The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-09
FACTS ABOUT LEGISLATION.
SOME VERY PERTINENT RE-
MARKS ABOUT OUR LAWS.
The State Suffering From Too
Many Laws-A Proposed
Remedy for the Evil.

The following communication con-
tains much food for thought, and Is
published in the Record Union With
out comment or Endorsement, In order
to bring the subject matter before leg
islators and the people:
Eds Record Union: Suggest the
subject to any member OF the pro1es-
son, and you obtain an immediate re-
Spouse to the effect that something
should be done to- correct the CONFUSION
existing in the body of our laws. Some
effort has been made in this direction,
to which further allusion will be pres
emily made, but the evil is not cor
rected Indeed, the evil is matter OIL
no ordinary moment, either as respects
its magnitude or the means to be en-
ployed for it's correction. The effects
of evil habits do not yield to treatment
until the habits are discontinued, and
it may be that the only satisfactory
solution of the evil under considera-
fion is one which will materially
Rbridge the power of legislating.
There is a mania for legislation ram
pant among the people. California Is
not an exception; the mania exists
elsewhere, and other States are con-
fronted with the same Unsatisfactory
condition of their laws. Codes and re-
visions of codes, and revised statutes
are the order of the day, even 1nclud-
ing the General Government, ana as
result of too much legislation, litigation
Is so common that digests and ency-
clopedias of themselves form consld-
cradle and expensive libraries, to say
nothing of the volumes of law reports
The courts have been supplemented by
ice nd MT
late courts. and still the grist of legis-
1ation goes on and the multiplication
of Judges and commissions follows in
its wake.
So far as California is concerned, and
so far as the United States are con-
cerned the increase of population and
its spread over new territories has ne
cessitated new legislation, an increase
of litigation, and a multiplication OIL
Judges The diffusion of education has
created a nation of thinkers and read
ers of every grade of ability and of
self confidence; new enterprises and
combinations have created new sub
jects, but with all this the mania for
legislation has gone beyond the limits
of necessity and has we'll nigh be-
come calamity. The calamitous
feature may be charged in great de-
gree to a want of common politica! in
tegrity and patriotic purpose concern
ing the public welfare, but whatever
may be justly said upon that point will
be omitted from this article, the pur-
pose of which is to give some facts
and in some measure point to rem
edy. and it is hoped that from what
follows it will be apparent that the
true remedy is not in an increase of
courts or Judges. but in the application
of compress upon this mania for leg
islating.
The California Constitution of 1879
presents some important features di-
rected against the multiplication OF
laws Section q of Article w. con-
tains thirty-two clauses. some of which
are capable of segregation into more
than one subject. prescribing matters
about which special laws should not
thereafter be enacted. and by the
thirty-third clause of the section special
laws are prohibited in all other cases
where a general law can be made ap-
plicable. 1t may be said that these
provisions, and some others in the Con-
stitution are directed particularly to
the object of uniformity in laws. and
while this is true it is also true that
they do tend to prevent multiplicity of
legislative enactments. Another con-
stitutional brake is applied in Section