IN THE UNITED STATES BY CHESTER LLOYD JONES Associate Professor of Political Science in the BOSTON THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY 1912 PREFACE Since law is becoming so important a factor in shaping the economic and social conditions under which we live, it is essential that the making of statutes should receive greater attention. In no other great country of the world is the passage of new statutes and the change of old ones so easy as in the United States. The amount of legislation increases year by year, the laws touch us more and more intimately in our daily lives. Under such conditions it seems that it would be only natural that great care would be taken in the framing of statutes. Those who drafted measures we might believe would be sure to see to it that rights not intended to be affected were not touched, that what the bill was intended to accomplish was done in the easiest way and that the law should not offend constitutional provisions. But the fact is quite the contrary. Our love of freedom of initiative has extended to legislation. Bills are introduced in such numbers that it is impossible for them to receive adequate consideration. They are often drafted by men who have not made any attempt to see the proposed measures in the perspective of the general law of the state. As a consequence we have a mass of ill-considered statutes which, by their indefiniteness and failure to observe constitutional limitations, throw upon the courts a burden of interpretation which forces them frequently to resort to judicial legislation and to declare the statutes void. Popular prejudice is aroused against the judges who, because laws well intentioned but poorly drawn are declared void, are 270120 |