Evening star., 1901-03-06
A Comprehensive System Of Laws at
Last Secured.
HISTORY OF TIE LONG CAMPAIGN
Efforts of The Star, Board Of
Trade and Bar Association.
JUDGE COX'S GREAT WORK

HC pdSSdSe VI Tie COue ny the Soell-
ate just before adjournment and its ap
proval by the President mark the close of
| long, arduous campaign on the part of
various local interests to secure a compre
hensive. systematic code of laws for the
District of Columbia, SO long fettered by
inharmonious, semi-obsoete, often ridicu-
lous statutes and legal practices, the result
of decades of neglect and experimentation.
The Star has striven for years to secure
this end having practically opened the
campaign in 1887 with a series of editorials
and articles, noting the needs of the Dis
triet In this regard. compilation of the
laws by William Stone Albert and the late
B. G. Lovejoy was authorized by Congress
as result of this agitation. This work
was published in 1894, and showed such in
consistencies in the statutes that the Board
of Trade at once took up the subject to Sc
cure action. The record of the subsequent
proceedings is found in the following ex-
tracts from Board of Trade reports:
In November, 1898. Theodore w. Noyes,
in addressing the board as its president at
the annual meeting, said:
Next sessions legislative campaign of
the Board of Trade will be as important
as any upon which it has ever entered. One
new project is of overwhelming local con-
sequence.
I'm 1895 the Board of Trade discussed, at
a public meeting, the necessity of new
code of laws for the District, and listened
to able and convincing addr raSseS on the SUB
ject by judges of the local courts and others
learned in the law. The appointment OF a
legal committee to promote codlf1cation was
authorized by the Board of Trade. The
legal committee afterWard reported to the
board of directors, recommending that
Judge w. S. Cox be invited to prepare
codification of the District law, and that
the Bar Association be invited to combine
in the invitation to Judge Cox and CO.
in bringing the movement to sue
cessful issue. Judge Cox accepted the joint
invitation of the Board of Trade and the
Bar Association, and for three years ne
has been engaged in this labor of love,
task for which his profound and accurate
knowledge of the law, his practical COM
mon sense knowledge of men and affairs,
and his cautious, conservative, judicial tenn
permanent admirably fit him.
Judge Cox's Letter.
"A few days ago the president of the
board received from Judge Cox the follow
ing letter:
Theodore w. Noyes, ESD, President OF
the Board of Trade:
Dear Sir: At the joint request of the
Board of Trade and the Bar Association, 1
have been occupied for some time past in
the intervals of my official duties, in pre-
pairing the draft of code of law Tor the
District.
"'You are aware that we have never had
In the District a systematic body of statute
law. When the county Of Washington was
ceded by Maryland to the United States
the law in that county consisted OF, hrSt, the
common law of England; second, old Eng
lish statutes in force in the colonies, and,
third, acts of the assembly OF Maryland,
passed from time to time before ana AFTER
the revolution. To these were added acts
of Congress, passed at intervals during the
present century, not with reference to any
general system of legislation, but to meet
the supposed exigency of the hour. Many
wit l.
the wishes of the people of the District, but
to carry out the theoretical idea of mem
bers of Congress, and were so ambiguous
and ill-conceived as to cause much un-
certainty and controversy. In 1874 these
acts of Congress We're collected together
under the title of Revised Statues Rela-
tive to the District but they were not
improved and derived no virtue from thdt
circumstance.
"'Our laws as whole may be said to
be half a century behind those of the states
in their adaptation to modern business and
social conditions.
1--WE need, in the first place, very
thorough reform in judicial proceedings
whereby needless delays and circuitous
methods may be avoided and prompt and
expeditions remedies administered. We
need more effective relief for creditors, es-
pecialIy against fraudulent debtors Our
system of conveyancing should be simpli-
fed, and the law of estates and titles di-
vested of mass of technicali-ies, the rea-
sons of which long ceased to exist The
law of marriage and divorce reeds i'm
provement, and the rights of married wom-
en- need to be better defined. The law OF
corporations, and especially the law Of
foreign corporations doing business in the
District, be much improved. Fhe law
as to the rights of landlord and tenant
and the liens of mechanics and others needs
restatement The law of crimes and pun
ishments needs overhauling, as we'll as our
criminal procedure
1.-The law of embezzlement should be ex-
al all rin rhn hafr hnir
trusts should be held to criminal RESPONSE
bility There numerous technicalitieS in
criminal practice which constantly cause a
denial of justice, and which have long since
been abolished in the states. 4
These changes the objects which I
have aimed at in preparing a code. | have
taken existing laws a starting point, and
have endeavored to clear up obscurities in
them and have added new features bor-
rowed from other codes. / have had before
me the codes of Maryland, Virginia, New
York and Ohio, and have found many i'm
provements common to them all which
ought long since to have been introduced
here. l have also added original matter
suggested by my own experience.
Having done this work without assist
ance, and at odd moments, l cannot f1atter
myself that 1t is free from errors and Ge-
fects; but l think that a whole, it will
be an improvement upon the existing con-
dition of things, and 1t would be desirable
to have ii enacted into law, even if 1t shall
need to be amended afterward The only
possible way of having this done, as it
seems to me- Is to present it to Congress in
a complete form. with the Endorsement of
the B ard of Trade and the Bar Associa-
ton, the best representatives of the intelli-
gent sentiment of the people of the District
Yours, very respectfully,
walter s. cox.
" October 20. 1S9S
This letter marks the completion of
Judge Cox's formidable task Arrange
ments have been made by the Board of
Trade and the Bar Association Jointly to
print the proposed code in order that 1t may
be examined and considered prior to it's
adoption by the board and Bar Association.
and the urgent request for it's enactment
into law by Congress
The Most Important Item.
mo other legislation to be brought be-
fore Congress at its approaching session is
so important@to the Districts welfare as
this. Other bills propose alterations of or
additions to particular statutes upon par
ticular points. but this codifcation goes
over the entire body of local law, looping
of what is obsolete or obsolescent, putting