retainers. Good work is coming to him in
London, though not so frequently as might be wished.

The codifying, in fact, took up much of his time. The 'Homicide Bill'
was introduced into Parliament this year (1874) by Russell Gurney, and
referred to a Select Committee. They consulted Cockburn, Bramwell, and
Blackburn, who appear to have been on the whole hostile. Bramwell,
however, declared that the Bill was 'excellently drawn,' and in a
friendly letter to Fitzjames condemned the spirit of hostility in which
it had been received by other judges. The main objection put forward by
Cockburn and accepted by the Committee was the objection to a partial
measure. The particular question of homicide involved principles
applying to other parts of the criminal law; and a partial treatment
would only serve to introduce confusion and doubt. The Committee
accordingly recommended that the Bill should be dropped. Fitzjames
accepted this not as a reason for abandoning the attempt but for
extending the scope of the proposed measure. The result will appear
presently.

The change of Government was not altogether unfavourable. Early in March
he received instructions from Lord Salisbury, who had succeeded the Duke
of Argyll at the India Office, to consolidate the Acts relating to the
government of India. He set to work with his usual energy, and a
statement prefixed to the printed draft of the Bill is dated June 2,
1874. In less than three months he had done a big piece of work. The
consolidation of these laws had been in contemplation in England and
India for some time. Various preparations had been made by Government,
including a draft of the proposed Act by Mr. Herman Merivale, then
permanent undersecretary at the India Office. Fitzjames, however, had to
go through the whole, and, as he laments, without such help as he could
have commanded from his subordinates in India. He prepared an elaborate
schedule showing every unrepealed section of every Act relating to India
since 1770. The 'kernel of the law' was contained in eight Acts; the
'Regulating Act' of 1773, the Acts upon the successive renewal of the
Company's charter, and the Acts passed upon the transference of the
Company's powers to the Crown. As each of these had been superposed upon
its predecessors without repealing them, it was necessary to go through
them all to discover what parts were still in force; how far any law had
been modified by later enactments, and what parts of th