St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-14
LAWYERS seek RELIEF
And Will Meet at the Capitol
on the Afternoon Of
Jan. 19
TO DISCUSS A REVISION
OF the Statutes or Other
Methods Of Obtaining
Relief.
A WELL KNOWN ATTORNEY
Who Is Opposed to Codiiiea-
ton Advances Some
New Ideas.

At meeting of the JOINT committee
appointed from the st. Paul and Mime
apolis Bar associations, the following
resolution was passed:
Resolved. That the joint committee
appointed from the bars OF Ramsey anu
Hennepin counties deems the matter OF
statutory relief of such Importance that
a meeting of the bar of the state or
Minnesota is hereby called. to be helu
at the state library at The capitol builds
ing. st. Paul, OH Jan. 49, 1895. at 2 p.
M, TO consider the best method OF OBJ
tanning such whether by reVls-
ion of the statutes, a commission TO rec
ommend necessary legislation or other
wise.
An invitation is extended to all menu
beers of the bar to be present.
Aprop0s of the subject, a Well-knoWn
st. Paul attorney said yesterday:
| am opposed to what is known as
codification. AS society progresses the
laws governing it must conform to its
healthy growth. Ii this Is true, then
there can never be any SUCH crystal
lization as modern reformers hope to
find lii a code. We. however, al ways
meet with statute law difficult to APP
ply, because of the fact that it has, as a
rule. been passed to meet special So
called hardshipS, and, as Judges and
lawyers, we are called upon to apply III
to the daily needs Of this same develop
ment Of society. 1t is comparatively an
easy matter to decide question of law
by applying the old rules Of principle,
which have so sadly been entrenched
upon by this progressive stat ute law.
When called upon TO cOnSt rue statute,
the old law must be known, the amend
ment of that old law, by the grace OF
the legislature, must be sought tor, and
the subsequent amendments year after
year traced SO that we can form some
idea of what the ultimate intention or
the laWmaking power i'll reality was.
1t is true that the men who formed the
government of the state Of Minnesota
understood thoroughly the great under
lying principles Of law that they out
wardly expressed IN the written law,
whether we consider the constitution OF
the tate or its statutes.
But few of those men today are alive.
That a revision OF our statutory law IS
needed is admitted by all who under
stand its relation to the present condi-
tiOns. Our bar as now organized is
made up of men, most Of them still
young, who have settled in this state,
bringing with them their ideas of law
as understood by them in the states
from which they came, and, naturally
so far as their limited experience goes
| applying the laws Of those states to this.
! How simple becomes section Of stat
ute under the decision OF judge who
knew why it was enacted, and how OBJ
scure is the reasoning of lowyer who
| finds OIL the statute book the number OF
| the chapter and section, and nothing
| more.
Any revision or compilation of oul
! statutes that does not show the orlgll
| of the law is harmful ii not fatal to The
| young lawyer or the new judge.
| 1t is net an easy matter to trace the
| history Of our written law, but IL can bt
| done with accuracy and eXactness. Tha
! ii would require time, labor and expert
| ence is true; that it would require an
unjustifable outlay Of public money OIL
the part of the state is not true. This
| work could be done, and faithfully. ant
such compensation rs men devoted tt
such public service would ask paid
them, and the state more than REIN
! bursed for its expenditures by the Sec
rotary of state in the name Of the peo-
pie holding the copyright for the vol
umes and selling them when honestl.
! printed to those to whom such book:
| are ordinarily sold by publishing
! house 1t is never difficult in consult
ing the Revised Statutes of the United
States 10 trace law back to its Origin
! by the marginal note. Our statutes,
whenever the legislature allows them
to be revised, should have the same
| merit.