New-York tribune., 1877-07-21
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
LETTER FROM A. @. RIDDLE.

which governs him is mystery. 10 the citlzen OF
this District 1t is labyrinth. While to lawyer
educated within the thirty years last past II must
be a wonder On no other piece Of the earth, OF the
| same size. can there be found much, and such
| variety of law / shall not attempt-wbat no one
over has-an analys of the law of this much-egls-
lated for fraction of soil. brief enumeration OF
it's varieties and sources, with glance at ts mere
| bulk. Will quite exhaust paper OF my limits
| Frst-We have the law paramount rs enacted by
Congress- which demands the first place, scattered
through nineteen volumes OF tho Statutes at large
| in each of which "The District of Coumbia' is
prominent title In 1924, Congress adopted re-
vision of the State law of the United States, then in
force which, exclusive Of the index, makes volume
O92 large pages. At this same session IL adopted
revision of the Statutes, specially enacted for the
District which 49 pages, something IN bulk OF
over one-seventh of the entire living body OF Con-
gressona legislation. In addition, there are many
provisions of the General Statutes applicable to the
District not embraced IN this volume. This seems
to show that the complaints of my former letters were
groundess and that Congress has not neglected the
District Whoever examines these Statutes now
made as shapely as the original odds and ends VIII
permit will fail to detect the slightest idea OF sys-
tem comprehensive design or completeness as
whole as he Will be unable to detect the presence of
splred National legislation design to build up
system of education common to the States.
Seoond-Perhaps as the only other body that has
over legslaed for the entire District the acts of its
own Legislature might be placed next in order. The
law creating the District Government conferred
general legislative powers, subject to the revision OF
Congress. The acts Of the four sessions cover over
two hundred pages and those applicable to general
subjects evince intelligent comprehension of the
wants of the people, and the means OF meeting them
1hiTd-The organic Act above referred to perpet-
uated the ordinances of the Corporations of Washing
ton GEORGETOWN and of the Long Court. The last
digest of the laws of Washington form a compend
ious volume of about five hundred pages. The laws
of Georgetown are less bulky, while in fact the Acts
of the Long Court never took the form of ordi-
nances, but were made from time to time as special
orders as each specific occasion
This enumeration covers all the direct legislation
of the District.
FoRrHi-I come now to the indirect, promulgated
before the existence of the District, and which rest
ed upon It's soil part of the State of Maryland
and as q portion of a Colony of Great Britain As
portion of the people and territory of Maryland, the
District began with the blessing and burden of all
the law-Common, Statute, and Ecclesiastcal-in
force in the parent State at the separation from the
Crown, and in this way may have acquired the Con-
stituton of the United States-if any part of it re-
NAMED unannuled by the specific provision I'm refer
ence to the District. All this Of law the Act of
Congress of February 27, 1901, continued in force
in the District from that day "until modified or
repealed by Congress, authority thereof" while
the oftquoted Act of February 81 1871, in express
terms extended the Constitution and laws Of the
United States to the District, far applicable.
Let us glance back over our inheritance from Mary
land AT the dreary tones OF black-letter and dingy
paper through quaint pTeambles and involved sen
tcnces back through the old Bill of State Rights,
the State Constitutions, to "An Assembly held at the
City of st. Mary's on the 10th day Of May, Ammo
Domni 1862 and in the 4th year of the Reign of
Sovereign Lord aud Lady, William and Mary, by
the Grace of Cod ETC." On our way, we may
pore a Royal Charter of George Ill, by the same
grace dOnc at Westminster, the Goth day of
June, and the Sth of our Reign The edition |
quote from is Ktys, two huge quartos, unpaged, of
at least 1000 pages published IN 1892. There is
also before me Dorseys Statutes, of three volumes,
covering some 5000 pages. issued in 1888, but
which We are obliged to consult for the Acts between
1901 and 1892.
Since the cession of the District, the hand of
the Maryland codifer has applied the test OF
fire to this whole mass, recc ining the gold and
silver in the mint of to-day, consuming tie rest
az rubbish; while the courts and lawyers of the
District are still cropping among these old acts, to
find out as they may what was the Statutory COM
INITIATIVE of penalty originally imposed in unman-
factured tobacco. or in a more primitive currency,
aud kindred matters-a labor in which have once
twice aided, or been aided, to perform. So far
the legislation of Congress could co. it has vitalized
this decayng foliage of forgotten legislators beyond
the power OF becoming obsolete. We may not pause
here. Our labors take Us back in dreary cxplora-
IL ~ DE-. IA. ID.
Statutes in force in Maryl land prior to the severance
of that Colony from the Crown. These / find in Il
late edition of "Alexanders British Statutes in
Force in Maryland covering about a thousand
pages. This opens with certain paragraphs of the
Magma Charta of John Lakeland, re-declared by
Henry ILL., in the 37th year of his reign, with such
awful impreeations.
Such is the briefcst enumeration of the sources of
our law aud glance AT 1t, it now cumbors this
little fragment of the earths surface-a mere mu-
scum Of the legal curiosites and the refuse legsla
tion of the defunct centuries. And our people are
still compelled to the cast-oh garments, and go
about in the wOrn-out and rejected sandals Of for
gotten generations a condition of the law which can
only be appreciated by thoughtful lawyer yersed
in the history of his profession. He that
have the unchanged English Colonial Common and
Statute Law of century ago, with its catalogue of
Common Law crimes; and should be told that by an
Act of the Provincial Legislature. an important seq
ment of Ecclesiastical Law was also adopted and is
ours. He that laws repealed or obsolete III Eng
land and Maryland are still part Of the mutiform
variegated law of the District. That there is
scarcely old English writ which may not be en-
forced here, if counsel have the learning to frame
and the courage to demand it. He needs further to
be told that the jurisdiction of Courts has been
supDemented by Acts of Congress, with COgnXance