4. The course which the discussion upon codification has taken in England has led to . _ .
the collection .and revision of statutes upon: particular subjects, not so much harmonizing the various branches with reference to each other, but only making. specific changes, pre serving, after all, those general and funda mental anomalies which make the'stafutory system of that realni so complex.
In this country the subject has presented obstacles of less magnitude, and the revisions have been more extensive. They may be briefly noted as follows :— 5. Louisiana. The most 'complete code which has been enacted in this country is that of Louisiana. This state was atone time a French, at another a Spanish, oniony; and after its cession to the United States a Cal revision of its law became necessary. The first code • (1808) was superseded, 'to gether with all other previously'existing laws, by that of 1824, the chief part in the coin pilatiOn of which was the work. of Mr. Ed ward Livingston.. It is based on the Code Napoleon, It contains 3522 articles, num bered, like those of the codes, in one series, for greater convenience of reference. rt is' divided into three books :—Biuk 1, Of Persons ; Book. 2,_Of Things and the fiCations of • Property ; Bi M ok 3, The Differ ent odes of acquiring Property. It has been said that in the preparation of the code its authors mixed' with positive legislation definitions seldom accurate;' and points of doctrine always unnecessary;—that the legis lature modified many .provielons of positive legislation, but adopted definitions and doc trine without alteration ; and from this cir cumstance, as well as from the inherent diffi dulty" of subject, the positive provisions are often at variance with • the theoretical part.' In such eases the Court follow Abe, lbrmer in inference to the latter. 13 .La. 236..
The code was promulgated in both English and French. Where the expressions in the one text are found more comprehensive than ih the other, the broader sense is adopted. Mart. La. 298 ; 2 Mart. La. N. s. 582. A re vised edition was published in 1853. A new revision of the statutes was completed in 1856.
6. Massachusetts. In 1835 the first re vision of the statutes was completed and the result enacted, and, as in New York, a re pealing act was passed enumerating the former statutes which it abrogated. In 1855 a commission was appointed to revise the sta tutes anew on the same general plan. The commissioners were' directed to omit redun dant enactment's and those which had ceased to have effect on existing rights, to reject super fluous words and condense the provisions into as concise and comprehensive a form as con sistent with full and clear expression. This revision was enacted in 1859. It is contained in one octavo volume.
7. New York. The early compilations of the statute law of New York are known re spectively as the Revised Laws of 1802 and the Revised Laws of 1813.. In 1825 a com mission of three was constituted to prepare a revision of the statutes; and the results of their labors, enacted after elaborate consider ation in special sessions of the , legislature, became completed and in force, as the Revised Statutes, in 1830. It repealed nearly all the
public and general statutes of the state, and declared'the colonial and, the English statutes to be, no longer in.force; but only to a limited extent did it embrace or modify the unwritten or report law. It is divided into four parts. 1. .The limits, divisions; civil polity, and in ternal 'administration of the state. Except in the changes introduced by the constitution this part has been but little modified, otherwise than by local acts required by the' growth of various. parts of the state, and regu lations prescribed for corporations.
S. Part 2 concerns the acquisition, enjoy tnent; and transiniakion' of properfy;the do mestic relations, and other matters connected' With private •rights: This part has under gone considerable amendment, but mainly•in some provisions respecting procedure. 'Part 3 relates to courts and ministers of justice,: and proceedings in civil cases.. This haii been largely modified, and in part superseded, by radical changes in the syStem of civil reme-: dies, instituted by ,the constitution of 1846 and carried out by Code of, Procedure (1848). Part 4 relates to crimes and punish, in criminal cases and prison-discipline. Many of the revisions.of, other states have been based to a greater Or . .
less extent upon 'this.
9. The Code of Procedure above referredt to relates only to procedure in civil actions,' All criminal procedure, and for the most part those remedies which are known as special' proceedings, remain under the,regulation of the previous law.
: In 1857 a Commission of three was appointed. to reduce into a written and systematic code: the whole body of the law of the state (eic-, cepting procedure), or so much and such parts thereof se' should seem expedient. They were 'directed to divide their work into three 'portions the 'political, the civil, and the penal codes, respectively. The. first of these was reported complete to the legislature in 1860.
10. Revisions have also been made in Ala bama, in 1852 ; Arkansas, 1858; California, 1853 ; Connecticut, 1821, 1838, 1849, 1854;' Delaware, 1852 ; Indiana, .1852 ; Kansas, 1855 ; Kentucky, 1851-52 ; Maine, 1857 ; Maryland,' 1860 ; Michigan; 1857 •, Minne sota, 1851 ; Missouri, 1856•; North Carolina, 1836;1854 ; Oregon, 1855 ; Rhode. Island, 1857; Tennessee, 1858; 'Virginia, 1849; see the pre face for an account of the revisals and codes of the state ; Wisconsin, 1858. Codes of Pro cedure,. on the basis, of that of York, have been enacted in several of the states. In some of the newer of the states above mentioned, the 'revised statutes are not •so much a revision of their own laws as a copy' in extenso, with some modifications, of the statutory system of state.
AusTatAx. Civil Code was pro-.
. .
Ilgated.. in 1811,—the code of Joseph II. 7.80) having been found wholly unsuited to e purpose .and by his successor - abrogated: is founded in a great degree upon the •ussian: The Penal Code -(1852) is said • to opt to sonhe• extent •the characteristics 'of e French Penal Code. • •