176 



CODIFICATION. 



And yet another important question is, 

 whether this proposed code is intended to be 

 confined to the common law strictly so called, 

 or will embrace also the Law Merchant and the 

 Civil Law, or such parts of them only as are 

 now received as a part of the law of the 

 State. 



It is only now about one hundred years since, 

 under the lead of Lord Mansfield, the Law Mer- 

 chant, as it had obtained for centuries in the 

 commercial States of Europe, was introduced 

 into and engrafted upon the prevailing law in 

 England. The law as thus improved was at 

 our Revolution made the law of our land. But 

 Lord Mansfield did not bring in the whole of 

 the Law Merchant, and since his day, both in 

 England and in this country, more and more 

 of it has been adopted as parts of the prevailing 

 system. So it has been in England and in this 

 country, that within the same period other 

 portions of the Civil Law have been introduced 

 into our existing law. Now the questions are, 

 Does the proposed code embrace the whole of 

 the Law Merchant and the Civil Law, or only 

 such parts of them as have been already adopted 

 by us? And if only the latter, does the code 

 mean to arrest this prevailing practice of drawing 

 upon the wisdom of the Civil Law for our rules 

 of action ? If such is the purpose or such will 

 be its effect, then it would seem to be of ques- 

 tionable propriety to shut our vast and grow- 

 ing interests off, from the advantage of seeking 

 for aid in the knowledge and experience of 

 many ages. If such is not the purpose, then 

 the code will necessarily be shorn of much of 

 its intended permanency and certainty, by the 

 continuance of the practice of incorporating 

 into our system other rules of the civil law. It 

 is not easy to say how this is : for the code 

 includes the Law of Insurance, the whole 

 of which is taken from the Civil Law. Yet 

 in the Law of Sales of Chattels, the com- 

 mon law rule of Caveat Emptor is preserved. 

 The Civil Law says that a sound price means a 

 sound article. The Common Laws says No, let 

 the purchaser look out for himself. And he has 

 no remedy for latent defects, however much 

 they may impair the value of the thing bought, 

 unless he has taken a warranty or has been 

 actually defrauded. This code not only adopts 

 this very unjust rule of the common -law, but 

 actually makes it worse by means of its pro- 

 posed enactment that no warranty shall be im- 

 plied, thus stopping the progress of our courts 

 toward the adoption of the honester rule of the 

 two. These instances are illustrations only of 

 the difficulty of the task undertaken, and of 

 the importance of the question asked in this 

 regard. 



These objections may seem trivial, but they 

 are not, because they show a tendency to un- 

 settle the law where it has been the work of 

 centuries to render it certain. 



But be this as it may, this effort will be mem- 

 orable as the first attempt to codify the whole 

 body of the common law, and subject it to a 



COLLAMEK, JACOB. 



process to which the civil law has been once 

 and again subjected, with undoubted profit and 

 advantage to the peoples among whom it has 

 been attempted. Whether this effort also will 

 be beneficial, must depend on how far there 

 will be preserved that elasticity which has 

 hitherto enabled the common law to keep pace 

 with advancing freedom and civilization among 

 men. 



Following in the track of New York, the Brit- 

 ish Province of Canada has aimed at codification 

 of its law. The codification of the body of the 

 law has been completed by the commissioners 

 appointed for that purpose, and their report 

 will soon be presented to the Colonial Legis- 

 lature for its consideration. The code of civil 

 procedure has not yet been completed, and 

 though in an advanced state, is not yet ready 

 for legislative action. 



COGSWELL, MASOX FITOH, M. D., an emi- 

 nent physician and medical writer, born at 

 Hartford, Conn., November 10, 1809, died in 

 Albany, January 21, 1865. He was the son of 

 Dr. M. F. Cogswell, formerly a prominent phy- 

 sician and surgeon in Hartford ; graduated at 

 Yale College, and subsequently entered the 

 office of Dr. Alexander Stevens, of New York, 

 with whom he remained as a private student 

 until the year 1832, when he received his de- 

 gree from the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons of New York. In 1833 he commenced 

 practice in Albany, and gradually, with the in- 

 crease of years and the growth of experience, 

 rose to the first rank of his profession. He was 

 for a long time one of the physicians of the 

 City Hospital. On the breaking out of the 

 war he was appointed examining surgeon at 

 this post, many thousand volunteers passing 

 under his supervision. He was subsequently 

 surgeon of the Post Hospital, assistant surgeon 

 of the United States Hospital, and, at the time 

 of his decease, had been nominated surgeon. 



In 1862, during the Peninsular campaign, he 

 was active in organizing a field hospital at the 

 White House in Virginia, and the exposure and 

 arduous labors incident to that work led to seri- 

 ous inroads upon his health. In February, 1863, 

 with Dr. Thomas Hun, he was appointed, under 

 the direction of the Sanitary Commission, to 

 inspect the Western hospitals, and the duty was 

 performed with efficiency and thoroughness. 



Dr. Cogswell's public and professional career 

 was eminently characterized by a strong sense 

 of duty, strict integrity, and untiring self-devo- 

 tion. He was animated, always, by the purest 

 and noblest impulses, guided by reason and 

 principle. He carried his heart with him to 

 the bedside, and, whilst alleviating suffering by 

 his skill, solaced the patient with his gentle 

 kindness and sympathy. His loyalty to his 

 country seemed to bo infused into his care for 

 the sick and wounded soldiers, and impart- 

 ed warmth and earnestness to his hospital 

 labors. 



COLLAMER, Hon. JACOB, LL.D., U. S. Sen- 

 ator from Vermont, born in Troy, N. Y., in 



