Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-21

% AothCt hiOTc comprehensive lnan ln6t Oh
Kitty. find one hundred and ntnety-six
British statutes deemed applicable ito the
local and other circumstances OF the peo-
pie Of Maryland. cursory examination OF
few OF them have been considered by our
courts. Such of them as have been re-
ierred to and recognised as part OF our
law are those which are best known. such
as the statute Of frauds, Of fraudulent con-
veyances. of sales Of land on execution, of
costs on error, of forcible entry and de-
tainer, and others of equal Importance A
particular enumeration Of all OF these stat
utes, recognized and unrecognized, and
declaration of their VITALITY would be of
measurable service to students of law to
the profession. and to the courts, saving
to each much expense Of time and labor.
and removing all doubts as to which of
them are, and which are not law I observe
that counsel in their arguments in the Su-
pf 1bas court sometimes say that certain
force in the District, and that the court
itself sometimes says that there is no doubt
tnat such ana such of them are law with
certainty to those Of which no mention
has been made.
Revision Necessary,
Thus much for the necessity OF a mere
compilation The question then arises
whether compilation which shall not be
to certain extent a revision is practicable
1 conceive that a literal republication of
the older British statutes would not be
greatly appreciated by the people at large
who would probably rise from their perusal
perplexed and bewildered by unfamiliar
terms and uncouth English. I submit a.
specimen. selected because Of its breyity:
there are others couched in much quainter
language. 1t is the statute of fraudulent
conveyances, so Edw. Ill. C. 6.
Item. Because that divers people in
merit OF divers tenements, borrowing Giyers
GOODS IN money in merchandise nf &
vers people of this realm, do give their ten
ements and chattels to their friends by
collusfon thereof to have the profits at
their will, and after do fee to the franchise
OF Westminster. OF St. Martin lie Grand of
London. or other such privileged places
and there 40 live great time with an high
countenance OF other mans goods. and
profits Of the said tenements and chattels.
till the said creditors shall be bound to take
a small parcel Of their debt. and release
the remnant; C2) 1t is ordained and assent
ed that II IT be found that such gifts be so
made by COLLISION. that the said creditors
shall have execution Of the said tenements
made"
1t Is plain that these statutes in their
present form are unsuited to publication
and general distribution among the people
Placed side by side with the legislation Of
the present day, as they would be in a
code. their incongruity would painfully ap-
pear. Most of them. especially the more an
Gent, are expressed in terms now unintelli-
gible. and are involved and complicated in
style, and all of them are incumbered with
needless preambles and repetitions. II Is
discouraging to the lawyer to be compelled
to penetrate this jungle of legal antiquities
separating the useful from the inutile. the
applicable from the inapplicable. and to
pursue the history of each statute through
long series of reports Revision and COM
pilation should go hand in hand together.
as In the states. by declaratory re-enact-
ments prepared by competent revisers. The
work of IudRa Cranch hapefnf0ra rofa
to partakes Of this character. As judge Of
the Circuit Court of the District. the iuris-
diction of which then extended to Alexan-
dria county in Virginia, he was familiar
with the Virginia laws and doubtless APP
preciated the benefits and advantages of
placing the British statutes beyond cavil
or doubt, and redraughting them in the
style of the legislation of the present cen
fury, for the Virginia laws re-enacting
British statutes are copiously introduced
into his revision. Thomas Jefferson. to
whom. with Edmund Pendleton and George
Wythe, was committed the task of revis-
ing the laws OF Virginia In 1776. when they
consisted of the common law and OF Brit
ish and colonial statutes, says. with re-
spect to the execution Of his part of that
work: II thought Il would be useful. also,
in all new drafts to reform the style Of
the later British statutes and Of our own
acts of assembly, which. from their YER
bosity, their endless tautologies, their in
volutions Of case within case. and paren-
thesis within parenthesis. and their null
tiplied efforts at certainty, by saids and
aforesaids. by ors and ands. to make them
more plain, are really rendered more per-
picked and incomprehensible not only to
common readers. but to lawyers them
selves" Uefferson's Memoir, p. g. ed
1922 In this connection / append one of
the Virginia statutes remodeled by Jeffer-
son and his associates from a British orig
inal, and afterward further abbreviated by
the Virginia revision of 1s49. II is the stat
ute limiting actions to recover lands. The
original is of comparatively modern date,
and consequently does not abound with the
jargon and obsolete terms which appear in
those of an earlier period. Compare the
two and observe the difference in brevity
and style. Practically they are one and
the same.