THE DOCTRINE OF STARE DECISIS 653 



fessional respect for precedent, just because it is precedent, so that 

 the future codifier will be less embarrassed by the difficulty which 

 constituted one of the weaknesses of David Dudley Field's famous 

 Civil Code - - the fear of overruling decisions which stand in the 

 books as the law at the time when a code is drafted, although sub- 

 sequently their erroneousness may be conceded and they one by one 

 be overruled by the courts or repealed by the legislature. I have 

 not sufficient confidence in the official distributors of public patronage 

 to believe that any successful codification will emanate from persons 

 nominated by a president or governor and confirmed by a senate, 

 unless the nominations are practically dictated by the unanimous 

 voice of the bar. I believe that the first successful American Code 

 of Private Law will emanate from some one of our American State 

 Bar Associations, amendment of the law at whose behest is already 

 no infrequent occurrence. The association will either do the work 

 itself and afterwards force it through the legislature of the state 

 which shall first try the experiment, or else put through a bill for 

 codification, dictate the appointment of the codifier, assure him 

 support and protection, and compel some subsequent legislature to 

 make good the assurance. 



SHORT PAPER 



HON. WILLIAM H. THOMAS, of Montgomery, Alabama, presented a paper to 

 the Section on the subject of " Individualism vs. Law." 



