David Dudley Field II - Dedication To Codification

Dedication To Codification

For more than 40 years, every moment that Field could spare from his extensive practice was devoted to his codification project. He began by systematic publication of pamphlets and articles in journals and magazines outlining his proposed reforms. However, for some years he met with a discouraging lack of interest. He testified about codification before successive legislative committees. In 1846, Field published a pamphlet, "The Reorganization of the Judiciary", which influenced the New York State Constitutional Convention of that year to report in favor of a codification of the laws. In 1847 he finally had a chance to put his ideas into official form when he was appointed head of a state commission to revise court procedure and practice. The first part of the commission's work, a portion of the code of civil procedure, was reported and enacted by the legislature in 1848. By January 1, 1850, the New York state legislature had enacted the complete Code of Civil Procedure, subsequently known as the Field Code since it was almost entirely Field's work.

The new system abolished the distinction in forms of procedure between an action at law (a civil case demanding monetary damages) and a suit in equity (a civil case demanding non-monetary damages). Rather than having to file separate actions, a plaintiff thenceforth needed to file only one kind of action, a civil action. Eventually Field's civil procedure code was, with some changes, adopted in 24 states. New York's new state criminal code was adopted in 18. Both influenced reform in England and several of her colonies.

In 1857, Field became chair of another state commission, this time for the systematic codification of all of New York state law except for those portions already reported upon by the Commissioner of Practice and Pleadings. In this work he personally prepared almost the whole of the political and civil codes. The codification, which was completed in February 1865, was adopted only in small part by the state of New York, but it served as a model upon which many statutory codes throughout the United States were constructed. For example, although Field's civil code was mostly rejected by his home state of New York, it was later adopted in large part by California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In 1866 Field proposed to the British National Association for the Promotion of Social Science a revision and codification of the laws of all nations.

For an international commission of lawyers he prepared Draft Gistlines of an International Code (1872), the submission of which resulted in the organization of the international Association for the Reform and Codification of the Laws of Nations, of which he became president.