226 TiMEHRI. 



Mr. Edmund Robertson, M.P., in the article ' Code' in 

 the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica^ " the 

 same causes which made these colle6lions necessary in 

 the time of JUSTINIAN have led to similar undertakings 

 among modern peoples. The aftual condition of laws 

 until the period when they are consciously remodelled is 

 one of confusion, contradi6lion, repetition, and disorder ; 

 and to these evils the progress of society adds the 

 burden of perpetually increasing legislation. Some at- 

 tempt must be made to simplify the task of learning the 

 laws by improving their expression and arrangement." 

 It is not proposed to do more in this article than touch very 

 lightly on the question of the codification of the civil 

 law of British Guiana, and it would therefore be out of 

 place to describe here what has been done — and it is a 

 great deal — within the present century in France and 

 most of the other countries of Europe, in the State of 

 New York, and in Lower Canada or Quebec in the way 

 of codifying the civil and other branches of public law. 

 While I by no means underrate the great and pressing 

 importance of this question, yet it is obvious that its 

 adequate discussion would require a separate paper, and 

 my only objeft at present is to describe the existing 

 condition of the ordinary statute law of the Colony, 

 and to make some suggestions for its improvement. For 

 this purpose it may be found instru6live to inquire 

 briefly what has been done in recent years in the way of 

 preparing and publishing improved editions of their 

 statute laws by other English-speaking countries and 

 places, and especially, since their circumstances more 

 closely approximate to ours, by the British West Indian 

 Colonies. 



