JURISPRUDENCE AND LEGISLATION 631 



vague restrictive and negative principle of liberty and equality. 

 Under a considerable number of such enabling clauses our system 

 would somewhat resemble those parts of the European public law 

 in which the legislature contents itself with indicating in large out- 

 line the principle of state control, leaving the administration to 

 adopt measures within that principle. This allows a strong judicial 

 control of governmental action, combining permanency of principle 

 with flexibility of detail. The parallel becomes closer when we 

 consider that it is easier to procure a constitutional amendment in 

 some of our states than an important change of legislative policy 

 in the great European countries. 



The continued exercise of judicial control will, to a certain extent, 

 carry its own remedy. True, one of its effects has been, and will 

 continue to be, to weaken the sense of constitutional restraint on 

 the part of the legislature, which will give itself the benefit of the 

 doubt where the question of validity is controverted, and hold itself 

 relieved from moral responsibility if a measure is sanctioned by the 

 courts. But, on the other hand, where the legislature is sincerely 

 anxious to carry into effect some policy, the expectation of judicial 

 control will induce it to be scrupulous about observing constitutional 

 limitations. 



Exhaustive inquiry into the conditions to be regulated, impartial 

 consideration of all interests concerned, and skilled and careful 

 draftsmanship are equally indispensable requirements to produce 

 legislation that is to avoid both inefficiency and injustice. In Eng- 

 land, France, and Germany the observance of these conditions is 

 made possible by the fact that the respective governments introduce 

 all important bills, that they have the greatest facilities for ascer- 

 taining the facts underlying the proposed measure, and that they 

 command the services of highly-qualified officials acting as draftsmen. 

 These conditions cannot be easily reproduced in a country in which 

 the government has no initiative in legislation, and in which it is 

 often very difficult to place the responsibility for the framing and 

 the introduction of a measure. In recent years a few states have 

 made provision for officials who are to aid in the drafting of bills, 1 

 and for the systematic collection of information regarding legisla- 

 tion and legislative problems, 2 and a great deal of valuable statis- 

 tical work is done by official bureaus in the states and in Washington. 

 It is to be hoped that these efforts in the direction of improving 



1 Laws of New York, 1901, ch. 88. Connecticut General Statutes, 1902, sec. 

 37. See New York State Library Review of Legislation, 1903, 2-4. South Caro- 

 lina Code, 1902, sec. 21. 



2 New York State Library Year-Book of Legislation. Legislative Reference 

 Department of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. See Review of Reviews, 

 December, 1905. 



