The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-01-30
aaGisce1la
THE CoDIFYING COMMISSION AND
IT'S WORK.
The Excellence and Great Importance Of the Code
OF DAVIS. n

The Excellence ana Ofeat Importance OF the COuo
Of DAVIS. H&
The people Of Ohio having refused to
adopt the Constitution of 1874, the Gem
eral Assembly, during its session otT5,
provided by law for the appointment Of
three Commissioners and the requisite
numberof Clerks, to revise the general
statutes Of the State, and consolidate
them into compact and complete Code.
The Commission was constituted by that
grand old Governor, William Allen. and
confirmed by the Senate, and in April,
1875, it entered upon its work.
A similar commission was constituted
in the State of New York early in 1870,
to revise and codify the laws of that
State Although it had the start of the
Ohio CodifyiAg Commission more than
five years, it is believed that our Com
mission will be able to complete its work
before the New York Commission gets
through with its revision and consolida-
tion.
Our Codifying Commission, on enter
ing upon its work less than four years
ago, found our general statutes in the
worst possible condition. We will not
attempt to state that condition ourselves,
when it has been done so well and so ac'
curately by gentleman connected with
the Commission, and who has been en-
gagged upon its work almost from its be-
ginning who has read up and familiar.
lied himself with the history of Codi6.
cation in all lands and in all ages. he
depicts the condition ofour laws as found
10 be at the opening of the work of the
Commission. Mr., Amos Layman is the
gentleman we refer to; and we clip the
following paragraph from an address pre-
pared by him, and delivered not long
ago, before the Tyndall Association of
this city,
"The laws of Ohio presented tangle
and jumble of contradictions, complica-
llOub, anu uncertainties az luG blkllJ VI
which the student and the foreign jurist
stood aghast, and through which our
trained lawyers even found it difficult to
pick their way. More than a hundred
volumes of statutes, and nearly as many
volumes of Supreme Court reports, with
incomplete and imperfect indexes and
digests, rendered the research formida-
Bile, and the attainment of accurate
knowledge of the laws of Ohio and their
true construction very rare thing, even
among the best lawyers. Great difficulty
was found, in many cases, in determin-
ing what laws were in force and what
laws were repealed, and the courts even
m ,de mistakes in this regard, and in the |
matter of Interpretation"
Such being the condition of the laws
of Ohio when the Commission entered |
upon its work, under the act creating it !
and prescribing its duties, We will let
Mr. Layman state what the Commission |
was required to do under that act We
quote from his address as follows:
The Commissioners are required to
bring together all statutes and parts of
statutes, which, from similarity of sub
jet, ought to be brought together, omit
ting redundant or obsolete euaCtments,
and makiug such alterations as may be
necessary, to reconcile the c1ntradiC
tious supply the omissions, and amend
the imperfectiOns of the original tex; 10
prepare no,ts W th reference to the orig
inal lex, and, as far as practicable, to
the decisions of tue State courts, eX plain
ing or expounding the same, so as to sug-
gest to the legislature such Conlradic-
tions, omissions, and impeI feCtiOns as
may appear in the original text, with the
mode IN which they have reConCled, sup.
piled and amended the same; to desig
nate such statutes, or parts Of statutes, as
in their Judgment ought to be repealed
with the reasons for such repeal; to rec
the passage of new acts or paris
of acts, as such repeal may, in their judg
ment, render necessary; and to prepare
and furnish the aunotations, embracing
the decisions Of the Supreme Court, Su
preme Courl Commission, and references
to the decisions of other Courts of the
State, as well as a complete, accurate,
and co pious analytic index ...
"These duties could not be faithfully 4
and satisfactorily performed without care
fully rewriting nearly every section of
the statutes. The preparation of the
notes alone requires constant study Of
the reported cases; and the preparation
Of many of the new sections involves
the necessity of weighing conflicting au-
thorities searching for and applying the :
legal principles which should govern,
and deliberating very carefully upon the
effect of the language in which the re.
suits of their investigations are clothed. I
The adequate performance of this labor
demands as much care, skill and learn
ng, as that of Judge who decides and
writes opinions upon difficult questions {
lf law; but the Commissioners are not, g
IS the Judge generally is, assisted by the |
arguments of counsel, and the citations t
of authorities; and he is not compelled, '
rs the Commissioners are, so to guard q
the language employed in defining the s
conclusions which are reached, that they a
can be Incorporated into the permanent t
law Of the State, and become immutable t
in the very words in which they are pro- 9
nounced. +
"The extent of the work of this Com i
mission is immeasurably great and the /
wisdom manifested in its performance il
will, it is be ieyed, be early recognized" q
The revision of the general statutes of l
the State, or the code of Ohio laws, when d
by the Commission and en- '
acted by the legislature, will contain four a
general divisions: o
The first eleven titles of part first were g
laid before the Sixty second General AS v
sembly during its first session, but they Il
have not yet been enacted. They have d
received further attention from the Com. Il
mission, and will claim the early action o