New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-18

q marta nj the Common Law ana OF the ActH OF t1e
q n;sis,uye Of the Colony Of NewYork as together
81 son The law Of the said Colony the 10th day
a. 90 hru l775" and the resolutions OF the Congress
af he said Colony and of the Convention OF the State
of NewYork in force on the goth day OF Apnl, l'7I,
b;cb have not since expired been repea cd or al
red and such Acts Of the Legislature Of this State
M are now in force shall be and continue the law OF
this State subject to such alterations as the Legs
" lature shall make concerning the same. Ihe Con
suton tlercupon requires the Legislature, al s hrst
pesson after the adoption Of the Constitution, to APP
"point three commits sioners whose duty shall De TO
reduce into a written and systematic code the "noie
" body OF the law Of this State, or go much ana Sucn
parts thereof to the said CONN issoners sha SEN
practicable and expedieut' The wisdom VI ''c is'
Ter provision will be apparent by and-pye'
What was this common law to which the Const,tu,
ton refercd and which are those Part7 OF II hs'
formed the law of the Colony in l77of Inc common
law nrorerly 40 called is the customary law OF In
gland a. IL existed before the coronation oil Richard
Tho First which was in lle9 But as tins would throw
MS back nearly 700 years upon mass OF usages winch
Tonld not be thought toerable for any existing cvll-
cation The Courts have been obliged 10 hold that such
net of the English Parliament in amendment Of the
common law as we're passed before the emigration OF
our ancestors and are applicable to our situation are
TO he considered as part and Marcel OF The common
law What on explanation Is this to give 10 the clt-
zen of the laws according 10 which he is TO liyel If
he be certain that he knows what were the customs OF
England IN The reign Of Richard, how 10 he to koow
to what period Of emigration the Constitution refers,
be 10 remembered tnht luc DIc diOH
the revolution there passed an hundred aud fifty years.
and by what be guess which English stat
Uits The Courts viii consider applicable 10 our stu
alton
tbe accessiOn of Richard hat lOn-heared king whose
fortunes are interesting in the novel OF lyanboe,
and the laws Of whose realm are best known from the
tAgcs Of Granville, writer of the succeeding reign.
ii was in the beginning of the third crusade. The
constitutions Of Clarendon had just been established
the dispute between the King and the Pope al its
blight, tie kingdom was parceled out lso great heis
the majority Of the population were villains OF seris,
trade was almost unknown, and violence regnet
throughout There had been several compilations OF
the laws al con siderable intervals by Ethelber, by
Allied and by Ed ard the COufessOr but an hundred
and fifty years had elapsed since the last me ieuda
system of tcures was in full vigOr, with oil their OPP
rreesive incidents of personal attendance wardshps,
marriage and reiefs the laws OF the forest were soo-
ceived in the spirit Of EXTREMIST bar0aniy aud 1t was
common to Try disputed questions OF right 10y ordeal
or by battle
TO this unwriien OF common law are to be added,
according TO tie construction put by our courts upon
the constitutional declaration, the statutes Of England
Applicable 20 situation. Thus t rs seen that tue
English portion of law which English progeniors
brought with them was not homogeneous system, but
irregular mass of usage aud statute derived party
from tie traditions OF various and dlscOrdant uDes
and races. partly from the enactments OF tyrannlca
kings ana struggling parlamepts, and partly, 1t may
be added from interpretations by judges anu chancel-
Ion & iom The civil or canon law
Blu before the arrival of the English there had set
fled in The land and ruled for e,ry half century
dssimiar people, whose laws, founded chiefly on the
Roman codes were yet modified by the local customs
of the different provinces of the Netherlands These
Inws {" the precious customs Of FatbeTland' as the
Dutch settlers delighted to call them, and particularly
the customs of Freslaud were the first laws of the
colony end ihOug long since IN most respects sup.
planted by the English, traces OF them still eX 1t, and
aec. property in the oldest of c Dutch settlements
Upon this Enl lsh and Dutch stock was engraited
ael fgN ms M gf
10 adapt Tie law of arstocratic and kiugy England to
The circumstances and wants of settlers IN the forest on
a different side Of the ocean. No attempt was male
to frame new system conformable TO the new conn
try and 20 he people that were to be born IN II;
but the old laws of old nations strangely compounded Of
Saxon Norman m Dutch customs OF the laws OF the
Heptarcly of Alfred and the Conquest of the statutes
of Merton OF MarlebeTge Winchester aud Gloucester,
were transferred fiOm one continent to the other.
Thus happened that those tcuda laws of real prop
eTty Impressed upon the virgin wilderness, "ii
which tic Gothic invaders Ind afflicted the tar lands
where the mid and ratiOnol system OF the Roman law
had prevailed before that fierce onslaught from thu
North:
Came Ike deiuee on he souta' aud spresa
Beneath GbTal ar 10 the Lybian sands
And thus also it happened that mos. artificial sys
fem of pro, edure conceived ia she midnight OF tue
dark ages established ID those scholastic times when
chnncelors were eccitsios icS ana logic was auSn py
monks. aud perfected in later end more yenal pc
rod with view to the multiplication OF Offices aud
ne ircrfpse of fees, was imposed upon the banks Of
the Hudson and the quiet Valley of The Mohawk.
The colonial legislation which followed the accession
Of fine H. plsh naturally parioOk of the ideas. and
character of the different emigrauons 70 that at zoe
revolution New York was governed ny the usaseS OF
Holland and England, the statutes OF Englanj, and
colonial useges and statutes, IN e aud vacilaug, al
miuistcrcd ACCORDING to mOnarchica forms, aud by
officers lie cOunieIpafts OIL thO'e "ho helu Vco AZ
England.
Tic Revolution of course. wrought an immense
change in this official maclnoy, bus 1t made at first
very little change IN the laws b. de- The judges were
commission cd by the State instead of the Crown; writs
ran 10 longer in the OF the kiag but ct tho peo
ule The substance of the laws renamed the same
only the confusion was increased ny the change 81
forms; acd the inconsistency between the ola and ne
order Of things was made more anu more MANIFEST
from day to day.
pars Of tie world tended 10y degrees and the stronger
81 tho tide increased 10 make subsequent le 1slnton
Ices homogeneous with the old law. Representatives,
fom every nation came 10 our coast, settled m the
midst of us infused their ideas into people aud not
infequeuty found their way into the places OF legisa-
Gon This led not only TO the naturalization among
Ms of large number Of ideas, introduced by emigra-
ton, but 10 greater attention 10 foreign leglsa'
ton and jurisprudence and the result Is pally visible
in many parts OF our avs.
As tho results of all these causes, the laws which
governed this State when the last Constitutional Com
ven,ion began its session, were as heterogeneous and
complex as ever before existed among civilized AMI
commercial people, The questions which came before
the Courts debated aud decided upon consdefa,
ton OF Enc lish and sometimes of Dutch Scotch and
French law; the consolaio del mare, the laws OF
Wysbuy and Ocon the civil and ecelesiasiica codes
the customs Of republics and monatchies; and colonial
usaccg and statutes, well as The statutes OF the
State Legislature The proceedings of Courts were
commenced and conducted according to the rules OF
Coke and Mansfield the ordinances OF Bacon aud che
decreas Of the Poles aud legal Pracu'ooers, as ihey
nassed from Court TO Court, became successfully al
tnrneHa snlcors couns, Ions. pI0clOIs and advocates