The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1884-02-03
Hssty Legislation.

Than srs two periods 10 a session Of
the legislature when there is danger Of
passing over measures without due con-
alteration. One Of these periods is now,
when a large number Of the members
have gone home. The other is when the
session IL drawing to close.
Take fifty members out OF the House
at ono time, and some Of the most i'm
portant measures may come up and be
acted upon which operate on the con
stitucnts Of the absent members as well
a. those present
Each member acts on the idea that he
Is responsible only to bis immediate con.
stituents, but this VIC regard as great
mistake.
lie becomes component part Of the
whole body, and his wisdom and ex-
perience belong TO the State for the tine
for which he was elected, and as a coun.
sellor, the State should have the benefit
Of It, Local laws sometimes embody
principles which operate on Che whole
state. and every member should zee that
no local bill passes without strict scrut
my, especially when bills are only read
by their titles and not on three several
days In each house as the Constitu ton
requires.
1t Is no wonder that laws are constant
ly undergoing changes. A law is not
made perfect because Of tho hurried
manner in which IL Ia pushed through
and then II 1t should be n good law, well
framed, II is not allowed to remain on
the statute book long enough for the
people TO test it. The Code Of 1880 was
the best ono Mississippi ever had but it
WAS not allowed TO DO distributed among
tho people and Its merits tested, before ii
was attacked from many quarters by a
class Of men who could not boast OF
more brains and legal attachments than
the codihers and the Legislature who
adopted II.
The Legislature Of 1882 had 1t in liz
power to immortalize itself by letting
the Code severely alone, and assuring
their constituents that the presumption
was that the codfer and their prede
cessors had some knowledge of statute
law, and us they had given that Code q
thorough examination, and spent &C
much time in scrutinizing every law In
It, that II would be well to let the peo
pie have chance to read 1t and think
on IL and test its merits before mutt
lating IL with amendments and repeating
clauses.
The evil grows out of this-that new
members are elected, they must do some
thing, and IL they can't originate some
thing that no wise one has thought Of
before, they can at least show to their
constituents that they can pick flaws in
what their predecessors have done, and
the Code just made goes to pieces.
We are not opposed to perfecting laws
but there are more imperfections often
produced by perfecting than there were
before the work began. The crying
evil is too much legislation. The press
has been accused of encouraging toe
much legislation. We know there are q
large number Of papers in the State
and they generally reflect local anC
sound opinions and each one pro
poses reforms in the laws and wher
made known in the next Legislator,
they amount to many. II should b
noted that during the present session
more bills we're laid on the table and In
definitely postponed during the first ten
days Of the session than ut any former
period, This is encouraging, and q
reform in the right direction.