Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-08-11
"A 4 Nstum Corrcspondence.)

! 81
OLD POINT COMFORT, VA. Aug.
l0.-Thc annual address of the Hon
Hannis Taylcr, Of Washington, for
mer minister TO Spain and Il lawyer
OF International reputation. proved the
real feature of the closing session III
the Virginia Bar Association today
Mr.. Tnylors address was pronounced
one of the best ever given before the
Virginia barristers and he was show
cred with congratulations by members
OF the association. Mr.. Taylor spoke
on the theme. THE Judge Made
Laws" and, in his address gao a
comprehensive history Of the laws of
Rome, England and the United States
After prefacing his remarks with
short history of the beginning Of
law, Mr.. Taylor launched into his dis
cussion
Mr.. Tayor's Address.
"As Roman Jurisprudence" said
MIR. Taylor, has the longest
known history Of any institution, and
as the character of the changes
through which it has passed are very
well understood, it is possible to out
line its development rs IL whole. The
outline should begin with the fact that
Roman law was simply The co,lr of a
single city-state, n code that grew
out of body Of unwrittcn municipal
. customs, Il special knowledge nf which
was for long time confined to an arts
tocracy or OliSarchy, who claimed to
be the sole dcSpOsitory Of the princi
pies by which controversies should be
determined. The departure which
took place from Rome that condition
WAS simply apart of wider transition
from unwritten customary laws to the
ancient codes which Greece, on the
HelleniZcd scaboards of western Asia,
and in Italy. and OF which the Twelve
Tables Of Rome are tho most famous
Illustrations. Such codes Of laws were
engraved on tablets and published to
thc'pcople. were substituted for tradi-
tional usages. rcposing in the recollcc-
ton of privileged oligarchy, not
through the refined motives now used
in favor OF codiiication, hut rather as
matter of convenience suggested by
the discovery of the art Of printing
and also by the abuses arising out of
the aristocratic monopoly of legal
knowledge. The Roman code of the
Twelve was merely an cnunciati0n in
written words Of the existing customs
OF Roman people put forth mt a time
when Roman society had barely
emerged from that intellectual condi
tion in which civil obligations and re-
ligious duty are inevitably COMPOUNDED
The vitality important result brought
about by the transition which thus
took place from unwrittcn customary
law to written code is embodied in the
fact that when archaic law is once
condensed into code there is an end
to its spontaneous development.
Need For Elasticity.
AS law is stable, and societies Of
the, higher type progressive; as So
cial necessities and opinions are ever
more or less in advance of law, how
is the latter to he kept in harmony
with the former? The problem of prob
lens of students of historical schools
IS involved in the process through
which the straight Jacket put on
by an infant state, in the form of
written code, is to he made sufficiently
elastic to adapt itself to all the chang
ing conditions of the after growth
Leaving out Of view legal fiction, but by
all odds most important Instruments
ity through which the primitive Ro-
man code was expanded beyond the
wants OF the citizens of n single city
to those Of the citizens of n vast
league of cities, was that known as
equity. a name given to body Of
principles built up by Roman magis-
trates and Roman lawyers along side
of the original civil law which it
claimed the right to supersodc"
Stating that in order to understand
acknowledgements law called equity was
evolved, Mr.. Taylor continucd: at is
necessary to know something of the
manner in which justice in Rome was
administered"
SpS{aa!.'.i story Of the Laws.
MIR. Taylor then took MP an interest
Ing story Of the laws. "In theory the
supreme judicial power was vested in
the Spractor, who was either juris-
consult himself, or person entirely
In; the hands of those who were When
a suit was commenced the litigants
appeared before the practor, who made
preliminary examination to ascertain
the precise point in controversy. At
ter hearing the statements and conn
Measurements OF plaintiff and defen-