Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-06-29
WEST VIRGINIA STATUTES"
Paper by Hon. w. p. Hubbard, Read BE
fore tho Bar Association, Yesterday. {.

Paper by Hon. w. p. Hubbard, Read Be-
fore tho Bar Association, Yesterday.
Following is the full text of the paper by
Hon. W. p. Hubbard, read before yester-
day mornings session of the State Bar As
ISOLATION:
"we have strict statutes and most biting laws"
Measure for Measure; Act 4, Seems 4.
It was Iong ago said that it wss as little
to a lawyers credit to be we'll yersed IN the
statutes as to be ignorant of tho common
Law. Upon this authority / have selected
my topic as the one subject about which 1t
is crsditsble to know nothing. Upon
such topic the modest essayist may feel
ct ease---st ease with himself, because the
less be knows about his subject, the better
lawyer he shows himself, and at ease with
his audience of lawyers, because the critic
can only display his superior knowledge on
the terms Of writing himself down pro-
fessional ass. And there is come truth IN
.he adage behind which have taken shell
ter. Which good lawyer of rs does not
forget the statute now and then, who has
not some time woven around the prin-
ciples of the common law some master
piece of reasoning that was to catch all the
fi,es on the other side, only to see some
sharp edged section of the Statute sever
his web. WHAT q feeling of relief If we
discovered it in time and were spared the
pang of seeing some ignorant adversary
WELD the deadly Statute.
As things now tend, the successful law
yer is to be keen, sensible, prompt bust
ness man, having at command his disci-
plined faculties and his stores Of informa-
ton and experience. Black letter learning
and the eloquence of oratory will still have
their uses and occasions, but success,
whether measured by the income of the
lawyer or by the practical value Of HE
service to his client, will belong to this
professional business man. To such one
thorough acquaintance with the statute
book is desirable part of his equipment.
That acquaintance is not so hard to get or
to keep as it once was, Notwithstanding the
multiplicity of the statutes.
The modern statute resembles its orig
inal as little as the pride of to-dsy's herd
book res mbles the ancestral scIuD.
The preamble has been bred off, and to
mourn its departure there is only here and
ture VINO was moved by wholesome fear
of his constituents to vote against resolu-
ton for distribution of postage stamps,
but gave as his reason to the House that
there wasn't enough whereas in the per
amble."
To fill the place made by the disappear
ance of the preamble the title has been de-
veloped by constitutional provisions, until
it has grown from mere identifying mark
into an importance which rivals that of
the statute itself and sometimes is too
much for it.
Verbisge and tautology, fruitful Of am
biguity in the language of statutes, have
greatly diminished. The spirit of the age
to some extent dominates the statute book,
so that while its substance deals with the
vital questions of the day, the mode of ex-
preston has become concise and direct.
Not that progress in the making Of laws
has kept equal step with the advancement
of research and achievement in natural sci
enee. The methods and purposes differ.
The scientists mission is to discover and
apply existing laws; the legislators most
important duty is to create laws for the
future government of men. If the making
of laws DE not the highest work of the hu-
man intellect, it needs, more than any
other, close study and the most particular
care. In this we may find some reason
why in legislation we have not spun
down the ringing grooves of change" quite
az rapidly rs in some othsr departments of
thought and action.
Again the Legislature, to amuch greater
4 he Will IN
pendent on the aid of others. In free
country, the man who drafts new and
better law must impress his fellows with
the necessity or at least the importance Of
the change he advocates, and must over
come their timid, stupid or selfish objec-
tons SO it is that while the bold hand of
natural science may
Rift the hills and roll the waters;
Flash the lightning weigh the sun "
the science CT Legislation moves,
'But slowly, creeping on from point to point >
Aud yet it must have been like the
flash of the electric light, or the first mir
aculous utterance of the telephone, when
there was given to Virginia the Code of
1S49, clear, concise and logical, into which
the brains of two lawyers had put two
hundred years of Virginia legislation,
diffuse, verbose, incongruous, uncertain
and unintelligible.
And this brings me to the'subject of
this paper, which l had begun to fear
would be of no effect, because its object
was not expressed in its title.
With the Code of 1849 as q model, West
Virginia statutes ought to be admirable in
form and expression, and so far as our leg
islation has been carelessly expressed 1t
has been without excuse.
Where there have been departures from
the system of that Code they have been
harmful. Compared with the legislation
of most other States, West Virginia stat
utes have been well and clearly expressed.
In comparison with the acts of Congress,
West Virginia acts are most creditable In
this respect. Take the act of Congress
With which lawyers are NEST familiar,
that relating to the jurisdiction of federal
courts, and compare its obs cure expressions
and ungrammatical sentences, repeated
and reinforced in its successive re-enact.
ments, with the chapters of our Code re-
lating to the courts of the State. Com
pared with the 6ode of 1S49, the legisla'
ton of West Virginia, even leaving out o.
consideration private and local acts. does
not appear so well, though the first fifty
chapters of the Code of 1868, which were
revised by Mr.. Lamb, yield nothing to the
early Code in happy and accurate phras
eology.
The most glaring imperfections to bt
found on our statute books appear in thu
acts of one of our Legislatures, which seemed
possessed with the purpose Of destroying
the Code, by maDgling 1t, repeating some
of it's chapters and sections and passing In
dependent acts relating to matters EN-
braced in the Code. 1t forgot that TIT
statutory law of the State ought to be
seamless garment, and not thing of shred'
and patches. =,
Ali changes in the general law shoulC
be made by express amendments Of thu
Code, by the addition of new chapters q
sections or the amendment of those betor'
|, existing. This should be required, and /
, the requirement Is not deemed importan
enough to 90 into the constitution, it ough
TO be enforced by the rules Of the tw'
houses of the Legislature. Its advantage
would not be small.
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