SIMPLIFYING THE LAW.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 29, 3 December 1878, Page 2

SIMPLIFYING THE LAW.

That New Zealand is burdened with law, is a proposition few would be inclined to dispute. We question if there ia another country in the world where the Statute Books are loaded to such an enormous extent with useless enactments. One great reason of this undoubtedly is, the large proportion of lawyers who take a part in the making of our laws. Probably at least a third of the whole number of members in the Lower House belong to the legal profession. This might by some be regarded as a positive advantage,* but the generality of laymen hold a different opinion. The legal mind in most cases delights in obscurity and ambiguousness. Hence the difficulty of obtaining clear and explicit laws. During the session Mr G. E. Barton stated that the real Courts of Justice were the lawyers' offices, for two-thirds of the cases were settled there. The picture might be reversed, and it would, be seen that twosthirds of the litigation of the Colony is worked up in the offices of the gentlemen of the long robe. Time was, when knowledge of law was held to be the exclusive pro* berty of those who devoted themselves to its study, in precisely the same way as theological knowledge was held to belong only to the clergy. But the advance of man* kind, and the growth of science and intellect, are gradually but surely sweeping these ideas to the sepulchre of the dead. A nobler spirit is gaining ground. The dominion of intellect over exclusivenesa is surely advancing like the flowing tide. We see so reason why every merchant, every editor, every farmer, should not have oo his shelves the whole of

the laws of his country, to be able at a moment's notice to genie any disputed point, or assure himself of the correctness of any position he might assume. We are glad to see the democratic eloment of Parlia* ment has carried through an Act which tends towards what we argue for, viz , the compiling and publication of a new edition of tho enact' ments in force in New Zealand, of a public and general nature. This is to be done under "The Reprint of Statutes Act, 1878." Some of the Public General Statutes, as stated in the preamble, " have expired by ef- " fluxion of time, have had their effect, " or have been expressly and specifi- " cally repealed or disallowed." These are to bo omitted. A Commission I consisting of three persons— one of them a Judge of the Supreme Court — is to be appointed by the Governor, and the work of compiling and pre-. paring the new edition is to be entiusted to them. The Judge to be appointed on the Commission is to be President, and not only is tha Commission authorised to "arrange for "publication of the said edition, •'omitting all such enactments and " parts as have expired or been re* " pealed ;" but they are also " author- " ised to omit mere formal and intro- " ductory words," &c. If by the latter is meant that out laws are to be translated into good old Saxon, which calls a spade a spade, and not a longhandled instrument used in gardening, then it will bo a reform which will entitle the last session of Parliament to the thanks of the Colony, and of " posterity." All Imperial Acts affecting the Colony are to be incorporated in the new edition, and we shall thus have a clear, concise, and unencumbered coiDpedium of the laws under which we live. We do not of course know who the Commissioners will be, Probably either Judge Johnston or Judge liichmond will be President ; but whoever the gentlemen selected may be, the work they are to engage in will be one of immense servico to the Colony. The number of copies to be printed under the Act is a thousand. We think the Government should have been empowered to print several thousands of them in a cheap and inexpensive form, so that for a few shillings colonists could purchase the statutes of the Colony. However, when once the compilation is made, the copies are sure to multiply, and we hail with pleasure the dawn of an era upon our Colony in which knowledge of our multitudinous laws will become as easily acquired by the masses as we hold it should be. We may quote the familiar words of Lord Brougham, when moving in 1828 for Law Reform. Referring to the boast of Augustus, that he found Borne of brick and left it of marble, he said : — But how much nobler will be our sovereign's boast when he ahull have it to saythat he found law doar, aud left it cheap ; found it a sealed book — left it an open lotter; found it the patrimony of the rich— left it the inheritance of the poor : found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression — left it the stuff of honesty aud the shield of innocence.