The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1895-06-12
PUBLICATION OF THE LAWS.

Senate bill number $3.50, providing for
the publication of the laws In pamphlet
form, has passed the Senate and will no
doubt pass The House. II this bill be-
effect of saving to the State several thou
sands of dollars, bat 1t is question IL 1t
is branch of economy that is warranted,
needed or even just. The laws, we pre-
sumo, arc enacted for the benefit of the
people, and every citizen of the State is
held responsible 10 them. If tho law is
violated the violaLor is arrested, arraigned
before court and placed upon tho de-
fensivc. Should his plea be ignorance of
tho law, it has no weight with the court
or the jury. The law recognizes in that
plea, though 1t be true one, no excuse
for the crime, and II the man is found
guilty he pays the penalty. In view Of
this fact, 1t seems TO us that no effort
should be spared to bring the laws of the
State, which arc changed and increased
in number each year, to the attention OF
every citizen in the State, and no better
means for doing this suggests itself to us
than by publishing them in the news
papers. According to the census in 800,
New Jersey had population OF / ,444, 933,
and since then IL has considerably increas-
ed. In 1894 tho voting population of the
State, as shown by the oll-books. was
302, 100, and, Of course, there were good
many persons amenable to the laws of the
State whose names did not appear on the
poll-books. Suppose every man enjoying
the rights and liberties Of citizenship 10
this State should mako application for a
volume OF the laws published as prescrib-
cd by the bill now under consideration,
which limits the number OF volumes 10
$4,000, how far would they go toward
supplying the demand Only one in
eight applicants would DO able TO get the
laws. We believe that tho people are
willing to pay for having the laws brought
to them by the newspapers, and we believe
that they would prefer to have them come
in that way rather than In pamphlet form
on request BY that method the laws
would DO more generally disseminated,
and the people who are responsible to
them would be virtually forced to read
them. While legislators are in a broad
sense servants of the people, when it
comes TO enacting laws they are the poo
pies dictators. Their relations arc re-
versed, and it is manifcstly unfair and un-
just for these men TO get together, agree
upon what the people shall do or be pun
ished, and then refuse TO adopt reasonable
measures for informing them OF what they
have done. 1t is an action which the
citizens of Now Jersey will denounce as
unjust TO them and they will DO right in
taking that position. II is not at all likely
that newspaper publishers in the various
counties in the State will publish the laws
without compensation. 1t would put
many of them to an expense that they
could not bear, and besides many offices
are not equipped with the material neces-
sary TO pablish tho laws. The publishers
arc certainly under no obligations to their
readers or to the State officials TO give the
laws TO the people without compensation.
and reasonable conclusion is that they
will not do it. III it is desired to reduce
the cost OF publication, it might be done
in more reasonable way than the bin ro-
ferred TO above proposes, and the consid-
Grafton due to the people at the same time
be respected. - Trenton State Gazette.