The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-11

Oul LplGASll NpIlHlS4EG' " v AAeN'N N'A
 trusted to the general government the power of regulating our commerce with foreign states and of passing a uniform
 bankrupt law. But the whole country is quite as much interested as to what shall be the law of commercial paper as it is in what are commonly called fed
 eral questions.
 We have outllved, as I say, these diff ferences in our commercial law. The
 commission for the unihaction of the law is an outgrowth of this feeling. The
 Empire state took the lead in this re- form, as it has in law reform generally. In 1890 the legislature of that state pass
 ed an act appointing a commission for
 the uniflcation of the law in different
 states, which was to meet and cooper
 ate with similar commissions from oth-
 CT states. This commission wrote let
 ters to the governors of the various
 states suggesting the appointment of
 such commissions In the same year
 the matter was brought to the atten-
 tion of the American Bar association.
 This association appointed a committee,
 one from each state and territory, to
 urge the appointment of such commits
 sion and to assist in having laws recom-
 mended by the commission adopted by
 the various states. The result is that
 twenty-seven states and one territory
 have appointed commissioners. The
 commissioners have held several meet
 ngs, the first being at Saratoga In the
 summer of 1892. Their progress has
 been rather slow as they were unwill-
 ng to recommend any important legis-
 lation until considerable number of
 the states had appointed commission
 CTS. They did, however. recommend
 common form for the acknowledgment
 of deeds and a common method of au-
 identification of such acknowledgements
 also common form relative to the sealing of deeds; an act providing that
 a will executed in the mode prescribed
 by the law of the testator's domicile
 should be deemed in other states to be
 legally executed; also an act providing
 that will probated in one state may
 be proved in another by filing an ex-
 emplifed copy of the will; also law abolishing days of grace upon notes and
 bills.
 But, by far the most important work
 was done by the commission at it's last
 meeting at Detroit in August of this
 year. A committee was appointed to prepare an act adapting to American usage the we'll known act of the Eng
 fish parliament codifying the law of notes and bills of exchange passed some ten years ago It is understood, of course, that this act was not the crea- 1f Ia, tion of the law already existing. It may be asked what is the advantage of mere codifcation? Our law, and indeed the law of the entire AngloSaXon world is composed, as I suppose is generally known, of what is called written and unwTitten law. Our constitution and statutes are the written law the un- written law, or the common law, as it is more frequently called, and which is by far the greatest part of our jurispru-
 dence, consists of the decisions of the courts of last resort and is scattered through more than ten thousand vol umes. The first great advantage of codification is certainly, clear and def nite statement The British act has condensed into 40 pages what it usually took from LOGO to 1000 pages of text book to make clear,an what was con tained in perhaps 50,000 pages of de- cisions
 David Dudley Field hasStated what is
 undoubtedly the greatest advantage of qualification. It puts within the reach of ordinary men a portion of the law which is wholly hidden from him. Any man may read and judge of a statute, but the so-called unwritten law is as much hid den from everybody but the lawyers, as If 1t had been written in an unknown tongue. The British act has made the law of notes, checks and drafts definite and certain and comprehensive to ev- erybody. The act has been adopted by
 all the self governing colonies of Great Britain, and has been of immense value in saving litigation. The British act, just as it was, could not be adopted. It had to be adapted to American bus mess and experts have been employed to do this work.
 It Is probable that al the next meet ing of the comnlssion, which is to take place a year hence, at Saratoga, an act adapting this great piece of English legislation to our American business will be perfected and presented to the various legislatures for their adoption. I am compelled, however, to say that we are not too sanguine. The ques- ton stil remains, will the legisla lures of the various states adopt it: if they do adopt 1t will they leave it unchanged? How imperfect and insecure all legal unifcation obtained in this way is, must be very apparent. The commis sion, as I have stated, recommended an act abolishng days of grace. In the l Legislatures of Michigan and Massachu- setts, where there seemed to be an un- usual dose of popuistic element, the measure was defeated. The simple fact | that. if a man borrows money for three days. he would have to pay interest on 1 it for three days, did not save the act. It was still regarded as a wicked de- vice of the bankers |. is not impossible | that some such bogy ma.T defeat 'te | act to codify and unify the law CrFhotes and bills. There is but one way by which we can permanently secure the l unity of our commercial law, and that is by an amendment of tn constitution and by act of congress. I believe it is not too soon to begin the work for that result; certainly not too soon to discuss it. It may not be, and proba bly will not be accomplished in our time.