Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-26
PLAN IN congress
TO COD|FY LAWS
Volume, Indexed and With
Citations, May Be- Put
on Market.
WOULD HELP ATTORNEYS
Likely to Be- Known as Little
Code'-Bill Received From
House in the Senate.

Congress has in mind boon for the
lawyers of the country. 1t expects to
publish in one book AL the 'perma-
nent" laws of the United States up to
March 4. 1919. and TO put the 1900
page volume. indexed and with cita-
tons, on the market at S. a volume.
Annotated combinations Of the federal
laws now sell for far higher prices
than this, it is said.
The new volume will be entitled
The Code of Laws of the United
States" which probably will become
known as the Little code. because
Representative Edward c. Little of
Kansas. chairman of the House COM
mittee on the revision of the laws. is
given the credit by members of the
House for carrying through the ire
mendous task of compiling. consolidat-
ing and codifying all the laws ever
enacted by Congress. The bill en-
bodytng this codification of the laws
was last week received from the House
in the Senate and was referred to
the Senate committee on revision OF
the laws, with the understanding that
it would not be reprinted because of
the huge size of the bill and the heavy
cost such a reprint would entail
Accomplished In 1874.
The job of consolidating and codi-
flying all the laws of the Congress
was accomplished once before, in 1873
and was attempted again about 1896
The attempt in 1896 was not success
full, however. because Congress sus-
pected that revision" was attempted
as well as codification. and although
the revision was explained as being
merely the Improvement of congress
1t
posed to gliding the lily"
Representative Little, knowing
how sensitive his colleagues were. has
been careful not to change even q
comma in the consolidation of the
Revised Statutes of 1874. so called. al
though they were not revised. and
the Statutes at Large, enacted sine,
1874. some thirty-six volumes in all
As to the need for codification
Judge Charles NJ. Hough of the Unit.
ed states circuit court in New YORK
said to the committee on revision:
You will remember the fable Of
the cruel tyrant who affixed terrible
penalties to his laws and then pu,
| the written laws on top of high col
umnS so that nobody could read them
| and punished attractions as severe
| ~ as if each citizen had read them
! submit that for forty-three year.
the United States, in a modern sense
| has been pursuing the same course
while the laws of the United State.
are not put on the top of high col.
umns. they might just as we'll be FL,
the purpose of practitioners-th
| largest number of practitioners, too
who conduct their business at som.
| distance from a city containing an,
| extensive law library For them tn.
| laws of the United States might ius
i as well be buried. Is-it not time Il
resurrect them?
| justices Day and McKenna of tn,
United States Supreme Court an,
nearly threescore federal judges an,
United States attorneys Endorsed tn
need, of codification of the laws
Some of them have written to tn
committee recently indorsing tn
code.
| Watched by Lawyers.
All the lawyers in Congress an
| there are many of them, were curiou
about the codification MANY of Their
watched it develop section by sec
! ton: On March 4. 1919. the first draf
| of the codif1cation. in the usual form
or a congressional bill. was reporte,
by the revision committee Realiz
ing that work extending over 1.20,
| closely printed pages would be fiv,
! times rs bulky in the customary form
! of bill, Mr.. Little put through Con
| gress a joint resolution permittins
the printing or the code bill as tn,
code Will appear in law book form
Thus the type composition can b.
| used for the first printing of the bill
and afterward for printing the cod.
as enacted into law. This will saw.
thousands of dollars in printing.
To the bill now before Congress i
is proposed to add an index (the in.
dex is not part of the law. to be ar.
ranged by the skilled indexers of the
joint congressional committee or
printing 1t is proposed to print fron
plates made from the original tyne
composition. After all the fedora
courts, United States attorneys and
like officials administering fedora
laws have been supplied with copies
it is proposed to print thin paper
editions for the lawyers of the country
at price equal to the cost of pub.
LEGATION.