OF THE Commissioners for the Revision and RECOMMENDATIONS RESPECTING THE POLITICAL CODE. ALSO An Index to the Laws from 1895 to 1901, inclusive, and a кабо Ан 1902 v.l Clocuments Dipt. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE REVISION AND REFORM OF THE LAW. IN GENERAL. The Commissioners for the Revision and Reform of the Law present this report of their acts and proceedings under the statute providing for their appointment and prescribing their duties, and also under Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 23, adopted March 16, 1901, directing them to examine, designate, and report to the next session of the Legislature a complete index of the laws from 1893 to and including the last session, and also to designate and report separately the laws repealed or invalidated from any reason, and so as to indicate, as correctly as possible, those remaining in force. The validity of the amendments to the codes adopted in 1901, pursuant to the recommendation of this Commission, was, soon after their adoption, assailed in the supreme court of the State in the case of Lewis v. Dunne, reported in 134 Cal. 291, with the result that that court reached and announced the conclusion that those amendments were not constitutionally enacted, on the grounds (1) that each of the codes constituted more than one subject, and that neither could now be validly enacted because of the provisions of our constitution requiring each act to embrace but one subject, which must be expressed in its title, and that neither can be amended in a single act if the amendments involve two or more of these subjects; and (2) that no complete revision of either code can be made without publishing at length the sections not affected by the revision, as well as those revised or amended. It would be fruitless and unbecoming, on our part, to here discuss the correctness of that decision or its accord, or want of accord, with the views heretofore expressed by the courts of this and other States on the same subject. Accepting it, as we must, without question, it remains for us to consider what may be done, notwithstanding, toward the perfecting of our codes. It would be idle, under this decision, to propose a complete code, as recommended by our predecessors, or a complete revision of any code setting out the parts left unchanged as well as the changes made by amendment, addition, or repeal, because, to do so, would present an act which, in the opinion of the judges, excepting the chief justice, must necessarily involve more than one subject; nor, for precisely the same 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 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 |