Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-28

At the time OF the cession Of the present
District by Maryland the then existing law
Of that state was continued in the federal
territory. The common law and the British
and Maryland statutes which composed the
Maryland law of that period have been re-
peatedly amended and revised by successive
state legislatures. and the Maryland statutes
have substantially kept pace with the move
ments Of public sentiment and the growth
Of modern ideas. In the District on the con-
trary the only alterations of the general laws
of hundred years ago have been the scat
tered. unsystematic and entirely inadequate
enactments Of Congress, which for three
fourths of a century took too little real
interest in the capital. and which even in
recent years. has not seemed able to relieve
the District by q comprehensive enactment
from the burden OF antiquated laws of a by
gone century. Not many years after the
cession the people began to complain that
through Congressional neglect their statutes
were not sufficiently flexible. Since that
time successive revisions have exposed the
increasing defects, absurdities and barbar-
tiles of our law. but all in vain. Not only
has Ii been impossible to secure the enact
ment of a code which should embody some
Of the modern legislative ideas, but even at
tempts to secure an authoritative revision of
the laws, which should state the law 1t
exists and permit obsolete and obsolescent
enactments to be formally eliminated, have
been failures.
Some of the good friends of the District
In the House are enlisting for another cam
paisn to secure better and more certain laws
for the capital A special subcommittee on
codificat.on has been appointed In the Dis
trict committee and there are other Repre-
sentatives not members of that committee,
who are deeply interested in this locally
important project
Five years ago there was an energetic
movement for the betterment Of the local
laws in which The Star actively participated.
President Cleveland. in his message Of 1883.
called the special attention of Congress to
the request for legislation which would en-
able the District ito collect. digest and
properly arrange the laws by which the
District Is governed" In March. 1883, Con-
gress passed a law authorizing the Supreme
Court Of the District to appoint q commits
sion TO compile, arrange and classify, with
a proper index. all statutes and parts Of
statutes IN force in the said District. includ-
ing the acts of the second session of the
Fftieth Congress. and relating to all such
matters as would properly come within the
scope Of a civil and criminal code" When
the compilation was completed 5000 copies of
IL were to be printed at the government
printing ONCE on the order OF the Supreme
Court The result of the four years labor
Of the compilers should now be available
as the basis Of intelligent activity In urging
a revision or codincation. 1t Is full time
that the commission reported its work COM
pleted- It may be that the prompt presenta-
ton Of this compilation to Congress, backed
by energetic work In its behalf and by the
present Congressional interest In the subject
Of District law. may result In the indorse-
ment Of the compilation by the national leg
islature and its recognition as an Official
statement Of the statute law.
Congress has frequently authorized these
compilations to be made, but has always
dropped them after this preliminary work
has been done. 1t will be a great benefit to
the District to have existing law collected
and printed In convenient shape, but a clear
statement of the law as II Is should be only
a preface to an improvement of NAT law
A compilation should be followed by a COM
prehensfve code or body of revised statutes
giving to this District the benefit of the
modern spirit Of legislation. both in respect
to substantive law and procedure WASH
inyton Is progressive nineteenth century
city and an eighteenth century body Of
laws, merely disngured by subsequent ran
dom patching. Is unsuitable to its condition.
1t Is time that the statutes of the capital
ceased to serve mainly az a museum of
antiquities, displaying curiosities. wonders
and horrors to the investigator