The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-01


Indispensable, and peculiarly adapted to
| The then existing condition of society. The
work was finally completed at the end OF
fourteen months. 1t consisted of collec-
| ton of twelve books called the code The
second project, that of modifying and di-
costing the great body of law contained
! in the writings of juristS, covering a long
period of Roman history, was one of great
er magnitude. In this enterprise sixteen
| commissioners, four professors of law and
! eleven practicing advocates, including
| TreboniaI the great legal adviser of JUS
/ tinian, were appointed. The commission
| ers We're under special instructions of the
emperor. They were to select from These
| II eatises that which would be of the
greatest practical utility, eliminating ali
| Il at in their judgment was not good law
ciscarding internal discrepancies, modi-
/ wing phraseology wherever brevitv and
oonclSeneSS could be promoted. This un-
Gertaking involved prodigious research, an
| examination of no less than two thousand
separate productions, consisting of three
milton sentences. Nine thousand Two
hundred and twenty-three extracts were
taken from 80 authors and incorporated
with no substantial modification into the
new law. Necessarily there were a great
many alterations and interpretations of the
ola law made to harmonic with existing
/ law. This scheme was contaminated in
thirty-six months and enacted into fifty
books known as the Pandects All com
nentary by imperial edict on the REFORM
ca law was absolutely prohibited, which
was certainly a grevious fault on the part
OF Justlnlan. By so doing he excluded
! the light of progressive reason which
vas practlealiy deposing it. In order to
make the reform complete a third scheme
was submitted, the primary object of
whlch was to facilitate the acquisition OF
! legal knowledge. Finally the Institute:
consisting of four books. Containing fine
elementary principles of the law based
upon the commentaries of the renowne5
I Isl cassie ID Gaius was elaborated re-
rybioh oa lhe code of 529 was also effected
when marked the emergence of the Ro.
man an law from chaos.
nnere can be no doubt but that this
ofFe9g5p ZIP revolution of the Jurisprudence
~. Cne ROMANS was accompanied with sa-
+ +oo results. 1t facilitated the admins
p sastIu ot justice, If such a thing was
dd;E scra,l IN those days, by eliminating
4tieiIhg specific, law which was authorita-
o, The reformed law of Rome has exer-
SIZE S;v,dera lions, having been Incorporated
since the revival of learning into tha
Ii;GJes anu constitutions of the most en-
PI5S S,sLe civilized nations of the world.
suiaIes civil conduct. 1t constitutes fba
ornamental principles of Louisiana Mexe
NJ T, ana Inc South American republics.
bis ne earned legal writer, Mr.. Bishop, in
ms ms commentaries on codification. as
s stIs very extraordinary position in
LIS oills connection. He says: During the
a Ell o., OF roman prosperity and glory, the
ing. 1t had to employ our common Ia W
forms or expression; its statutes and
IuIes OF court; it had the writings of
J oo,II corresponding to our treatises and
commentaries. The Roman law beca me- a
system OF reasoning differing from ours
III nltIe else than the form of its growth
ana development. The statesmen and leg
tbeI, Vs.. We're largely lawyers, that is
!ney were persons accustomed to reason
ing on legal or governmental things. And
Inus rome grew and prospered until she
embraced the entire civilized world In
c0n01f1nn n inn 49,
ing ana signing for laziness, the cease
Tess aspiration to be rid even of think
ing, the same which has characterized
man IN al countries, which has wrought
UNIVERSAL mischief IN our jurisprudence
ana Whlch now threatens to destroy it
prevailed Justinian, whom it is the
Lasnlon 10 adore, finished the work of
mischief. He changed the status of the
accepted jurists' writings from reason to
statutes, and made it a punishable for
gerry to write any judicial comments on
me sne Jaws or 90 any jurist work. To
entire lines of juristss and forbade any
Jurlst atterward to breathe in his do
nnlnlons; he quenched, as far as he could
forever all reasoning upon all legal
thlngS. OF necessity the ship of state
which so great and driven of fierce
winds had therefore been kept from
roundering by the very small helm of
reason, went down and Rome and the
world were overwhelmed by centuries of
darkness and woe"
There is no question that the imperial
edict IN suppressing all commentary on
the new system was an improper re-
stralnt on legal investigation, but to at
tribute the downfall of Rome to this
reformation in her legal system implies
either gross perVersion or a disregard
of historical facts. The commencement
of those dark and dismal times that op-
pressed Europe for a thousand years is
unquestionabaly referable to the reign
OF the emperor Constantine. It's inception
dates from those deadly contests for &C.
fcleSlaStlcal supremacy between the
bishops of Rome, Constantinople and
Platonizing ecclesiastlcs of Alexandria.
The means employed in the attainment of
this object were pursued utterly disre-
CARELESS of human rights, finally result
ing in the domination of the church over
civil authority. When a community comes
to th:S pass, looking to the decisions of
its ecclesiastical councils as paramount
to the civil authority, it is in a danger
Gus way. 1t was conceded that the law
of God as eXpounded by the bishops must
take precedence of the laws of Caesar
Rome dealt with man as a thing not
as a being endowed with inalienable
rights: Recognizing power as it's meas
ure of value, 1t could never accept the
principle of the equality of men in the
eye of the law. Conquest and rapine
permitted her even at her most intel
lectual development to comprehend the
equal rights of all men in the eye of the
law"
Wealth was the only standard of social
distinction. Under such formidable con-
ceptions of society, how could any sys-
tenn of law, however munifcent or I'M
wholesome it might have been, precipi-
tated the overthrow of this great en-
pire. This objection then urged by Mr.
Bishop in the scheme of codification as
exemplified in this historical illustration,
las practically deposing reason, Is un-
tenable
Codification, whenever attempted in the
history of the world has been attended
,Ir,4r
is another example, and in his own Ian
guage, will go down to posterity with
that code in his hand" The statement
was no lie either, for his code was trans
mitted and its principles have since been
incorporated in many of the European
systems of Jurisprudence.
In the great body of our laws today
there is scarcely legal proposition upon
which there cannot be found conflicting
authority of recognized judicial efficacy.
1t is not at all extraordinary or little
surprising. for practicing attorney when
he comes into court with an array of au-
thorities to find his opponent prepared
with a similar collection, obviously sus-
tanning beyond reasonable question the
takes the citations, reads the syllabus
and draws his most august conclusions.
A thorough examination of all the cases
cited is practically out of the question,
so he formulates his opinion from SUI
perficial examination 1t is evident that
he cannot decide the issue and follow
the two conflicting lines of citations,
therefore he must elect between them or
establish a precedent but as it happens
he follows a certain authority which in
his judgment is good law. In another
jurisdiction similar or identical issue
is pending, and in his honor's opinion
the law governing his learned contem-
porary is very good, but the other line
of authorities is more conducive to the
ends of justice, and decides accordingly.
This kind of procedure is illustrated in
every day practice so it is clearly APP
parent that the two decisions cannot be
right and both be just. Not only is there
this difficulty, and therefore objection to
our present system of law, but others
equally as fruitful of nernicions results