Page:Halsbury Laws of England v1 1907.pdf/220

 Introduction.

ccxvi

ought to be kept principally in view, the examples which may be given being designed only to explain, not to text

No commentary

restrain, the purport of the law.

should

be written on this code with a view of pointing out the sense thereof

men

and



should be required to pay no

regard to this comment, neither

should

be raised in

it

any manner whatsoever, either by express words or by any circuitous designations whatany Court

A

soever.

of

in

justice

passage appears to be obscure

up rather by

alteration than by

substitute, as

much

as you

be cleared

let it



comment;

retrench, add,

but never explain.

will,

By

the latter certainty will generally, perspicuity and brevity always,

will

more

The

suffer.

words

words

there

which

about

there

are

more

are,

may

doubts

the

be

entertained.

The Commission on the criminal law shared the predecessor.

its

It

is

fate of

a valuable compilation to be

still

referred to as an authoritative exposition of the views of

the very learned lawyers

The truth

in a court of law.

subject treated

in the

whether any code,

come up

to

who composed it, but

call

the digest

no authority

that the difficulty

and

of, it

is

of

it

may

well

inherent

is

doubted

be

a digest or anything else, can

recommended by the Commission

of 1866.

has occurred to some minds that an attempt might

It

be

made

main

by

outlines

the report

of

enterprise

private

to

carry

out

such an attempt has been made in this work. treatises

upon various

divisions of the law,

authors, have been brought together,

body at

of

the

in

its

scheme which was recommended in the Commission appointed in 1866, and the

writers

may expound

same time

refer

to

their

so

and by

Different different

that a selected

several

topics,

and

such authoritative decisions

and enactments as support the propositions which they lay

down.

A

similar

system was devised by the

late