464
The Green Bag
The opinions from judges and lawyers which make part of the article are most interesting reading. There is entire unanimity of sentiment that such a work is of transcend ent importance. All are agreed that it ought to be done; and there is evident a strong disposition to agree with Mr. Alexander's emphatic dictum: "It has got to be done." Certainly it would go far to fend ofi the chaos which sometimes seems to be impend ing. Just as there must be a library with adequate shelf-room, properly arranged, for the volumes of reports that pour in weekly, so must there be a fit receptacle for the con tents of these books. The "living body of the law" should be something more than a name. It should have a concrete embodiment, a
living organism capable of assimilating this mass of decision, and, in turn, of being nourished, and growing to greater proportions, by means of it,—capable also, to carry the simile further, of rejecting what is poisonous and incapable of assimilation. There is also an agreement, fairly complete, that such a work is, essentially, capable of achievement. It is not characteristic of the American people to be appalled by obstacles, however great. In such a work as this, however, they undertake something fairly comparable in difficulty with any engineering feat in the history of the country. . . . Just as the actual raw material, and no second hand substitute for it, must be wrought into the finished product, so must the fabric of the law be woven out of the host of actual decisions, examined one by one. And it must be woven out of the very essence of each case,
—-—its precise facts, the principle applied to them, and the result reached. . . .
Often, too,
the determining principle of the case finds inadequate expression in the opinion of the court; and in such cases, as it seems to us,
it is the duty of the "expository codifier" of the law (to use Mr. Alexander's phrase) to ascertain and set forth the inevitable logic of the decision,—to draw out the hidden
meaning of the case, to supplement the court's partial expression of principles, while taking care not to run counter to any actual view ex pressed. . . . "Its execution," _to use the words of Governor Hughes, "should be freed from the pressure of commercial demands." But what an object for the benefactions of some of our latter day philanthropists! A permanent Foundation of Jurisprudence, supporting a
corps of the greatest legal experts of the country, first tov bring this great work into being; then continuously to superintend its future growth,—building into the structure from year to year, patiently and scientifically. the material furnished by courts and legisla tures.
A
dream
at
present;
but
every
achievement must originate in a dream. Legal Intelligence!" (Philadelphia) : AN AMERICAN CORP US jURIS We call the attention of our readers to an article by Lucien H. Alexander, Esq., of our
bar, which appeared in the Green Bag of February, entitled "Memorandum in re Corpus juris," wherein he presents a plan outlined by Dean Kirchwey, of the Columbia Law School, Dr. James DeWitt Andrews of the New York bar, the author of Andrews’ "American Law," and himself, for the pro
duction of a work which shall be, when finished, "a complete and comprehensive statement in adequate perspective of the entire body of American law, our Corpus juris." The great value of such a work, if well executed, both to the profession and to the country, cannot be overestimated, but the
difficulty of accomplishing such a task appears, at first sight, almost insuperable. The authors of the plan, however, have out
lined a wholly original method of bringing to bear upon the subject, in a united effort, the highest ability of the profession. Funds for the purpose, so as to avoid "the bane of commercialism," it is hoped, can be obtained
by persuading some enthusiastic philanthro pist to endow a Foundation of Jurisprudence with a million dollars for the publication of this and, possibly, subsequent legal works. It is suggested by the authors of the plan that the money expended in producing the work will ultimately be repaid by its sales, and thus the Foundation be kept in funds for further activities for the benefit of the profession. At present the great desideratum appears to be an enthusiastic philanthropist who will be glad to put up the million dollars. While he has not yet appeared upon the scene, in View of the many far less useful projects which have been heavily endowed, there would seem to be ground for hope that he may be ultimately discovered.
It is at once perceived from the mere state ment of the manner in which this work is to be produced that it will, in all likelihood,
