The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-04-04
REVISING THE LAWS.

/ When the new constitution of Illinois went
into force it was supposed that many provis-
ions of the statutes previously enacted would
! be found inconsistent with the new funda.
mental law. Hence our wise legislators, not
content with the fact that if there were such
provisions in the statutes the new constitution
by It's own force repealed and effectually wip
ed them out, must get up commission to
revise the laws, TO make them conform to
the new instrument. A committee of sundry
legislative wiscacres, assisted by a prodis-
ously wise man named Hurd, were consigned
to this work. They spent nearly two years
upon it, Cat $4,000 year, and last January
laid their job before the Legislature in the
shape Of some ESQ bills, covering every con.
ceivable object of Legislative regulation, and
from January to all fools day our wise men
at Springfield sweat over that work, taking it
up bill by bill and section by section, lop
ping off here and adding there, so that hard
ly section of the voluminous statutes that
have been in force in this state for the last
half century remains unchanged or un-"rc. !
yised,'
The folly Of all this is se'fevident Have
the laws with all this laborious and cumber-
some "revision," been improved? Take for
example the revised" statute entitled "Ju,
RES
See. provides that the county board ran,
at any time prior to Sept. 1874 make "A list of
one-tenth of the legal voters of the county to |
be known as the Jury list" Sec. provides
that at the Sept term 1874, and afterwards, |
when necessary, the board shall select from |
said Jury list 100 names for each trial term
Tor each ensuing year. SO there can be no |
jurors selected before Sept 1874. Then sec. !
IA provides, among other diSqualifcations of
Jurors, "that it shall be sufficient cause for ,
to petit juror that he has sat on
jury on the trial of any cause in any court of
record within one year" This will make it !
necessary to empannel a new jury for every
jury trial-a thousand at least for u single
session of our Circuit Court!
With this as a specimen of the whole job,
it will take our Supreme and Circuit courts
anu tli (liC ldNN III INC ojutc - NCiIS 10 /
find out what is in the new "rcvised" statutes,
and the Legislature twenty years TO amend
them so as to make them as good as they
were before the "rcvison."
Now suppose, instead OF paying this man
IIurd six or ten thousand dollars for his su-
DCrtluous work, and the three members of the
legislature couple of thousand each, for
ootherIng him with their "help," and then
having the legislature spend three months
over the job at Il cost of 100000 to the pco-
pie, and then paying, say 100000 more to
nave the journals OF the legislature while
working a. the job and then the revised"
statutes themselves printcd,-suppose, we say,
instead Of all this expense of time and SECS
200 OF the peoples money the Legislature had
simply told Mr., Eugene l.. Gross, "of the
Springfield bar TO get out a new edition of
his statutes, with all the changes in cOnse-
luence OF the adoption Of the new constitu-
ion noted with his usual pCrspicuous and
careful accuracy, and they would take ten
thousand copies, at cost OF say $4,000, for
he public use, don't every man with thin.
Dlctull of brains see that we should have had 5
IN infinitely better revision of our statutes I
han we have now, and at a saving of at least I
100000 to the public treasury Ii