The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-26

especial study is deemed essential
lucubrationes viginti annorum. There are
canons of Interpretation by which, ~ q
manner as nearly as may be of the nature
of scie entific processes, special tests are
applied m order to ascertain the inteh- ten
tion of the w-maker, the scope OF lne
enactment its limits and its limitations
Judicial decisions are preserved as mat
ters of value to furnish mlalogies OF rea-
soning for other cases that come AFTER
wards. The right to act as legal couA7 lLl
sci to represent parties In Their legai
demands la courts of law. is conflned 70
members of the legal profession. ADMIRED
by speciaa license, after due examination y
as to their learning and capacity, 70 what
we can It he practice of the Jaw
Rut whe ii comes to the very act 81
making law. all requirements OF speclal
study, experience, training ana iesal ~ ~
sight. are absent. There is no skilled Grass
Of legislators, nor is there any school OF
legislation at which may be learened the
theory and practice of constructing
statute. - 40
Generally speaking, statutes are the PEG, peo,
duets of una'certainabie authors-cnlttsuii tl
of no body--unable to boast or dennlte
parentage. No one certifles to their CON, ON,
pleteness or accuracy. They are ..s Hos
prepared upon careful plans, supnlt'e41
iaw-abiding. 1t is ali chance and hap
hazard; the event must determine as
whether they are good or bad, wnetnel
they express the actual intent OF tne
author or some intent eiieMeis ioi iS'9
his will. a,,,or,
The actual practice of ourk Ordinary ordinary
State Legislatures is generally sometnlns t..l5
in this wise: The members OF tne w, ~,
fhe convening of the session. The atten.
tion of the members is ergrossed WIZ
matters of a political nature Ihere y q
political majority and pontifIaa Isidant iiiut q
fhe Senate and Speaker of the Lower
House down to the smallest clerkship, en-,
cages the largest interest OF tne nritny nistn'
The appointment OF standing COMMITTEES
comes next There is no feature IN the
process of legislation that SHOULD pc niols OK
potent and useful in the shaping OF tne
proposed laws and making them conIorH
10 the true standard OF accuracy, correcl
expressing and completeness; than an "a,
that it has for the legislator, unrortu-
8nately, arises from the influence anc
power that ii can exercise in a pontlca
Way upon the various subjects tnat comt
before it, In most instances there art
matters that have been made the opJects
of campaign discussion and party pat
form. which obtain the paramount t a''eb, tl1f
most prominent notice ana discussion II II
the newspapers and among the people
Upon these subjects Ieglslatlon Is unufF' l,l
ance of political leaders, often men ol
large experience and signal abillty: FRO
posed laws of this kind are subject tt
from technical defects and to see tnal nc
interests are affected except such as are
within the scope of the party plans ane
purposes. Often the help of able lawyers
Chilled in the work of drafting and con
structine laws is called in by the ponllca
managers. Laws passed under TINS klne
of influence are generally what may Dt
calle,s governmental in their character ane
relate TO matters connected with the az
ministrftion of State affairs or to pubic
nolicies of unusual Importance.
l, hPinQ
bv the assembled legislators and engross-
ing the attention of the public, pulnef-
Gus miscellaneous biils are peing INTRO @
duced from day to day by the mem
bers and referred to appropriate commit
fees. Some idea of the variety OF meas.
ures to be considered may be optalnee
yided for under the rules of an American
Legisla ture At the head of the list usu'
ally stands the Committee on judi
ciary; next comes the Ways ana Means
Committee. which is charged with the
ssuperyision of the laws for raising reye
nue.; then the Committee on Appropria
tions. which looks after the eApendl-
ture Of the revenqs = tnea ana 1piri,s ranajs IS
one on CorporationS: one on Agrlcul-
ture; one on Fisheries one on ComInerce
and Navigation, and committees respSc'
lively on Insurance, on banking. on Ia.
bor on manufactures on pensions, ane
finally one on miscellaneous matters. rms
list gives no adequate idea, however, o.
which somebody has a proposition OF
statutory change at every legislative ses'
sion.
The number of distinct legislative prop
ositions submitted in the form OF pllls
at each session of our State legislatures
is enormous and is becoming larger every
year The statistics that follow snow tne
extent of this tendency IN tne Lss5ssla slia.
lures of Massachusetts, New YORK. New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and LIMOS, IN tht
present year.
In Massachusetts, about 1.300 distinct
propositions for legislation were pefoTe
the Legislature or its committees. o.
these 628 nearly one-half, became laws
In New York the bills introduced In thf
two Houses numbered 4,S35, OF Whlcl s
about 1900 were finally passed. OF these
1877 became laws, the remainder OF the
300 passed bills failing to receive the ap-
proyal of the Governor.
of which 297 passed both Houses, and 2U
became laws. so falling by reason OF ex-
ecutive disapproval, very marked de
crease in the amount of legislation as
compared with previous years.
In Pennsylvania 1,566 bills were intro
drced; 483 were passed by both Houses
and about 400 became laws, the rest hav-
ing been vetoed by the Governor.
illinois has somewhat better record
There were LIZA bills introduced, and l9s
passed. Of which, however, only three
were vetoed, so that the addition to the
statute law of that State comprises only
1872 chapters.
/ have no means of supply similar sta
tistics for other States but think it safe
to affirm that the same degree of produc-
tiveness will be found in nearly all Of
them.
These thousands of propositions to alter
the law of the land cover almost every
conceivable object of government every
department of public and private life
they extend to all kinds of business, te
trade, commerce, municipal government
sanitary and police regulations, to the do
main of morals as we'll as to the fields OF
speculation of political philosophy. Many
of them We're intended to correct errors
Naturally the more careless acts one
Legislature passes the more blunders
there will be for the next one to repair.
There is usually no general scheme Of
ion in these masses. They are hetero
geneous often absurdly contradictory, az
where one member offered bill requiring
all electric wires to be laid underground
within three months after the passage OF
the bill and his colleague Immediately
offered another requiring all electric
above the surface Of the street
The genesis of these bills as well as
their true purpose, Is often covered with
obscurity. Some. indeed most, are the
products of those especially Interested a:
individuals in securing additional iega
powers or privileges for private or busi
ness purposes. Many originate from
municipalfties-notf from the general con
sideration and mature purpose of the peo
pie OF any city, but out of the opinions
and particular ideas of single municipa
officers: and are drawn up by the counse
of the city under the. direction of its chiei
officer or governing body Many are pre-
pared and urged by members OF the lega
profession to meet real or supposed diff
culties that they have met in cases oi
their practice More than one important
change in the law of divorce has origi
mated in the desire of some lawyer K
bring his client within its favorable con