The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-25
ALE STATE: LAWS IN
one HEAVY Volume.
TASK OF STATUTE REVISION HAS
BEEN COMPLETED.
Five Years. Time and $4,000 Have
Been Expended All Former Statutes
Will Be Out Of Date After Next
Thursday First Revision in Forty
Years.

Next Thursday, March /, all former
publications Of Minnesota statutes will
become obsolete. The revised statutes
Of 1906, commonly known as the
code,'' will become the law Of the
state. Work on the revision has been
going on constantly for nearly five
years, and the completed volume has
just gone to the binders. First copies
will be delivered Monday to the state
judiciary. III,
The code is condensation Of all
previous statutes, and is the first actual
revision since 1866. In 1894 the exist
ing laws were compiled in chapters with
a general plan Of arrangement, by a
law publishing firm, and the work was
|'given the sanction Of the state, but
the general statutes of 1894 are not a
revision, The new code is complete
revision, with previous laws rewritten
and condensed.
The code is printed in one volume,
which the state publishes and sells to
the general public for $3.50. It will
have over 1900 pages, with annotations
and index. The work is divided into
four parts and Ill chapters. The four
parts or grand divisions are as follows:
First-Jurisd divisions, civil
polity, and internal administration.
Second Property rights and domestic
trelations. .. ..5..E7rs
Third-Civil actions and proceedings
Fourth Grimes, criminal procedure
prisons and imprisonment.
Each Of the Ill chapters and the
subdivisions Of those chapters, carries
a reference to show it's origin in some
act Of the legislature. Annotations are
copiously made, to cite the reader tc
decisions bearing on each section.
The revision was first provided 70,
by the legislature Of 1901, which In
Chapter 241 authorized the supreme
court to appoint three commissioners to
"revise, codify and annotate'' the pub
lie statutes Of the state, excepting the
statutes on taxation, which were put in
the hands Of the tax commission created
at that session. The sum Of $35, O0(
was appropriated, and the commission
was required to complete it's work il
time to be adopted by the Legislature
Of 1908. The time and funds were
insufficient, but the legislature wouli
not allow any more at that time. The
supreme court named Hiram Stevens
Of st. Paul chairman, Daniel Fish Of
Minneapolis and T. J. Knox Of Jack
son as the commission. "
! Had to Extend Time. %.
/ They were unable to come anywhere
near completion of the work in tn.
time allowed, and the Legislature O.
1908, in Chapter 157 Of the laws Of tina
session, extended the time for the re
\ port to Dec.>1, 1904, and made anothe
appropriation Of $4,000, giving a !tota
Of $4,000 for the work. The tax com
MISSIONS work had been rejected b,
the extra session of 1902, SO the cod
commission was instructed to include Il
its revision the existing laws on tax
alton. 2->
i The laws passed in 1909 and 100;
| were also to be included in the revision
The commission was also directed t.
report list Of all special, local an,
temporary laws which should be re
pealed. ~. -sS.>.- -
The commission was hindered by tn
illness of Chairman Stevens, who die
during 1904. His place was filled b,
| M. R. Tyler Of St. Paul, who had BEEF
secretary of the commission. The re
port was not ready by the time re
quired, and was put into, the hands o
the 1905 legislature after the session
opened. It was found that the com
mission had not merely revised AM
. codifed existing laws, but had added
great deal Of new matter, and change
the character Of many existing laws s.
as to make them practically new. Man.
questions rose as to these changes. TIL
judiciary committees Of each hous
took the code and tried to put it i
shape by cutting out new matter.
Many Opposed to Haste.
There was much opposition to passag
of the revision in such hurried fashion
but the Judiciary committees frame
their amendments and the code wa
passed. The legislature provided fo
, its publication, naming Mark B. Dur
) nell of Owatonna as editor, and con
mission consisting of the attorney ger
: eral. secretary of state and state printe