Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1876-11-18
A WORD TO OUR LEGISLATORS.

AL luCd PlCshllo, uOG Jul 40
county, but elsewhere, that the coming
session Of the legislature will be 4 re
visory session, that is. that it will be
the duty of that legislature to revise thu
statutes of the state. This is not the case
Section Al article w of the new consti
tuition says:
within five years after the adoption ofthi
constitution, all the statute laws OF q genera
nature, both civil and criminal, shall be revised
dlgested and promulgated in such q manner a
the general assembly shall direct. and a lik'
revision, digest aud PRONUNCIATION, shall b.
made at the expiration of every subsequent pc
riod of ten years."
1t will be seen, therefore, that it i:
not obligatory upon this session of the
legislature that it shall revise the stat.
utes. 1t is not only not obligatory
but it will be almost, if not entirely i'm.
practicable to perform the work in 8
proper manner As it is generally
conceded that the statutes of the state
need revision it will be the duty OF the
legislature to provide for such revision
at the session of 1879. Under the Sec
ton Of the constitution quoted above
this revision may be lone lin such
manner as the general assembly shall
direct" and for this purpose the twenty
ninth general assembly should appoint
a commission of from three to five of the
best lawyers in the state, and. speaking
as one OF the people, it should be i'm
pressed upon that commission to make
the laws as concise and clear as possible,
avoiding v~erbosity. This we say espe-
cially as regards the revenu law, which
as it stands to-day is unnecessarily long,
is intricate in its provisions and of such
difficulty of Interpretation as to cause
the officers who have t. execute it much
trouble. While it will be practically
impossible for the tw~enty-ninth general
assembly to revise the statutory laws of
the state there is a section of the con-
stitution which will give them as much
work as it will be possible Tor them to
do in the allotted one hundred and
twenty days, to which the first and re-
visins sessions are extended, seventy
days being the limi. of ordinary sessions.
1t is as follows:
"Al laws in force at the adoption of this con-
not inconsistent herewith, shall re-
main in full force until altered or repealed by
the general assembly; and all rights, actions.
prosecutions. claims and contracts of tho state, !
individuals, or bodies corporate, not
inconsistent Herewith, shall continue to be a.
Valid as ifthis constitution had not been adopted. |
The provisions ofall laws which are Inconsistent
With this constitution, shall cease upon its adop-
ion, except that all laos schicA are incon-
'iste"t sctth such PROFESSIONS Of this constisu-
ion, as require legislation to enforce them, |
hall remain IN force until the first day OIL
'.ty, ono thomssnd eight humdred aud see
'''fy-seven. HsIsss sooner amended or re-
'sated by the sen-ra1 assembly"
We italicise that portion to which we
iesire to call the especial attention OF
legislators. All laws which are in
consistent with those provisions of the
which require legislation
o enforce them are continued by this
lause until July 1877, and should some
uch law be neglected by the twenty
ninth general assembly, after that time
md until a legislature could meet and
PASS such a law, there would be no law
'pon the subject. There are many such
avs. notably, the school. election and
'evenue laws will have to be conformed
o the constitution. These of course could
lot be overlooked. but some might, and
! behooves our legislators to thoroughly
themselves with the c~onstl-
ntion and to see that no points ere left
Inguarded. The twenty-eighth general
!ssembly was a patriotic body, trying to
70 its duty, but lacking business quail
les; the twenty-seventh general assem-
ly was little better than a mob, and we
ope to see the twenty-ninth excel both
. all the essentials of pro@ss we rec
ugh Nrrtnar the members prepare
lemselves for their work before they
o there. and not to defer all thought Of
hat they are to do until the day thew ,
leet' and above all we hope that they
Ill not spend a week of valuable time
wrangling over officers. Let good
be promptly selected to fill the !
arlous positions, and let the watch word }
g from first to last-work. Adjourned .
'ssions are fortunately among the :
llngs of the past, and as there is much !
do, and little time to do it in, no time '
lould be lost. The general assembly >
Ill meet on the first Wednesday after !.
e first day of January 1877, and re- |
emoer' gentlemen. the people want T
~ to work much. and crate as little as :,
t
The Boston Post suggests that South t.