The Royal Commission on the Digest of the Law has
presented its first report. It is not an instructive document. The Commis- sioners report that the Statute Law occupies 45 quarto volumes, ..the judicial decisions and dicta 1,300 more, while there is a Com- mon Law beneath and above both. They therefore propose that certain _highly remunerated functionaries should be maintained for some years, to prepare a specimen of the work which would be ulti- mately required. If the country approves it they can then go on. That scheme would give us a Digest in the year 2067. if the Government really want a Digest, let them give Lord Westbury, Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Maine an engagement to pay them 60,000/. when it is completed. The Digest would be ready in three years,' and would be nearly as good as a Code.
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