reason, can the desired changes be embraced in a single bill omitting the parts of the code not affected. The power to amend the codes has not, however, been denied by the court, nor, so far as we know, questioned by any one, but amendments must, as we understand it, be effected by separate and independent bills, each dealing with some one of the many topics which in the aggregate constitute the entire code. Proceeding in this manner will doubtless prove tedious and may so consume the time of the Legislature in indispensable roll calls that it will be unable at any single session to act upon all the amendments presented for its consideration, or it may determine to restrict its consideration only to those of a more vital character.

We hereby renew our recommendations respecting the Code of Civil Procedure and the Civil and Penal Codes adopted by the Legislature of 1901, and we shall hereafter, and before the commencement of the next session, classify these amendments so as to group them into single and separate subjects, and draft bills in accordance with such classification, thus again presenting for legislative consideration matters which received the approval of the Legislature of 1901, and in a form which, we trust, will, in the light of the decision of the court already adverted to, escape successful assault on constitutional grounds.

INDEX TO LAWS, AND STATUTES IN FORCE.

In obedience to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 23, adopted March 16, 1901, we present herewith, as Part II of this report, an "Index to the Laws" from 1893 to and including the year 1901, accompanied by a table showing what sections of our codes have been added, amended, or repealed during the same period, and also a report designating the statutes which, according to our judgment, remain in force.

We have excluded from our list all statutes which can no longer be regarded as of any substantial effect. The most important of these are the acts which were directly or impliedly repealed by the codes. Of less importance, though doubtless greater in number, are the statutes which, though neither expressly nor impliedly repealed, have accomplished their purpose and can have no further effect than to justify acts long since done by their authority, such as appropriation bills, grants of franchises, or other rights for a limited period, or directions or authorizations to perform acts which have doubtless already been complied with, or to contract obligations which have been satisfied, and statutes creating and providing for the government of municipal corporations and which have become inoperative by the reincorporation of the same municipalities under subsequent statutes, either special or general. The final result is, that the list of statutes enacted prior to our codes which are still in force is exceedingly brief; for among the number

expressly left in force by them many were of a temporary nature, and perhaps a majority of the remainder have since been repealed.

At the session at which the codes were enacted many other statutes were passed either in ignorance of the code provisions or before it was known that they would become the law. All these statutes, whether approved before or after the codes, take precedence over them by Section 3891 of the Political Code. In many instances this result was not intended, for by far the greater number were amendments of statutes which were clearly repealed by the codes, and others were intended to direct public officers in the performance of duties adequately provided for in the codes. All such should be repealed. Among them are the following statutes of 1871-2:

Chap. VIII, p. 10, supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide for the incorporation of colleges."

Chap. XVI, p. 21, to amend an act entitled "An act concerning the courts of justice of this State and judicial officers."

Chap. XXVIII, p. 33, supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide for the appointment of notaries public, and defining their duties."

Chap. LV, p. 52, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate the settlement of the estates of deceased persons."

Chap. LXI, p. 58, "An act in relation to the office of the county clerk of the city and county of San Francisco."

Chap. LXIX, p. 63, to amend an act entitled "An act concerning jurors in the city and county of San Francisco."

Chap. LXXXIII, p. 82, "An act to regulate proceedings in criminal cases."

Chap. LXXXVII, p. 85, amendatory of an act entitled "An act to regulate the settlement of the estates of deceased persons."

Chap. XCVIII, p. 94, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate the settlement of the estates of deceased persons."

Chap. XCIX, p. 94, to regulate proceedings in civil cases in the justices' court of the city and county of San Francisco.

Chap. CVIII, p. 102, to amend an act entitled "An act to define the duties and liabilities of pawnbrokers and pledgees."

Chap. CXVII, p. 118, prescribing certain duties to be performed by the state controller, state treasurer, and state board of examiners.

Chap. CXVIII, p. 121, to furnish arms for the use of military academies in the State." See Pol. C., §§ 2117g, 2117i.

Chap. CXXVII, p. 132, to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the formation of corporations for the accumulation and investment of funds and savings."

Chap. CXXXIII, p. 140, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate

fees of office and salaries of certain officers, and to repeal certain other acts in relation thereto."

Chap. CLXX, p. 189, to amend an act entitled "An act relating to proceedings in civil cases in courts of justice of this State."

Chap. CLXXI, p. 190, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in civil cases in courts of justice of this State."

Chap. CLXXII, p. 190, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in civil cases in courts of justice of this State."

Chap. CLXXV, p. 205, to amend an act entitled "An act to protect the wages of labor."

Chap. CLXXXII, p. 217, amendatory of and supplementary to an act entitled "An act fixing the number of officers and employés of the senate and assembly, to define their duties and to establish their pay."

Chap. CLXXXIV, p. 219, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate fees of office and salaries of certain officers, and to repeal certain other acts in relation thereto."

Chap. CLXXXVII, p. 230, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in civil cases in the courts of justice of this State."

Chap. CCXLII, p. 318, to amend an act entitled "An act concerning forcible entries and unlawful detainers, and to repeal all other acts on the same subject."

Chap. CCXLIII, p. 319, to amend an act entitled "An act relating to criminal prosecutions."

Chap. CCXLIX, p. 319, "An act respecting the limitation of actions." Chap. CCLXII, p. 362, to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for a system of common schools."

Chap. CCLXXIX, p. 383, to amend an act "to provide for the management and sale of lands belonging to the State."

Chap. CCLXXXVIII, p. 391, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in criminal cases."

Chap. CCLXXXIX, p. 391, “An act to regulate practice in the supreme court."

Chap. CCXCVII, p. 401, supplementary to an act entitled "An act defining the time for commencing civil actions."

Chap. CCCXIX, p. 433, to amend an act entitled "An act for the protection of game."

Chap. CCCXXXIV, p. 443, supplemental to an act entitled "An act concerning corporations."

Chap. CCCLXIX, p. 526, to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the formation of corporations for certain purposes."

Chap. CCCLXXI, p. 528, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in criminal cases."

Chap. CCCCXLIX, p. 668, to amend an act "to provide for the management and sale of lands belonging to the State."

Chap. CCCCLVII, p. 685, to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the management and sale of lands belonging to the State."

Chap. DLXXIX, p. 858, “An act to provide for the management and sale of lands belonging to the State."

Chap. DLXXXVI, p. 864, to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate proceedings in civil cases in the courts of justice of this State."

We are fully conscious of our liability to error in undertaking to designate the statutes in force, and that neither we nor the legislature can speak with authority upon this question; but we have, nevertheless, thought it our duty to obey, as best we could, the command of the senate concurrent resolution already referred to. In reaching our conclusions respecting the implied repeal of statutes, we have sought to apply the rules stated in Dillon v. Bicknell, 116 Cal. 111, and other cases, that "Whenever it clearly appears that the intention of the legislature by the later act is to revise the entire subject-matter of the former, the subsequent act operates as a repeal of the former, although it contains no precise words to that effect," and that " Even if a subsequent statute be not repugnant in all its provisions to a prior one, yet if the later statute was clearly intended to prescribe the only rule which should govern in the case provided for, it repeals the original act.”

THE POLITICAL CODE.

The course of classification which we have suggested for the amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, the Civil Code, and the Penal Code we shall pursue respecting the amendments to the Political Code hereinafter suggested. Probably none of the other codes is so much in need of amendment and excision as this. It was enacted prior to the adoption of the constitution of 1879, and little or no effort has ever been made to harmonize it with that constitution, either by changing the form or substance of sections or by omitting those which had become inoperative. Considerable parts of this code have also been found in conflict with the constitution of the United States, and hence should unquestionably be repealed. Again, many statutes have been enacted since the adoption of the code upon subjects already provided for therein, and the apparent conflict thus created in the statutory law should be removed either by repealing code sections upon the same topic or by codifying the subsequent statutes, and thus making them a part of the code. To a somewhat less extent material conflict exists between sections of this code and the charters adopted in recent years by the greater municipal corporations of the State. This is well illustrated by the decision in People v. Williamson, 135 Cal. 415, establishing practically the existence of two boards of health claiming to exercise authority over the same matters within the city and county of San Francisco, the one

under its charter and the other by virtue of the provisions of the Political Code.

The very great subjects of county and municipal government were provided for in this code, but subsequently were in effect taken out of it by independent statutes completely covering the same topics and presumably impliedly repealing the code provisions, but no express repeal has ever been made. It is clear that the apparent conflict should be removed, either by repealing the code provisions on both these subjects, or by codifying the subsequent statutes and making them a part of the code. While in our judgment the latter course is preferable, repeated enactments have established beyond controversy the preference of the legislative department for treating them in separate statutes forming no part of the code, and for this reason and because these statutes have been and must continue to be subject to amendment at every session, we have concluded to recommend the repeal of the code sections, thus leaving the independent enactments to constitute the whole of the statutory law upon these subjects.

The Political Code was designed to state the statutory law respecting public officers and public institutions, and we believe that this purpose was a wise one, and that the departures which have been made from it should be corrected by codifying the statutory enactments respecting those officers and institutions, and thus making them a part of this code. We have therefore codified more than one hundred different statutes relating to these subjects, which we recommend to be enacted as parts of this code. This codification has involved much labor and gives this report an appearance of great, perhaps of unnecessary, length, but it could not be shortened except by the failure to perform what we conceive to be our unquestionable duty.

Comparatively few of the recommendations made in this report will be found, on examination, to involve substantial changes in the law, either by eliminating existing provisions or adding others of a new or untried character, except when such elimination is believed to be necessary to remove superfluous or misleading sections or sections manifestly inconsistent with subsequent statutes or with the constitution of the State or of the United States. The chief purposes sought to be accomplished by our recommendations may be classified as follows:

1. The omission of superfluous and misleading sections, in which are included: (a) those which state no rules of law, consisting, for the most part, of mere imperfect indexing of this or other codes, or undertaking to restate constitutional provisions, and (b) those which have been impliedly repealed by other statutes or are void because in conflict with constitutional restrictions, state or national;

2. Harmonizing sections with other sections of the same or other