The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-30
Faulty Processes
OF Statute Making
From Governor Griggs' Address Before
the American Bar Association.

From Governor Griggs' Address Before
the American Bar Association.
No age of English or American history
has ever seen such activity and profu-
sion in legal enactment as now prevail
With the imperial parliament at West
minister and the federal congress at
Washington in almost continual session,
there are nearly thirty parliaments in
the British colonial system and legis-
latures of forty-five American states
holding annual or biennial sessions, all
engaged in supplementing and amending
the old laws and in devising and passing
new ones. Besides these, are countless
cities, towns and boroughs, each with
a legislative board exercising the power
OF law-making upon many important
matters of municipal life and govern
ment The steps of the citizen desiring
TO walk uprightly are beset with laby-
rinths of statutory enactments that are
intricate and confusing and often so
conflicting that he must stumble turn
which way he may.
%
The number of distinct legislative prop
ositions submitted in the form of bills
at each session of our state legislatures
is enormous and is becoming larger every
year The statistics that follow show
the extent of this tendency in the legis-
latures Of Massachusetts New York
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois
in the present year. In Massachusetts
about 1900 distinct propositions for leg
islation were before the legislature or
its committees. OF these, 62S, nearly one
half, became laws, In New York the
bills introduced in the two houses num-
bered 4,533 of which about 1900 were
finally passed. or these 797 became laws,
the remainder of the 1900 passed bills
failing to receive the approval of the
UaR ~ AWsWU IT,.
introduced, of which 297 passed both
houses, and POI became laws, 80 failing
by reason of executive disapproyal a
very marked decrease in the amount of
legislation as compared with some pre-
Vlous years In Pennsylvania 500 bills
were introduced; 4SS were passed by both
houses, and about 400 became laws the
rest having been vetoed by the COVER
nor. Illinois has somewhat better rec
ord. There were LIZA bills introduced,
and 1875 passed, of which, however only
three were vetoed, so that the addition
to the statute law of that state COM
prises only 1872 chapters. I have no
means of supplying similar statistics for
other states, but think II safe to af-
firm that the same degree of productive
ness Will be found In nearly all of them
These thousands of propositions to al
ter the law OF the land cover almost
every conceivable object OF government
every department OF pubic and private
life; they extend to all kinds of busi-
ness, to trade, commerce. to the domain
of morals as we'll as to the fields of spec
ulation and political philosophy. Many
of them We're intended to correct errors
in the legislation OF tho preceding years.
o
Excessive legislative activity is a fea-
ture OF our times. 1t has developed en-
ormously within very few recent years.
comparison of the annual volumes of
statutes of any particular state for the
last twenty years will prove this. Some
thing of this increase is attributable TO
the great business development OF the
times, to the contributions OF scientific.
discovery to the machinery OF life. The
common law afforded no principle which
by judicial extension could be made to
regulate Justly the business of tel
egraphy. City charters contained no pro-