Opinions upon the Corpus juris Project sense as a necessity little short of imperative. The decisions in every section of our country are piling up at such a rate that in the en deavor to follow precedents courts and attorneys are obliged more and more to confine their search and references to the reports of their own states. This practice, becoming noticeable pretty much everywhere, must eventually tend to discourage and neutralize the efforts towards needful uni formity in our law, and to beget in the various
jurisdictions a spirit of particularism which is the very opposite of what we ought to cultivate, and which may be fraught with dangers by no means trifling. A work of the character proposed, if commended by strict accuracy and the weight of competent au thority, would probably go far towards turning the current in the right direction. That the task, in spite of its magnitude, is not an impossible one cannot be doubted, and the general plan outlined by you seems happily conceived and practicable.
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throughout the entire country, to break 0 seem
ingly impossible way through a wilderness of precedents. The multiplication of judicial report: makes this task each year increasingly difficult. For example, a large commercial enterprise, doing business in each state of the Union, and having its principal ofiice in New York, will frequently ask counsel whether they violate, in the methods of their business, the Anti-Trust laws either of the nation or the various states. The difliculty of answering such a question Without writing a treatise is obvious. I do not know how far your plan contemplates the effective grouping of statutory laws. I take it it rather refers to the great body of the law which depends upon judicial decision and the common law rather than express statutory enactments; but in either event, the work, if done intelli
gently, would be of immense value. It would certainly be a great gain if a body of men such as you have named, and of whom you are one, would undertake the careful and
scientific statement of American law. Ohm-lea Biddle, Esq., of the Philadelphia Ear:—One who reads this Memorandum and discusses the question with you, cannot fail to be impressed with the scope of the work and its great importance. The field to be covered is so large and the ability to master it is so rare, one can hardly venture upon a prediction as to the ultimate successful accomplishment of all you desire; but if the man or the men can be found with the industry and brains to succeed, there would
seem to be no limit to the usefulness of such a work. Few of those who help to administer our laws have had the opportunity, the inclination or the ability to become learned
men.
To this large majority this work
would aflord a means of following that which is best and most universally adopted. Such a book would give to the United States what Blackstone gave to England. Hon. James M. Back, of the New York Bar, formerly Assistant Attorney-General of the United States:— Your Memorandum is deeply interesting. A New York lawyer, above every other, should sympathize with you in your laudable purpose of preparing a comprehensive state ,ment of the entire body of the American aw, for he is called upon from time to time,
when consulted by local clients having interests
Hon. L. J. Nash, President State Bar Association of Wisconsin:—— Your “Memorandum in re Corpus juris" lays in view of our professional husbandmen a new field of rich soil and great potential productiveness. . . . Lawyers, and some courts, are now practically compelled to search for a "similar case" rather than a guiding principle, so great is the mass of precedents and so difiicult is the task of generalizing from them. This con dition promotes sporadic growths as hostile to sound reason as the “vogues" and “sports" of the horticulturist are to fruit-bearing plants. The literature of the law ought to present a familiar face everywhere, to the public generally the same as to courts and lawyers. Indeed, one of the most desirable results of a well executed national Corpus juris is likely to be a wider familiarity of laymen with law. Hon. James H. Cartwright, Chief justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois:—— If your plan is, as I infer from the letter before me, to prepare a statement of the whole body of the law in scientific language which will be accepted as authoritative, there can be no doubt the successful accomplishment of such a work would be of priceless value to the courts and the profession.
