LAW REFORM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 654, 12 February 1859, Page 5

LAW REFORM.

(From tlie' <3?ifneg'.') Among the multifarious : paradißd with so much ikill by Lord; John Russell; &% Liverpool, .there was !qne V!?iQh,/TOs' placed, .in :^tlie; yan;of.J)ift array;) 'After an e'pc'omiiun" «PPn fthftjl^gislatiye^i.s^tn.pf, ■Napoleon"the i?irst r;^,hi,ch; .l^r4ji6Bu.Sham:li^ u^t.

rlniye grimly smiled tphear—fotvif our memory, [does not deceive us, the ideas had been;spokeri years •ago in the peroration; tp .that' 'lea-Viie'd; lur.l's celebrated six hours'; speech on law reform—Lord John Russell committed himself,to a prophecy; -"Twill venture to say, that if four or five persons of competent qualifications were appointed,, as .doinmisr sipners they would in a few months 'make an .nctunl ,commencpnent, and in,a fe\v years>present:Htd.J'urliame'nt. ,a .compile". .Code,, worthy,of the qouritry, simplifying and improving bur laws upon principles 'lit:tp.be adopted,in an enlighfencd-nge, and fonpded ' on the .solid 'masonry of our'ancient,legislation." This isanl object greatly i;o bo, desired, most devoutly to be wished, but, we fear, rnuah top Utopian to be hoped for. Lord, John Russell, we doubt hot, honestly means what he has said, but his honesty and his boldness only show how little he has studied the difficulties of this enterprise, and how. lightly he has scanned the shipwrecks in!,his course. ,A simple rule of right is the craving aspiration of every complex society, of every full-grown ( nation. Every adult man in England, from Lord Chancellor Chelmsfprd to the costerinpnger who bawls /before his gate, would make some'sacrifices to be able to read all the, la<vs thai govern him in a,pocket volume. There is no second opinion as to the de-. sirability of getting rid of those 98 closely printed volumes which are all so many "stumbling-blocks in life's pathway. We should all like a Code, just as we should, like a continual, abundant, ever-streamr ing ebb tide in the Thames to carry off our drainage, ori a radiating series of submarine railways to com-: municate with 0ur.c010nie5,..... ; We are all unanimous to wish; even Parliament is payed with good intentions,, in,that behalf, but we much fear that the accomplishment of tjje work is riot a thing to "be wisely talked of as attainable in a few.years. , , * V^e-do.holdispute.tliat a Code of some sort could be manufactured in the .time named., Ti'ebonian andhisseventeen colleagues digested two thousand volumes of laws and lega.l^opinions in four A y oars,, and in,twelve years from the .date of the Imperial letter Justinian could declare all laws, abrogate, not contained, in.his, Code, his Institutes, or Ms Pandects. We. know also, that .only, ten, .^ears elapsed ; between . the order for. the commencement of. the Code Napoleon and the promiiigatipn of the.last chapter. Perhaps we miglit :b'e able to choose from our, Bench; and ,B?ir men!eqjual ; to Trebonian and his.unde.rwbrkers; we might possibly be able to fill up a com mis-, sion with men not inferior to Tronchet,Rcederer,Portalis,Thibatidea,Cambaeeres,andLebrun;*and in all probability that commission wouldcompihj a code. But the questions would still remain—How shall .'we test; it-? Who- wil'l^'risk. his" estate,, his. family ties,. his commercial interests, his.testamentary powers, his personal liberty, his life, upon r the unfailing accuracy of, the authors of-the new code ? We desire a code mucji, but there are fears which are stronger than that, desire. V jWh'eri, a country gentleman looks at his muniment-room, and remembers the mysterir ous .manner in which his '.-lawyer's..have spoken ;to; him of the various incidents of title which affectshis simple and customary-freeliolds, his lands in ancient demesne, his copyholds, his. commons, his free ,warrens, his several fisheries, his commons-of fishery, and his free fisheries, and when he remembers the wonderful/scaffolding of trusts which Is'liuilt up in his marriage settlement, lie may very; well suspect that th.e_codifiersmay;have.omitted some.pin or left-'out1 some little 'wheel in their new.machinery, and that some dull morning' he may Avake tqifind that the new code-will not''keep poachers frorij, his ; fisheries and free warrens, ridr encroaeiiers from his; commons, nor squatters from his freeholds ; or that it may even allow some .trustee to convey the legal estate away in the conventional, and -not, the techf nical,. sense of the term. ■ These.fears may be,very selfish, but.they, would operate. . Country gentlemen were, not.until quite recently;devotedly attached to•< sciferice—social, juridical^ ,oj physical; and it is. questionable whether,"their enthusiasm has even yet reached' the self-immolation point. ..jEven, merchants have their cautious momentsYiand charterparties and insurance policies would: not fo e trusted to the new code with an-easy confidence. If the code were, .ready.to-morrow; no man would dare r-X& tjake the.;responsibility pf pi^essingiit 6n, to the extinction of. .all. existing, law,; and no - Minister, would be powerful enough to pass, it; *; Th.e^vfacfelis that Trebonian and Lebruri codified' under, vdry different • .conditions... Rome may be said-;t'd::Have;sia.d no law whemTfeboriian began to: 'c6dify; ; T-he^eTye tables; and the Praetorian edicts, with th^'.tex^bdpks.of Papinian and Ulpian, were npt laws ;by^which the Prastors were bound. Each maife his own law, and broke it by his 6\vri decisions. :-rSo when, on "the 24thThermidor, in the year VIII;,"' the order of the Consuls;was directed-to the -Ministers of Justice, France was: wijtliout. any law. whatever. . The Abbe Sieyes and the;Natibnal Assembly had in twp evenings cleared away; ;the whole: law of France,— Court's, titles] feudal jurisdictiqns, tithes, churches, and:all. i There have been.'correspphding periods in. pur history ;,. and if, instead of 'writing in the year 1858, we were writing in 1658,/ when the Praise-God-Barebones Parliament had just abolished the Court of Ch.ancery;;;by: an , unanimous vote, and had proposed tpCrpmwell to abplisn. the common Ir.w arid dismiss the.Jawyers, we should be in a much better position for a Code. We should have nothing to destroy and full space to build.. But even then we should want "one necessary—the-.power of enactment. Trebonian had'-Justinian behind him and Lebrun had Napoleon behind him to stamp their work as they went on, and impose it upon, their subjects as a law, t rißt to. be' discussed but to be obeyed. When the' same favouring circumstances pecur in England we may..probably have a Code; but,when they dp occur we English shall.be found not, anxious' for hew. edicts but fighting for our ancient laws. • ;

'.. Difficulties such as these may not be lightly thought;pf-and should nat;;be lightly spoken of by reasonable statesmen,^ Reckless promises of impossible things divert men's exertions from objects within their reach. ' We may arrive at codification at last, but brily through several stages; as a present enterprise: of: a few months, or a few years, every ■ivell-informed man knows it. to be ah impossibilitj''. But, although,we cannot at. once codify, we can consolidate. The work of consolidation has been done, and satisfactorily done, by a free country, arid we have only to imitate plain precedents to succeed as well as America; has succeeded. If Lord John Russell, had applied,,himself to this part of his subject he might : have done great practical good. The: r Code is a chimera, only fit to make periods for a speech, but the consolidation is a practical work which-requires ilieaid of some.conspicuous party leader.. Its .progress,hitherto has been of a most urisatisfactpry character; but this arises not more from the faults of those who do, or omit to dov the work,: than from the indifference of those who do notdothe. legislation. '■. We must, however, reserve the half of ithese. twin subjects, codification ..and consolidation, and must probably, resign ourselves for some time yet to come to echo empty wishes for a Code, and to ."watch" the labours of a commission which produces reports and accumulates bills, but has never yet in maturing a statute. ■ .