The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-07-27

Straighten the Tangle Out.
The urgent need of compilation and coda-
cation of the laws of the District is brought for
ward again by the efforts to induce Congress to
purchase the manuscript volumes prepared by
Josiah Quincy Kern. These volumes comprise
a revision and consolidation of all statutes re-
ferring to municipal affairs in force in the Dis
trict on the 1st of December, 1889. The District
Commissioners have written to the House Dis
trict Committee urging the purchase of Mr..
Kern's volumes, and Mr.. Mckinley has intro
duced a bill authorizing the Commissioners to
examine the work, and, IL found satisfactory,
purchase 1t at price not exceeding $1,000
Under an act of Congress passed some time
ago the late Benjamin f. Lovejoy and William
Stone Albert were appointed commissioners to
prepare compilation of all laws in force in
the District. Since Mr.. Lovejoy's death Mr..
Albert has continued the work alone
"The need of compilation of the laws of the
District" said Mr.. Albert the other day, s'is and
has been for three-quarters of century, press
ing one. Congress, however, has seemed to be
strongly averse to doing anything to relieve the
difficulty under which all lawyers practicing
here suffer. Although numerous codes of laws
exclusively for the District have been presented
for the approval Of Congress none has ever been
adopted, and We are still forced to grope along
in our practice, depending too often upon strik-
ing point Of value in some of the ancient
books which We are constantly ransacking We
frequently prepare cases and go into court
thinking we have the law entirely on our side,
when our opponents will produce one of our
| other books of laws and precedents, paragraph
of which will completely nullify all our refer
| ences
zone prominent lawyer some time since said:
| i don't believe anybody ever did know what
the statutes of the District of Columbia are, and
| don't believe anybody ever will know / be-
lieve myself that it this state of affairs that
drove Bob Ingersoll from Washington. He
| couldn't stand it. Awell-known LAWYER here.
| I'll not tell you his name-laughingly said some
time ago, when spoke to him on the question
| of q compilation or code of District laws, Il
| don't want code. Then some young fellow
| can come in here and in fifteen minutes find out
all the points of cases that 1t has taken me
| twenty-five years to become familiar with
"Although this lawyer was joking in what he
said there is nevertheless great deal of truth
| in it, and good lawyers who come here from the
States find themselves utterly bewildered with
the mass of conflicting references with which
they are surrounded. The judges themselves
can't begin to keep posted, and the state Of
affairs is as embarrassing to them as it is to u.s.
"Could you mention any conflicts in the way
of references or any cases which are not covered
| by modern legislation?'
There are thousands of them. All my books
| YOU will notice. are full of references [ could
| turn to any number of such cases. Forinstance,
here is the old English law for blasphemy You
know the old Engishlaws and the old Maryland
laws became by an act of Congress the laws of
the District when it was founded in those cases
not repealed by later sections. The old English
law for blasphemy, If any holds, holds here. But
look at It. For the first offense the culprit is to
have hole bored through his tongue and be fined
twenty pounds sterling. For the second offense
he iS fO bav he OF far a6 pp bicf
head and fined forty pounds sterling. Our Con-
stitution says that no cruel or unusual punish
ment shall be inflicted upon any of our citizens
So where is the law for the District in case in
which man blasphemes? He cannot be bored
through the tongue, for that is cruel and unusual
punishment; nor can he be fined, because the law
expressly states that the tining must be subse-
quent to the boring of the tongue. So the bias
phemer goes free Again, we have cases in which
the only punishment is the whippng-post, or pill
lory, but an act of Congress expressly declares
that neither of these forms of punishment shall
be resorted to. So, again, the prisoner gets of"
''You say Qualifications had been offered Con-
gress heretofore?"
eyes; on several occasions. Here, in 1916,
we find the first. 1t was presented to Congress
by William Cranch, and it took him three Years
to compile 1t. There are over five hundred
pages in it. Mine will contain at least two
| thousand eight hundred pages, making two
large volumes the size of these Revised Statutes
| of the United States. In 1857 Robert Olds and
! tion, which, like the former, was never accepted
! by Congress. In 1872 board of five commits
sioners was appointed TO codify our laws, with
the same result In 1879 Edward G. Ingersoll
prepared another, but it was also refused ac-
| ceptance. So you see there is very little hope
! of my getting mine accepted.
"The compensation Congress offers for the
work is rdiculously inadequate. They We're
| evidently afraid to trust the members of the
! bar, and showed their lack of confidence by
! setting price on the complete work instead of
! making the position of commissioner a salaried
| one The work is one which requires a great
| amount of labor and research as we'll as a con-
| siderable exercise of mental powers, and yet
| Congress proposes to give the commissioners
for the whole task less money than the bailiff
in the Court of Claims gets for one years
work."
"How long do you expect to devote to the
work ?'
''Mr. partner, Mr.. Lovejoy, died some time
since, and l have been obliged to continue
the work almost alone from that point | have
now been engaged on it over year, and can't
possibly hope to have it completed within six
months 1t is tremendous work and with
the annotations, which will be full and com
! plete, and the index, which will be prepared on
the latest and most approved principles, hope
| to make it a successful one.n
Upon being asked his opinion of Josiah
! Quincy Kern's codiication of municipal laws,
! Mr.. Albert said he hoped it would be bought by
! Congress, as it would not only aid him in that
one branch of his work, but would also set d
! price on brain labor, which Congress in his
| particular instance seems to hold Mt so low )