ers to make a
book which correctly prints the laws, and all the laws, of the State
in question. For one State, at least, such a compilation was made by a
few industrious newspaper correspondents at Washington! The States and
Territories that are in this cheerful condition are, as I have said:
New York (in part) the Territory of Alaska, California, Colorado,
Illinois, Indiana--that is to say, there has been no official
revision since 1881 and everybody, in fact, uses a privately
prepared digest--Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia (fourteen in all). Besides
this, there are other States such as Wisconsin and Indiana, already
mentioned, where there is no official _recent_ revision, so that
everybody depends upon a private compilation, which is the only one
procurable.

So much for the authenticity of the books themselves which contain the
laws upon which we all have to depend. Now, coming to the form of the
laws. As I have already remarked, there is no committee on style.
There is no attempt whatever made at scientific drafting. To give an
example of what difference this may make in mere convenience, it is
only a few weeks since, in Massachusetts, a chapter of law to protect
the public against personal injuries caused by insolvent railway and
street railway companies was drawn up by a good lawyer, and contained
between twenty and thirty sections, or about three pages of print.
It was brought to another lawyer, certainly no better lawyer, but a
legislative expert, who got all that was desired into one section
of five lines. There is no committee on style, there is no expert
drafting. The case of the recent Massachusetts statute declaring the
common law to be the common law, and therefore jeopardizing the very
object of the statute, will not be forgotten (see p. 188 above). There
are certain definite recommendations I should like to make.

First, adopt the provision that "no statute shall be regarded as
repealed unless mentioned as repealed, and when a law is amended, the
whole law shall be printed as amended in full." This would acquaint
the legislature with the law already existing, before they proceed to
change it. Next provide that all laws shall be printed and published
by a _State_ publisher and the authenticity of all revisions be duly
guaranteed by their being submitted to the legislature and re-enacted
_en bloc_, as is our practice with revisions in Massac