New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-16
The Completion of the Code. mo. II.
From the Evening Post.

Yesterday epdeavored to show, that it was
practicable for the Legislature to pass the com
pleted codes at the ensuing session; that there
was no reason for further delay and that the
credit Of the State required immediate action. l
shall now endeavor TO show that the interest OF
the State also requires 1t.
The codes, as they are reported complete, con-
sist FIRST Of those provisions which have been al
ready enacted as part OF the whole work and
secondly; Of all other provisions supposed to De
necessary to make a complete body Of remedial
law, civil and criminal. Ofthe former portions, 1t
is not necessary now to speak, any further than
ms they bear upon the question OF enactlng the
latter What | wish to show is, that the remain
ing portions are not only good In themselves, but
proper to be enacted as the continuation and COM
pletion of those which have already become law.
But before proceeding to do this, must take
notice of two or three objections which have been
raised. 1t has been objected that the proposed
codes are too large. l answer that they are as
small as it is possible to make them; that they
are not larger than similar works IN other coun'
tries and that they are great reduction and con-
densation of our existing law. Let those who
object take single title, and see how far they
can reduce any section, and what sections they
can omit, without impairing the completeness of
ibe whole The experiment will not be likely TO
satisfy them. On the contrary, they will probably
end that condensa alton has been already carried
ss far as it is safe, IT, indeed, they will first come
30 an agreement with those and they are not
few, who complain Of too great condensation,
they will relieve the friends Of the code from the
neoessity of answering one class of obieetors-
The French codes OF civil and criminal prOce-
dure consists altogether of one thousand six hun
bred and eighty.hve articles, beside form0isries
containing three hundred and ninety.hvc forms
Yet they do not provide for the whole judicial es
tablishment,-l grand jures, trial jures In civil
cases, prerogative writs, and many other matters
Of the FIRST Importance to our people, and neces-
sary to the completeness of our codes. These
codes, civil and criminal consist altogether OF
two thousand nine hundred and thlrty,nine sec
tions at least one thousand five hundred OF whlch
are devoted 10 the subjects not contained IN the
French; SO that ours are really more CONDENSED
than theirs And the same thing may, l think,
be said of the codes Of the other States OF contl
mental Europe, and of the code of practice OF
Louisiana.
Our existing law on the subjects embraced IN the
proposed codes, is contained in upward OF three
thousand sections OF the revised statutes IN many
voluminous trestises, and in an immense number
OF cases of practice, reported in the books, COM
pnted by some persons TO amount to sixty thou
sand To comprehend the reduction proposed, let
this vast mass of heterogeneous matter, acoumu.
lated in books which fill library, be compared
with the proposed sections which can all be put
into a book of three hundroa and fifty pages IN the
ordinary print of our statutes.
Then il has been objected that the proposed
codes 60 to unsette the existing code. Indeed
the language used is something like this You
gave as in ls4s, a little code, which we thought
was to be final; you changed this and added to 1t,
In ie49; and in 1850, YOU propose 20 change and
add again. Nothing can be more unjust and pre-
posterous than this language. They who use Il,
ought to know that the report OF lsiS was made
expressly as partial one as the part OF whole,
which was to be completed 0lterwsrd that the
report of ls49 consisted almost entirely of addi-
tional portions and that the report OF 1850 pre-
ed all kka - form.
what had already been given. one consistent
whole. The portions OF the code already enacted
are not changed in any matter OF principle, nor
even IN any matter Of detail, excepting only few
uncomfortable particulars.
And yet, that the new provisions shock many
pSejudlces OF the profession; that they give more
summary remedies IN various cases; that they
make another step forward in the same direction
as the portions already enacted, must be admit.
ted; but that these afford any reasons against
them, cannot be conceded. Every advance is a
change, and every change is productive of some
Inconvenience. Here, as elsewhere. the incOn-
venience Of the few must yield to the benefit Of
the many.
When the first section Of the Erie Railroad
was completed no doubt there were persons upon
the hne whose affairs il dersnged, diyerting bust
ness from its accustomed channels. In year or
two however, basiness a6 listed itself 10 the new
facilities; lines Of travel were directed toward
owners and hotel keepers governed themselves
accordingly. In the meantime the road is pushed
harvard. Who now listens TO the complaints Of
the men whose business must be changed in con.
seqneneei They might say, with the same jus.
tice as those who complain Of the completion OF
the code, you gave us at FIRST a small line, which
we thought was 10 be al YOU extended ii stil
further the next year. we have accommodated
our business 10 1t we have invested capital and
employed laborersi why can you not now reaa;n
ms you are, and leave us in quiet WHY win Won
dersnge our business again, lessen the custom AZ
our hotels, throw our carriages and horses ont Of
employ; in short, why will you persevere 10 com.
plotting your line 10 Lake Erie
II has also been objected, that the code Of civil
procedure partakes of the civil rather than the
common law, as If that alone were a reason
against il. Whether it would be reason, if it
were true, we need not inquire, since it happens
not 70 be true. There is, in fact vastly larger
Infasicn Of the common, than Of the civil law
They who assert the contrary, can know little OF
49, Ia. r .taf