active and efficient. It became, therefore, at once essential that, even without a change in the body of the laws, a mode of procedure fitted to the circumstances should be established without delay. The Legislature wisely resolved to commit this duty to the judgment and knowledge of jurists in whom the people might safely repose unlimited confidence. Mr. Livingston was selected to perform it, and with him was united a personal and professional friend of learning and ability, (also while he lived a member of our Society,) Mr. James Brown, afterwards a Senator in Congress from Louisiana, and Minister Plenipotentiary to France. While they discarded the fictions and technicalities of the English law, they avoided the prolixity so usual in the Spanish, and not infrequent in the French code. Their system is simple and intelligible; as well as calculated to prevent unnecessary expense and delay. It was adopted by the legislative council; it was introduced with the general approbation of the community; and for a series of years it has stood, with slight alteration, the test of trial and experience.

A more important task remained-the complete revision of the body of civil and criminal law, and its reduction into systematic codes. This was naturally and properly postponed until, by their admission into the Union as a sovereign state, the people could themselves act upon a measure so important to their feelings and welfare. After this event, with a just estimate for the wisdom and ability of Mr. Livingston, he was selected for the task by the Legislature; and no difference of opinion upon the political topics of the day withdrew their confidence from one who had identified his fame with the jurisprudence of Louisiana, as he had devoted his talents to her service. In the preparation of the civil code, Mr. Derbigny and Mr. Moreau were united with Mr. Livingston. The task proved to be one of

great labour; the existing laws which were familiar to the people, and therefore not without necessity to be abolished, consisted of provisions at once complicated and discordant; fragments of the Spanish ordinances frequently remained; the French law previous to the revolution had not been altogether superseded by the code of Napoleon; and, with American judges and the influx of American citizens, many of the provisions of the English common law had obtained a place. The arduous exertions of three years were required to reduce this mass into an intelligible system; in all its parts it received the coöperation of Mr. Livingston, and some of them, especially the title of "obligations," were exclusively his own; it met with a reception from the Legislature and people of the State far more favourable than could have been anticipated for such a measure; and, with the exception of the commercial code, to some provisions of which objection was made, it was promptly adopted and still continues, with few changes in its general principles, to be the permanent law of the State.

By an act of the Legislature, the preparation of a system of criminal jurisprudence was confided to Mr. Livingston alone. He deeply felt the responsibility he assumed in undertaking such a trust; he knew that he would have to encounter strong prejudices, to oppose long settled opinions, to exercise vigilance of forecast and distinctness of enactment as to the objects for which the state of society, present and future, required him to provide. Two years after his appointment he presented to the Legislature a preliminary report, exhibiting the progress he had made, explaining the plan on which he proposed to execute the work, and giving some detached parts as specimens of it. These were unanimously approved, and he was requested by a vote to complete his labours. He accordingly proceeded with them.

His best faculties, to use his own language, were faithfully and laboriously employed under the direction of a religious desire to perform the duty entrusted to him, in a manner that might realize, in some degree, the views of his fellow citizens, for whose benefit it was designed. By assiduous exertion he completed the entire work in two years more; but it was scarcely finished, when all his labours were destroyed by an accident that, fortunately in its final result, only produced a remarkable instance of his temper and perseverance. Having received authority from the Legislature to submit it to them, when completed, for greater convenience, in a printed form, he had caused a fair copy of the whole work to be written for the use of the printer. The evening before it was to be delivered to him, he occupied himself till a late hour in comparing this copy with the original draught. He left them together when he went to bed, consoling himself with the pleasing thought that he had thus completed the labours of four years. Not long afterwards he was awakened by the cry of fire; he hastened to the room where his papers had been left, but not a vestige of either copy remained. They were totally consumed. Though stunned at first by the event, his industry and equanimity soon came to his aid; before the next day closed he had recommenced his task; the Legislature, at their following session, extended the period for its performance; and in two years more he presented to them his complete "System of Penal Law," in the shape in which we now see it. Prefixed to the system was a series of reports reviewing, in a masterly manner, the whole science of penal jurisprudence; pointing out the objects to be sought for, the errors to be combatted, and the modes in which these could be done with most benefit to the criminal himself, and to the society whose laws he had violated. The system has not, it is believed, been yet finally acted

upon, in its extended form, by the Legislature of Louisiana, but it does not, on this account, claim less justly the admiration of the philanthropist and jurist. It is a work worthy of the deep consideration of all communities. The beauty of its arrangement, the wisdom of its provisions, and the simplicity of its forms, have never been surpassed, probably never equalled in any similar work; and it is not without entire justice, that this admirable production has contributed, perhaps more than any other of his labours, to secure to Mr. Livingston that eminent place which he holds among those who are regarded, not merely as distinguished jurists, but as public benefac

tors.

It was by these acts, during an uninterrupted residence of many years, that Mr. Livingston identified himself with the State of which he became a citizen. His name will ever be cherished with grateful affection and respect in Louisiana. Nor was it by these acts alone. His eminent standing in his profession and in society, the active interest which he took in all the institutions of the State, and his services in the Legislature, of which he was occasionally a member, all united to make him not only an influential citizen, but one who was able in innumerable ways to contribute largely to the benefit of the community. His patient industry, his amenity of temper, the generosity of his disposition, made this at once easy and agreeable; and when, in the circumstances of the times, acts of more serious devotion to public duty were required, he was found amongst the foremost, ready and zealous to discharge them. The invasion of the British, at the close of the war, roused the patriotic spirit as it required the prompt devotion of the inhabitants. With but few regular troops, and almost entirely unprepared for such a conflict, they were obliged hastily to form themselves into an army to repel the in

vaders. Mr. Livingston was among the foremost to do so. Instantly leaving his professional duties and all private occupations, he presented himself to General Jackson as soon as he arrived to take the command in Louisiana, and offered to place himself in any position where the general might regard his services as useful. He was selected as his aid-de-camp. He was by his side constantly throughout the period of hostilities, enjoyed his confidence in a marked degree, and at the close of the war received from him many evidences of that regard which was subsequently, and in another station, yet more signally evinced.

After an uninterrupted residence in Louisiana for twenty years, in which he had withdrawn from political pursuits, and devoted himself to his profession, and those congenial studies and labours that have been adverted to, Mr. Livingston determined to retire from the bar, and to revisit in New York the scenes of his earlier life and the connexions from whom he had been so long separated. This determination was the signal for a new mark of confidence from his adopted State. He was elected as a representative in Congress from Louisiana, an event which was followed in a few years by his choice as a senator. After his election, an enthusiastic address was presented to him by the City Council of New Orleans, in which they reviewed his various public services from the moment of his arrival in Louisiana, spoke of them in warm terms of approbation and gratitude, and expressed their confidence that his continuance in the National Councils would be a sure guaranty of further exertions for their welfare and prosperity.

Mr. Livingston continued in Congress from 1823 to 1831. His advanced age prevented the same energetic participation in the public business which had there formerly distinguished him, but he, never