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ALABAMA LEGISLATURE
RECESS CODE COMMITTEE
ROBERT W.WODDRUFF
LIBRARY
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
ALABAMA.
Regular Session, 1923.
LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENT NO. 11
REPORT OF
LEGISLATIVE RECESS
CODE COMMITTEE
JULY 13, 1923
1,000 copies ordered printed by House
500 copies ordered printed by Senate
BROWN PRINTING COMPANY
State Printers and Binders
Montgomery, Ala.
1923
REPORT OF CODE COMMITTEE
To the House of Representatives of the State of Alabama t
Mr. Speaker:
The Joint Committee of the Legislature of Alabama, ap-
pointed by the House and Senate thereof in pursuance of
an Act of this Legislature approved January 31, 1923, to
read the manuscript of the new Code prepared by Judge
James J. Mayfield, respectfully reports as follows:
That soon after your Committee was appointed it or-
ganized by electing Hon. Hugh D. Merrill, Chairman; Hon.
Henry R. Howze, Chairman pro tempore; Mr. Oakley W.
Melton, law clerk, and Mrs. R. P. Coleman, stenographer.
Your Committee reports that it has read every section
of the manuscript and compared it with the corresponding
section of the Code of 1907, or of the Act of the Legisla-
ture which the section codified, and has "revised, amende'd
and corrected it so as to make it a harmonious body of law
as nearly perfect as possible," as required by the Act of
the Legislature which provided for the created and ap-
pointment of this Committee. Your Committee has incor-
porated into the manuscript Code all general acts passed
by the Legislature at this present session, as required by
the Act creating the Committee.
To the end that this might be done in the best manner
possible, the Committee instructed the Code Commissioner
to codify these general Acts, which he did and changed the
manuscript necessitated to be changed by these recent Acts,
and reported them back to the Committee, which has con-
sidered them in codified form, still further revising arid
amending the work of the Commissioner, and as revised
and amended, the Committee has placed them in their re-
spective and proper places in the manuscript.
The Committee has struck and omitted certain parts,
chapters, articles, and sections of the manuscript prepared
by the Comfnissioner whenever in the judgment of the
Commissioner such matter should have been omitted from
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the Code in accordance with the Act providing for the co-
dification of the laws and for the appointment of the Com-
missioner.
The Committee has also added to the manuscript some
sections of the former Code which were omitted by the
Commissioner from the manuscript wherever the Commit-
tee deemed it proper to retain such matter in the present
Code.
The Commissioner and the Committee have omitted from
the Code most of the Acts and statutes which by reason of
their titles, bodies, nature and character, could apply to but
one county, one municipality, or one other political subdi-
vision of the State, though such statutes might, strictly
speaking, be classed as general laws. To incorporate all
these statutes in the Code would make it difficult, if not
impossible, to ascertain or determine what was the gen-
eral law of the State as to many subjects. Where the Acts
thus apply to only one political subdivision of the State, it
will be as convenient, or more so, to use the Act itself than
to use the codification of it in the Code, and thus prevent
confusion and uncertainty as to what territorial division
of the State such laws apply.
All of the Acts, however, which could not be considered
of a general nature and which, therefore, could not be in-
corporated in the Code, (the act of the Legislature au-
thorizing the codification only of general laws), have been
by section 10 of the Code and by various other provisions
in the Code, as well as the Acts of the Legislature provid-
ing for the codification of the laws, which we have prepared
for the adoption of this Code and for the printing, publi-
cation, binding and distribution of the Code, saved from
repeal by the adoption of the Code, and therefore, will re-
main in force and be given effect as if incorporated in the
Code.
The Committee has not introduced into the Code any new
matter which could be considered as wholly new laws or
revolutionary; but it has confined its labors to the task out-
lined to it by the Act which created the Committee. In
doing this, however, the Committee has done its best to rec-
oncile all apparent conflicts, and to make definite and cer-
5
tain all ambiguous statutes, by striking out all parts of
statutes and parts of the manuscript which were mere rep-
etftions of other provisions and other parts of the Code.
The Committee has found it impossible to report sep-
arately or seriatim the various changes or corrections in
detail which it has made of the manuscript. This for the
reason that most of the changes are verbal, and in order
to show these changes in detail the original statute or man-
uscript would have to be set out at length and then again
the manuscript as revised set out at length, and be com-
pared in order to show in detail the various changes so
made by the Committee. This of course would require
more time than either the Committee or Legislature has
at its disposal; and from an examination of the reports of
the various preceding committees which have reported the
previous Codes of this State for adoption, we have found
that these Committees, like this one, found it impracti-
cable, if not impossible, to note each and all of the changes
in detail.
In every instance in which the Committee was satisfied
that a statute or a part of the manuscript was in conflict
with the provisions of the Constitution, or whenever a
statute passed before the present Constitution has been
of necessity revised or changed by the new Constitution,
the Committee has endeavored to make the statute con-
form to the Constitution.
The Commissioner has been present with us during parts
of our deliberations, and has attended when requested by
the Committee so to do. The Commissioner has also fur-
nished us with a printed copy of his report to the Gover-
nor and the Legislature, consisting of 185 pages, which
report was found to be as full as could be made, and a fair
outline of his work.
The Commissioner had inserted a number of new sec-
tions, consisting principally of definitions, and codifications
of some of the principles of the common law of this State,
some few of which the Committee approved; but wher-
ever the Committee was doubtful of the propriety or cor-
rectness of the new sections, they were stricken out by
the Committee.
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The Committee desires to take this occasion to commend
the able, careful and painstaking work of Judge James J.
Mayfield in the preparation of the manuscript for the Code.
The Committee was also especially fortunate in having for
its law clerk Oakley W. Melton, a member of the House
of Representatives, whose accurate and indefatigable la-
bors were of inestimable value to the Committee. The la-
bors of the Committee have been greatly facilitated, and
the Committee aided greatly by Mrs. R. P. Coleman, the
stenographer, who assisted the Code Commissioner, not
only in the preparation of the manuscript of this Code, but
also of the Code of 1907. Her familiarity with the various
statutes of this State during its entire history, as well as
the changes wrought by codification, is nothing short of
remarkable and wonderful. This remarkable storehouse
of information on the subject with which the Committee
was dealing, together with her untiring industry and fidel-
ity to the work, has been of inestimable value to the Com-
mittee during its entire labors.
We have prepared and herewith submit a bill for the
adoption of this Code and one for its publication, together
with the Acts which this Legislature may pass as a part
thereof, or to be incorporated therein, and recommend
their speedy passage, so that advertisement may be made
immediately for bids to publish the Code.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) HUGH D. MERRILL,
HENRY R. HOWZE,
R. T. GOODWYN,
f. e. st. john,
PAUL O. LUCK,
JACOB A. WALKER,
YOUNG WALL,
FRANK B. EMBRY,
B. deG. WADDELL,
W. C. TUNSTALL,
chas. s. Mcdowell, jr.
EMMETT F. HILDRETH,
ALBERT A. CARMICHAEL,
WM. R. ROUNTREE, JR.