ration; and, however absurd in principle,
or inconsistent in practice many of them have become, they still are,
if not especially repealed, considered as making a part of the general
mass. By this means the body of what is called Law, is spread over a
space of _several hundred years_, comprehending laws obsolete, laws
repugnant, laws ridiculous, and every other kind of laws forgotten
or remembered; and what renders the case still worse, is, that the
confusion multiplies with the progress of time. (*)

To bring this misshapen monster into form, and to prevent its lapsing
again into a wilderness state, only two things, and those very simple,
are necessary.

The first is, to review the whole mass of laws, and to bring forward
such only as are worth retaining, and let all the rest drop; and to give
to the laws so brought forward a new era, commencing from the time of
such reform.

* In the time of Henry IV. a law was passed making it felony
"to multiply gold or silver, or to make use of the craft of
multiplication," and this law remained two hundred and
eighty-six years upon the statute books. It was then
repealed as being ridiculous and injurious.--_Author_.

Secondly; that at the expiration of every twenty-one years (or any other
stated period) a like review shall again be taken, and the laws, found
proper to be retained, be again carried forward, commencing with that
date, and the useless laws dropped and discontinued.

By this means there can be no obsolete laws, and scarcely such a thing
as laws standing in direct or equivocal contradiction to each other, and
every person will know the period of time to which he is to look back
for all the laws in being.

It is worth remarking, that while every other branch of science is
brought within some commodious system, and the study of it simplified by
easy methods, the laws take the contrary course, and become every year
more complicated, entangled, confused, and obscure.

Among the paragraphs which the Attorney General has taken from the
_Rights of Man_, and put into his information, one is, that where I
have said, "that with respect to regular law, there is _scarcely such a
thing_."

As I do not know whether the Attorney-General means to show this
expression to be libellous, because it is TRUE, or because it is FALSE,
I shall make no other reply to him in this place, than by remarking,
that if almanack-makers had not been more judicious than