The Minnesotian. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1851-1852, 1852-02-14

first day of September last, and an at
tachment issued in it, under the provis-
ions Of the Revised Statutes, subsequent
to that time and the defendant not hav-
ing vet answered the declaration, now
moves to set the attachment aside.
One of the grounds upon which he
POUNDS the motion is, that the Revised
Statutes had not taken effect and were
not in force when the attachment was
granted. And this court is therefore d.
rectly called upon to decide whether those
statutes have taken effect at all, and if so
when they went into operation.
They provide page SO, sec. 2, that
"every sratute which does not expressly
prescribe the time when it shall go into
operation, shall take effect throughout the
territory, on the thirteenth day next af-
ter that on which it shall be approved
by the Governor, or otherwise become
law according to the provisions of the or
ganic act of this territory; Provided,
That no general law shall take effect I'M
til published. 1t is contended that the
Revised Statutes were not, on the first
day Of September last, and have not since
been published, as required by sections
a and 5 on page 81, following that above
quoted; that they are general laws within
the meaning of the above proviso, and
consequently have not taken effect.
The publication of the Revised Stat
utes, in the mode and manner therein
provided, would be fact of the happen
ing of which the court could not well
take judicial notice; no proof of their pub
LEGATION, or Of failure to publish them
has been offered and perhaps in the alb
sence of al. such proof, the legal pre-
sumption is, that they were published at
the time and in the manner prescribed;
but for the purposes of this motion,
will assume that they were not, and had
this case was granted.
The proviso above quoted, I think was
intended to refer to the preceding part of
the section which it qualities, and not to
the Revised Statutes. They are not the
subject matter of that section, nor were
they to be published in the same way as
the laws there referred to. Section 4
page "a, following the language Of section
2, provides, that the Secretary of the
Territory Immediately after any general
law of the Legislative Assembly shall
have been deposited with him, shall fur
nish a copy thereof to the person author
lied to print the laws, who shall immedi-
ately publish the same in a newspaper
printed at the seat of government of the
territory These sections relate to the
same subject, and in neither Of them was
the term general law" meant to include
The REVISED statutes. Their publica-
ton, and the time when they should take
effect, was otherwise fully and specif-
cally provided for.
~ section 8, page 81, they were TO be
published in bound volumes, and ready
for delivery by the first day of Septem-
Der then next The contingency, that
they might not be ready by that time,
did not enter into the contemplation Of the
legislature. That their taking effect was
not to depend on their publication. is ev-
ident from chapter, 1856, page SIT, in
which it was enacted that the portions of
them there specified, should take effect
on the first day of May, when it was not
expected they would be published.
And by sec. page 57S, it is express
ly enacted, all the provisions contained
in the act for revising and consolidating
the general statutes of the territory, pass
ed at the present session of the Legisla-
tive Assembly, shall take effect and go
into operation, except as otherwise spe-
cially provided in said act, from and, af-
ter the first day of September, one thou
sand eight hundred and ifty-one and
from and after the day last mentioned
all acts and parts Of acts, unless hereto
fore repealed, whether enacted by the
Legislative Assembly of the late terrific
ry of Wisconsin, or the territory of Min
nesota, shall be repealed except as here
matter particularly provided"
The words except as otherwise spe-
cially porvided in said act,'' refer think
to chapter 1876, above mentioned, where
it is specially provided that the portions
of the statutes there specified, shall take
effect on different day, to wit: the first
of May.
From this section the intention of the
legislature is obvious, that the body of
the Revised Statutes should take effect
on the first day of September after their
passage; from and after that time the re-
peal of prior statutes is absolute; and
this view is strengthened rather than
weakened by reference to section 5, page
"a, which provides for their printing
and distribution on or before that time.
A statute may take effect before it is
published, and in the absence of statuto-
ry provisions on the subject, it takes ef-
feet from its date. l, Kent's Com. 454.
The courts are bound to take notice of
public acts, for they are part of the gen.
eral law of the land, which all persons
are presumed to know Id. 400; and it
is not therefore necessary that they should
be evidenced by volumes authenticated