AN ACT RELATING TO PROPERTY, AND [THE ORIGINAL REPORTED TO THE LEGISLATURE AT THE SESSION, COMMENCING JANUARY 1, 1878, BY THE COMMISSIONERS TO REVISE THE STATUTES; AND REFERRED BY THE SENATE TO A SPECIAL COMMITTEE, TO EXAMINE AND REVIEW THE SAME, AND REPORT THEREON AT THE NEXT SESSION.] EXAMINED, REVIEWED, AND AMENDED, AND REPORTED AT THE SESSION COMMENCING JANUARY 7, 1879, BY SAMUEL S. EDICK, EDWIN HICKS, CHARLES HUGHES, SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE. ALBANY: WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS. REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE ON THE REVISION OF THE STATUTES, PRESENTED WITH THE ACCOMPANYING BILL. To the Senate: The undersigned, the special committee, appointed pursuant to a resolution of the Senate, passed May 15th, 1878, "to sit during the recess, to examine and review the Code of Civil Procedure, and also all the bills submitted at this" (the last) "session by the commissioners to revise the statutes, and to report the result to the Senate at the next" (this) "session of the Legislature", have the honor to report herewith a bill entitled “An act relating to property, and other matters connected with private rights", being the bill with the same title, reported by the commissioners to revise the statutes at the last session of the Legislature, with amendments made by this committee upon the examination and review thereof by them, as contemplated by the resolution under which they were appointed. The committee have retained, and caused to be printed with this bill, the explanatory notes, reported with the original bill by the commissioners to revise the statutes, with such alterations as were necessary to adapt them to the changes in the text made by the committee. Those alterations have been made by the member of the late commission to revise the statutes, who had special charge of the preparation of the text of the original bill, and of the notes thereto. This explanation is necessary, although the notes have been adopted by the committee, because they contain several references to their framers, which otherwise might be supposed to apply to this com The original bill was styled, by the commissioners who framed it, "Part II of the New Revision of the Statutes"; and the bill relating to crimes, etc., framed by the same commissioners, was styled by them “Part IV of the New Revision of the Statutes". The plan of the commissioners, as stated in several of their reports, followed, with respect to the arrangement of subjects in the new revision, the general arrangement of the Revised Statutes of 1827-1828, with the modifications required by the changes in the subjects of legislation, and in the bulk of the statutes relating to particular subjects, created by the legislation of the last fifty years. In pursuance of this plan, they proposed that the original of this bill should take the place of Part II of the Revised Statutes; that their bill relating to crimes, etc., should take the place of Part IV of the Revised Statutes; and that the act now styled "The Code of Civil Procedure ", including the supplemental nine chapters, should be styled "Part III of the New Revision of the Statutes ", and take the place of Part III of the Revised Statutes. But, upon the expiration of their term of office, the commissioners had not completed their substitutes for Part I of the Revised Statutes. The full execution of this feature of their plan is, therefore, impracticable; and indeed its partial execution, with respect to so much of the new revision as is completed, has been greatly impeded by the action of the Legislature in styling the proposed Part III the Code of Civil Procedure. As the latter name has become permanent, it seems proper that this bill, and the bill relating to crimes, etc., should also be called codes, a word which signifies merely a systematized collection of laws, not, as many suppose, an exhaustive compendium of all the rules of law on one or more subjects. With respect to the distinctive name to be given to this code, that contained in the title of the bill would perhaps be the most appropriate; but it is too long for convenient use. The committee have, upon careful consideration, styled this bill "The Code of Civil Rights", a name which expresses, with approximate comprehensiveness, the subjects treated therein, and at the same time is a proper co-ordinate to the name, Code of Civil Procedure. All of which is respectfully submitted. ́ Dated the 7th day of January, 1879. SAMUEL S. EDICK, Committee. |
