It fell to his lot,
after our acquisition of Louisiana, to adjust the old municipal laws
derived from France and Spain, to the new condition of the connection
with America. 'The code which he prepared at the instance of the State
of Louisiana,' says Mr. Bancroft, 'is in its simplicity, completeness,
and humanity at once an impersonation of the man and an exposition of
the American Constitution. If it has never been adopted as a whole, it
has proved an unfailing fountain of reforms, suggested by its
principles.' Mr. Livingston will live historically with such men as
Bacon, Montesquieu, Beccaria, and Bentham. His great work in its final
form was styled 'A System of Penal Law,' and was divided into 'A Code of
Crimes and Punishments,' 'A Code of Procedure,' 'A Code of Evidence,'
and 'A Code of Reform and Prison Discipline,' besides 'A Book of
Definitions.' This work is marked by great unity of design, by the
shunning of legal ambiguity, by the preventing rather than avenging
crime, and by bringing 'mercy to season justice.'
Space fails to follow Mr. Livingston through his congressional career,
his social and domestic life, his many and pleasant relations with
General Jackson, George M. Dallas, and most of the leading men of his
own times. We close this short notice with a quotation from Charles J.
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