Milford chronicle., 1910-02-04

1000, 1901, 1903, AoOAs A'N-'
I S64. 1865. 1866, 1867, 1869, 1871,
1873. 1875, 1877, 1879, 1881, 1888,
1855. 1887, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1879,
his 7. 1898. 1899, 1901. 1903, 1905,
1907. and 1903, making 33 sessions
commencing with the Legislature OF
1853 and ending with that Of 1909,
being a period of So years.
The resolution OF the General As
sembly under which this commission
acts. requires the commission TO
start with the Revised Code Of 1852
as a basis Of the general laws Of the
State and to make such changes
therein and additions thereto as has
been provided by the General Acts
Of the Legislature since that time
The commission has examined care
fully every act Of the Legislature OF
Delaware commencing with the ses
sion Of 1858 and ending with the
session Of 1909, first by going thro'
the volumes Of Delaware Laws,
commencing with Volume IL, and
ending with Volume %, page by
page and Act by Act, marking at
that time the Acts which appeared
to be general in their nature. Then
the Commission pasted the Code OF
I1S52, page by page upon separate
sheets Of paper, IS by "a inches and
on these same sheets and extra
sheets of similar character pasted
the above selected acts out from
the Volumes Of Delaware Laws
above mentioned, collecting those
relating to the same subject matter
as the page Of the revised Code Of
1852, together under their respective
titles. This has made six large
sheet volumes, not counting the
/ Constitution Of the State Of Della
ware, of I01S pages, which will aver
age Al printed pages to pastlng
page, making about 4,5OO printed
pages of the size Of the ordinary law
book.
This work the Commission ha,
lust completed and will now start
to condense and codify the above
900 pages into as small a number
OF printed pages as possible, consis-
tent with its authority and the pur-
| poses for which it was appointed.
There has been no codihcation Of
the General Laws Of Delaware
since 1852. The Code Of that year,
however, which was adopted the
same as any other Act of the Legis-
iature, section by section, and con-
sidered for fifty-three days by the
Legislature Of 1852. was amended
in 1874 and again in 1898 The
evident intent Of the Legislature Of
1909 in providing for a revision Of
the General Laws Of this State was
that it should be such a one as was
made in 1852.
The work from now on which will
take up a year or more, will be to
cut out laws or sections Of laws re-
pealed by subsequent legislation; to
make amendatory laws fit into the
proper place in the laws they amend.
to eliminate entirely acts that have
been repealed or are null and void
because of State or Federal court
decisions, and to arrange all laws
under their proper headings. Then
all will be typewriter and prepared
for the printers. One thing the re-
codifying will do, will be to clarity
the situation about what election
laws have been repealed and just
what are in force, which has always
been a mOoted question. Another
will be to bring some order in the
array Of laws affecting roads and
bridges, and also in the laws affect
ing revenues, which comprise many
pages in the scrap books, made up
by Messrs. Lore, Ward and Hayes.
In their research the code COM
missiOners found many subjects not
mentioned in any way in the code
of 1862. These new subjects fill llS
pages in the commissioner scrap
book, or nearly 800 printed pages.
Automobiles, rights Of married wo-
men, regulations of dentistry, street
railway regulations, regulation Of
telegraph and telephone companies,
and many other subjects Of present
day legislation had no place in the
code Of 1852.
The Commissioners expect to CO.
dify the revised laws in alphabetical
order Of the subject. This is the
modern practice. 1t was followed
in the code of the State of Nebraska
which is accepted as a model code,
and which is revised annually. Its
Idea is being followed in most par
ticulars by Messrs Lore, Ward and
Hayes. Mr., Hayes also was FORUM
ate in getting from Congressman
Moon of Philadelphia, the forms
and method used by him, along with
his own manuscript, in revising the
penal code Of the United States,
which was completed last year after