The New York herald., 1865-02-14

principles rulss Of Interpretation and analogiss which
viii serve q guides for judicial decison.
qaesiieo between vsen and unwrisiea law That TINS
WAS ever dsbaabs v of the moss remarkable facts
BE- obeysd thias 70 b knowa; and n is i 70 -
known, there can BE- no better, NOT 70 say no other
Of 'ts Than Ss .ns s.s sns
% are written lava The same reasons which aneci
the one Affect also the other There may b. countries
State render written definition Of their relative rights
dircus an impossible task; and there Of course
because Written constitution % nos thought desirable
written laws are supposed 70 bs undesirable These
reasons, however, have no application % this country
cashing with each other The viii the people Is the
supreme aw that VIII s nty expressed BY their written
constitution and their written laws Il should seem, In
deed 70 have NO other At expression
There arc those who argee thai an unwrtten law 70
rsv should seem TO be more With reason Il
scarcely be thought favorable the liberty OF the
citizen that he should b governed BY laws Of which he
edge OF the laws promoted by their being kept from
print or from authentic statement In . written form.
be written and whatever has been written in the
Of lawyers Or the opinions Of judges can be written in
II is no answer TO say that nothing can be written
which will not be susceptible Of different interpretations
That may be true. But II IL susceptible OF DIFF
written in the ports On the contrary when expressed
with care for the very purpose Of stating rule which
govern ces0S auke, there ID more HkoilhoOa VI
precision IN language than WHEN expressed With refer
ence TO particular case
For these eight years the commissioners have been
engaged in tn preparation of the codes with which they
charged by the Leg stature OF 1857 The task which
they undertook unried and fcult Nocode Of the
common law Of America Or Of England had ever before
been attempted. How they have acquitted tn mseyes
II s not for them say Their work Is before th- Legis
ature and the people II 1t shall effect hafthe good
which the comm ssoners have vantured hope from H.
and the thought OF which has chcsred them through
their long task, they will be rewarded.
The codes which the commissioners have thus pre-
pared together with the codes Of civil and criminal pro-
cedure heretofore submitted by the commissioners on
practice and peadng complete that work Of codcation
which wus contemplated by the constitution of 1916 and
when the shall have been considered and sanctioned
by the Legislature the people Of New York viii have the
whole body of their laws In written aud Systematic form
as full at least commissioners venture TO think
the code Of any other people.
In the last months of their service, when their task
was well nigh ended, and while the sheets of the civil
code passing through the press, Of the men,
brs of the commission taken away by DEATH On the
25th Of December 1864 after illness OF days. Mr.
Noyes died. the inexpr ssbe ef Of his associates
having suddenly struck down In the funess Of e
leaving the surviving commissioners the mournfu
duty OF signing their names, without his 70 this last
report OF their common labors.
Al which Ia respectfully submitted.
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD.
ALEX W. BRADFORD.
NEW YORK Feb Is. 1865.