INTRODUCTORY.
The seventeenth session of the legislative assembly of Dakota enacted a law providing for the appointment of two persons to compile the general statutes of the territory. Under that law the undersigned were designated for the work. The laws are contained in the revised codes of 1877, and the session laws of 1879, 1881, 1883, 1885 and 1887. The detailed directions regarding the compilation are found in the statute printed on pages iii and iv. In executing the work, the compilers have not assumed anything like judicial functions, but have prepared the laws as they have been declared by legislative action. Where direct repeal of existing law has been made by subsequent statute, of course the text has been made to conform therewith; and where it was clearly evident that the intention of the legislature was to substitute one provision for another, but without expressly repealing the previous law, the compilers have made the change which was in tended, according to a decision of the supreme court of the territory to the effect that the enactment of a new statute in regard to any matter supplanted the old, even without an express repealing clause; but whenever there has been room for doubt or uncertainty as to the intention of the law-makers, no change has been made, but all law pertaining to the subject has been compiled, leaving to the courts any question as to what provisions should prevail.
In many of the statutes as originally printed there have been found glaring grammatical and typographical errors, as shown by original bills or otherwise, which have been corrected, so that the text as herein presented shows the laws as they were evidently intended to be.
In some of the statutes, particularly those establishing the government of public institutions, special and temporary provisions had been enacted, incident to their inauguration. As it was the purpose of the compilation to include only general and permanent laws, these special provisions have been stricken out when it could be done without endangering the application of the law. In connection with every section is shown the authority for its existence as printed, by reference to the original section as enacted or amended, so that the authority for the text as given can be readily traced.
The plan adopted in numbering the sections of the compilation consecutively from first to last is that which is used in the revised statutes of the United States and in many of the states. Its convenience in referring to any provision of the law will be evident.
The congressional enactments pertaining to the territory of Dakota and its government are more fully given herewith than in any volume heretofore published. In addition to this, their provisions have been classified and arranged so that those pertainingto any particular subject will be found grouped together; and at the head of each subdivision is given a syllabus of its contents, thus makingit much easier than has ever heretofore been the case, to refer to any particular provision of the organic law. The constitution of the United States is likewise printed with a syllabus at the head of each article.
In the appendix is given the title of all general and special laws passed since the adoption of the revised codes in 1877, and an indication as to which have been compiled, which repealed, and which have become obsolete by expiration or execution. In connection therewith there is also given a schedule showing to what section in the compilation any section of the revised codes or of the session laws has been carried. By means of this any general provision of law can be traced from previous books to this.
The table of contents, printed in the fore part of the book, gives a complete analysis of the provisions of the seven codes as they exi5t now, by which their logical arrange
