Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1894-05-24
NECESSITY FOR cop1r1cArIoN.

NECESSITY FOR cODIFICATION.
We are in receipt of Judge ID. S.
Wade's paper on.the above subject,
read before the Helena Bar association
at their meeting April 9TH. The paper
opens with this statement: In our
country all persons of full age and of
sound mind and memory, except
judges and lawyers who make the law
their life study, are conclusively pre-
sumed to know the law" 1t then goes
on to show that while everyone is pre-
sumed to know the law, as a matter of
fact, it is impossible that any one per-
son should know all of the law; or that
any one person should know just what
the law is upon many points, in which
there is a great difference of opinion
even among the most learned. 1t only
requires such n statement Of the case
as is given by the learned judge in this
paper to convince any person at all
familiar with the subject that a general
codification of the common law would
be a great convenience; that it would
have a tendency toward making every
man his own lawyer, and that it would
add reason to the presumption that
every man is supposed to know the
law" However, one of the principal
reasons for such II ~codification, is the
fact hat the various reports Of judicial
decisions are full of contradictions; and
this very fact is and always will he n
principal difficulty in the way Of a gen.
eral codiiication, inasmuch as no COM
would agree upon all essential points.
After treating Of the subject of general
codification, the paper takes up the
more timely and, to Montanians, the
more practical branch of the subject
the codiiication of the Montana laws.
After pointing out a few of the many
more glaring contradictions and omis-
sions of our present statutes, Judge
Wade speaks at some length of the
codes prepared and reported by the
Montana Code commission, of which
he was u member. The commission
was appointed i'll March, 1889, in pur-
suance of an act passed at the sixteenth
regular session of the legislative assem-
bly,. This commission reported their
completed work on the 18th day of Feb
ruary, 1892; and it was referred to the
last legislature by the governor, and in
both houses the code was referred to
the judiciary committee and hat was
the last of the matter. The commits
sion had taken two and one-half years
in the preparation of the codes; and
the state has expended something like
$4,000 or 10000 for the work. The
individual members of the commission
were each eminently qualified for the
service, and the result of their labors
are all that could have been expected
from any commission. There are un'
doubtedly some things in these codes
which will be changed, but the same
might be said of any set of codes which
could be formulated, but something
could be done toward adopting them
1t is a pity that our last legislature
should have thought so little of codifi.
cation as to have passed the matter en-.
tirely. 1t is certainly a display of very
poor judgment on their part, for there
Is nothing in the way of Legislation
which is so much needed as a thorough
revision of u statutes, and this car
best be accomplished by the adoption
of these codes. There is certainly
nothing in the last session laws which
seems to justify the entire failure to
utilize the work of the commission. Ii
is to be hoped that it will not be lost
entirely, but that the next legislature
will take this question up early in the
session and carry it to completion il
possible, even 10 the exclusion of all
other legislation of a general character
if necessary. Judge Wade's address is
most timely, and the press and the bar
of the state should keep the matter
constantly before the people until every
member elected to the legislature at
the next election shall feel more inter
est in the coditication of the laws we al
ready have than in the passage of any
new law. The present state of our
statuatory law is a disgrace to our
state, as well as n great injustice to our
people, and no time should be lost in
getting il into shape to be understood
by every one.