Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-25

the ExeCuuse. pubic PRINTING! uiiit&,
public property, yirgisis Military In
stitute, assessment Of taxes, taxes on
licenses, rate Of tax, collection Of taxes,
counties and magisterial officers. the
county poor. county and township
levies, education, public health, weights
and measures. wrecks, pilots. taverns,
oysters, marriages, births aud deaths,
and any and all other laws Of like
character the Teyisers may deem meet
and proper. and place them in the vol
ume, numbered one or two, as they
might think proper; and
2. Collate all the other statutes now
extant and unrepealed, such as the sta
tute on divorce, creation and limitation
Of estates. form Of deeds and covenants,
wills. descents and distributions, illegi-
innate children, guardian and wards,
personal representatives, lands Of per-
sohs under disability, fiducisries gene
rally. ejectment, money and interest,
evidence and scrolls on statute Of frau Is
and perjuIies, Illegal contracts, limita-
liors Of suits. attachments, actions for
injuries. interplesder, county, corpora
ZION and circuit courts and court OF
appeals, juries generally, rules and
pleadings, evidence, trial, injunctions,
appeals and wits Of error. judgment
liens, costs generally, homestead. exc.
cutions and writs, and forthcoming
bonds, and any and all such other acts
the Board Of Reyisers may think fit and
proper, and place them in another aud
separate volume-say Volume or ,,
according to taste.
3. This being done, | wonld suggest
that they take up the New Reyi,ai Of
Criminal Procedure Of lS71-7S', with
the penal ensctmentS since passed, aud
the amendments thereto, and, prosecu
ting the same plan, adopt for their
Goodies edition on the Criminal Cole
If Texas, and so arrange and fashion 1t
as to make il light and convenient
rdde mecsm for the profession. From
its publication Goodies editionl the
writer has discarded the Code Of 1873
80 far as the criminal statutes and the
copy Of the Acts Of Assembly contain.
ing them go, and relied with entire
safety upon GoOde.
All this accomplished, it should be a
sine qua non with the reyisers that the
paper and type and Its mechanical aud
typographical execution should be of
very superior kind, with broad mar
gin, with marginal references to an
thorities, and notes at the foot Of each
page when notes are used at all and in
all respects the execution should be re-
quired to be quite as good and superior
TO the Code Of 1860.
If this should be the happy termina-
ton of the labors Of the distinguished
reyisers, their work will surely escape
the anathemas Of the profession aud
the severe censures of the public so Law
ishly heaped upon the Code of 1873.
And right here | may be pardoned for
referring to that distinguished jurist
and eel, brated photographer, the late
William Green, LID, whose opinion
was that "a big book was big evil"
and who INDUCED in intense impreca
tions against the Code Of 1873, and
always declared it had never been
received and ratified as the Code of
Virginia, and " was not per Sc law or
evidence of the law."-Yide, V. {. |
1873, chapter Is, section s, taken from
V. c. lSi9, chapter lG, section lG; so
as to the Code Of 1860; see, also, Vir-
ginia Lar Journal and notes there
cited see, also, Jackson Guys, Esq,
opinion in June number Law Journal,
1879. Raleigh Z. Daniel, former At
torney- General Of Virginia, expressed
the same opinion to the writer at Gull
pepper Per Contra, see acts March
% and April >, 1873, and the con-
Guiding paragraph Of the preface to the
Code by the compiler, the late George
W. Munford, and my note in the Code
under the preface.
1t will be observed that have main
" confined myself to the rearrange-
ment and reformation Of the Code. On
the question of revision and codidca-
ton Of the laws Of the State, and the
and reenactments thereof,
have thought proper not to indulge in
any structures, or to make any positive
suggestions respecting that branch Of
he subject Of this article.
First. because three able lawyers,
TWO of whom are distinguished ex-
Judges Of the Court of Appeals, have
been selected by the Legislature Of Yir-
,inia to collate, digest, and revise all
he general statutes, civil and criminal.
IF the State, and to notice such con-
omissions, and imperfec-
ions that they may discover in the
same, and to lay down the mode and
manner in which they may be recon
lied, supplied, and amended" and
Secondly, because have not the
emerity to rush in and assume the role
IF reviser and codifer so fortunately
conferred upon those so abundantly
qualified for SO important and difficult
/ duty.
Talent, large experience, capacity to
abor, perseverance, aud palnstaking
ire eminently theirs; and the Bench
md the Bar, the officers and authori-
les Of the State, and the people at
arge may be congratulated on their
selection and if the crude suggestions
brown out in this article in respect
If the arrangement and reformation Of
he Code in the points and particulars
o which | have adverted shall be
leeded by the reyisers ! shall be
more than gratifed, and feel sure that
hat the Bench and the Bar Of Viz
inia be made thrice happy by the en-
oyment Of so great desideratum.
CULPEPER. j. W. b.
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