The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-20

When he wrote the number of capital
olfenSes in England was 1G0. A few
years iater the number had considera bly,
increased, and it was as safe TO murder
q man as to steal five shillings His de-
scrpuon of the British Bar is blasting.
dea1 to the voice of reason and public
uuiltE; obsequious only 10 the whisper
or interest ard the beck of power His
great talent which his family thought
oestiied nm to be Lord Chancellor. was
cheerfuiiy given to the service of man
kind in his efforts to raise a fabric OF
felicity by the hand of reason and OF
ia" he had a strong conviction that
laws, IKE timed roast beef, could be
exported without detcriora ton. Montes-
quieu thought that no nation could ever
draft laws that would suit the wants Of
another people, but Bentham on the
whole preferred codes prepared by for
eisners as more unprejudiced.
Lord MacLaren has said very justly,
NO State which has grown up under a
reasonably good legal system would agree
10 abandon its native institutions and
accept a system of laws devised by q
philosopher
Sitting in his little home, in Westmin-
ster, Bentham did not hesitate to ad-
dress communications TO Princes, Poten-
tates and Peoples.
So he wrote to James Madison. then
President of Congress of the American
United States. Alexander the 1st. Emperor
of all the RusSaS, the people of Spain and
he even proposed that we should change
our names TO Washingtonia, as we were
not the only United States of America
1t has been freely said that hardly an i'm
portant reforming law has been effected
within this century which Bentham had
not foreshadowed and cary agitated He
strongly objected to the exclusion of wit
neSses on the ground of interest. urging
that interest might affect the credbiiity
hut not the admissibiEty of the evidence,
and his view has in the main prevailed.
and been established b ylaw both in Eng
| land and America. The recent enactments
| which allow one accused Of crime to testify
| in his own behalf. is only another extension
| OF Bentham's principles.
He advocated registration of real prop
erty, which is now commonpractce. He
vigorously assaied death punishment. "
| and the number of crimes punished cap
italy has been enormously reduced in
England, chsfly through the efforts Of
Sir Samuel RomiIy, the attached friend
and disciple of Ben;ham. He advocated
freedom in devising and bequeathing prop
erty and the English laws constantly tend
in this direction while ours give the great
est freedom His influence has been
so great that Sir Fitz James
Stevens, in his history of Criminal Law.
says that Bentham's writings have had a
degree of practical influence upon the leg
islation of his own and various other coun-
tries comparable only TO those of Adam
and his SUCCESSORS upon commerce.
With parliamentary reform an era of
rapid and far-reachins changes set in,
though Bentham died on the eve of enter
inS the land of promise His influence
once, however, was responsible largely for
the first Indian Penal Code 1t has served
as mode, for all the later Indian Codes.
These codes have vigorously reacted on
English legislation both as models and
through the influence of the men who re-
turned from India to shape legislation in
England.
Tn. first code OF Europe was the Code
Frederick" promulgated in 1I5i. This. OF
course, antedated Benthan'a labors. The
next IS the Code Napoleon of which
Eapoeon has been justified, II shall go
down TO posterity with my code in my
hand
This code served as the basis for the
new civil code of Japan. Austria and
Spain and now at last Germany, have all
codified their laws. Quebec has had a civil