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Memorandum in re Corpus juris reason of this and as a result of the frequent consultation conferences, each

would have a pride and to a certain extent a feeling of authorship in every part of the entire work, in addition to

the portion peculiarly representing his own individual eﬁort. Of course in order to secure the essential “ co-ordi

nated whole," the executive head of the enterprise must necessarily reserve the power to the Board of seven Editors to re-cast into the general style of English

determined upon for this work any of the product of a member of the Associate Board; indeed, after consultation and careful consideration, to re-mold any

part of the work in order to secure not only exactness, but as far as practicable

perfect harmony, for in the last analysis the work of all must be completely co ordinated, and those responsible for the plan and its execution must see to it

that the ﬁnished product is in every sense all that is contemplated. To prevent disorganization and chaos, to insure harmony and secure perspec

tive, the authority to do this must necessarily be lodged somewhere where

it can be practically and effectively exercised, though of course each writer

would be fully consulted concerning changes. The point I wish to make is that the ﬁnished work should not and must not be a composite of disjointed branches of the law treated by particular individuals, but a co-ordinated whole the product in a sense of all, but under

ﬁnal and authoritative centralized con trol.

The importance of the point brought

the expense of the government and not at the risk of the writer. and the whole being under the control of one head, it will make a philo sophically arranged Corpus juris possible. If such a Code were achieved, its component parts would not have to be loaded with matter belonging elsewhere, as is necessarily the case with text books written to sell. Take a book on Sales, or one on Bills and Notes, or a more general treatise on Contracts, or one on the Domestic Relations or one on Real Property and in each you ﬁnd chapters devoted to the general discussion of the incapacities of infants and married women. A Code would treat the subject once and in the right place. Even this argument does not go much further than to show the advantage of a connected publication of the whole body of the law. But the task, if executed in extenso, is perhaps beyond the power of one man and if more than one were employed upon it, the proper subordination would more likely be secured in a government work. We are speaking now of more serious labors than the little rudimentary text-books in short sentences which their authors by a happy artiﬁce have called Codes instead of manuals. Indeed we are not aware that any of the existing attempts are remarkable for arrangement. The importance of it if it could be obtained cannot be overrated. "In the ﬁrst place it points out at once the leading analogy between groups. Of course cross divisions will be possible on other prin ciples than the one adopted. . . . A well arranged body of law would not only train the mind of the student to a sound habit of thought but would remove the obstacles from his path which he now only overcomes after years of experience and reﬂection."

SoIalso the necessity for a highly cen tralized control in the preparation and production of this work has been em phasized in a communication to Dean

Kirchwey from Hon. William H. Staake, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State

out in this latter thought was made

Commissioners appointed by the Gov

apparent by Mr. Justice Holmes when at one time discussing the subject of codiﬁcation. He said:—

ernors on Uniform State Laws. Staake writes :—

"We are inclined to believe that the most considerable advantage which might be reaped from a code is this.‘ That being executed at

Judge

"I congratulate you and your collaborators upon the invention of so practical a plan for the production of this work, and also upon the personnel of the three men who propose to

f l—