decided by sue
cessor. That Office was repreved in spite of the
odium with which he had invested it, till July,
ls4s, on purpose to give him time to finish up his
business Is it not, then, palpably, grossly wrong
in him TO accept another Office which will properly
require his early and undivided attention Is it
not shamefully wrong in the Legislature to give it
to him 7
We know it is very fairly urged in behalf OF the
Wings who voted for him. that they had no choice
that he was nominated by the Loco. Foco Caucus,
and that they had to vote for him or allow the Com
mission to fall through as we see that the Senate
means to defeat any choice Of Supreme Judges by
the People unless the Assembly will consent to
most inconvenent and unfair formation Of Districts
"a formation which will throw three.ffths of the
business into three Of the eight Districts-on none
but the narrowest and mesnest Political grounds
ct this consideration have the weight to which it
is Justly entitled. To it seems only to exhibit
more glaringly the mischief and misdemeanor of
| having party caucuses to select Revisers and
since the Wings are not clear of this SIM they can
not wholly free themselves from the labyrinth of
wrong in which it has involved them. We shall
live to have it thrown in our teeth-falsely, Of
course, but not unplausiby-that the Wigs made
J Walworth Reviser OF the Laws.
JOHN A. COLLIER who stands before him on the
list of Revisers, is lawyer of ability and emf
| ~ idarob J,.t,no Il
a steadfast whig,--though the latter circumstance
has nothing to do with his fitness for this most re-
sponsible position. There is just one objection to
( him IN view, and that is the fact that, while we
have evidence Of his fitness fer a great many i'm
portsnt public stations we have not been favored
with any evidence of his fitness TO Codify the
Laws In saying this, we mean simply that we
have not been permitted to know, through the
struggles of the lest three or four years that Mr.
| Collier ever cherished the opinion that the Laws
may be and ought to be codi6ed, nor even that he
believed in the existence Of necessity for thor
ough Legal Reform Of any sort. We have not
even been enabled to state that Mr.. C. was in favor
of Constitutional Convention These facts are
stated with no thought Of disparagisg Mr. Collier
II, as we have all along inferred. and as the Cou
riers exultaton implies, he has been opposed to US
on ell these questions our esteem and respect for
| him is not thereby abated: but is it unreasonable
that we should have preferred for this duty friend
Of the measure 10 be carried into execution
Mr.. ALyAH WoRDES, the junior member Of the
commission, We know as not only good Wing, a
good lawyer, and an able Legis lator but as one
who has done service to the cause of Legal Re
form. He was the author OF several most cogent
essays calling attention at early day, to the ne.
cesslty Of reconstructing or else demolishing our
niockeues Of Judicial tribunals known as County
Courts Had he been proposed for one Of the Re.
visers of Pleadings and Practice, we should have
supported him with hearty GOOD will. But. with
sperspicacisy not unusual in gslative bodies. he
has been designated for the only Office in the State
for which he has evinced unfsness When the
proposition to appoint Commission for this very
purpose Of Codfyng was before the Constitutions,
Convention. Mr. Worden by voice and vote OF
posed it.
But, says reader, do you mean that Messrs
Collier and Worden viii not discharge the dutiei
assigned them TO the best of their conceded abil
'iy l'-Oh no, Sir, we mean nothing of the sort
We are sure they will endeayor to justify the con
hdence Of those who have selected them for thi:
important trust Nor do we mean to imply that an
error Of judgment this any other point should
disquahiy for such post But this we do mean
that, in matter SC momentous a. this IL was In