620             JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 26,

By the Senate,

February 25th, 1858.
Gentlemen of the House of Delegates:

We propose, with the concurrence of your honorable body,
to refer the work reported by Messrs Scott and McCullough,
commissioners appointed under the 17th section of article 3d
of the Constitution, to revise and codify the laws of this State;
to a joint committee of the two Houses, with the power to
sit during the recess, and report to the next session of the
General Assembly.

We have appointed on the part of the Senate Messrs. Mc-
Cullough, Brook, Wallace, Smith, Daniel and Webster,

By order,

C. Harwood,

Secretary.
Which was read and assented to.

Mr. Alexander made the following

REPORT.
To the Honorable,

The General Assembly of the State of Maryland.

The joint committee, appointed to consider the report of the
Commissioners to revise and codify the laws, after investiga-
tion, concur in the suggestion contained in the report of the
Commissioners that it is not possible to examine the code dur-
ing the session of the Legislature.

The laws, when revised, will probably fill two large vol-
umes; these could not be properly examined in a two months
session if the whole time were devoted to it. But, besides the
want of time to examine during the session, there is another
reason which makes an examination during the recess indis-
pensable. The Commissioners ought to conclude in this work
the acts of this session, which cannot be done until the session
closes; and if they include the acts of this session, and report
to the next, unless the code was adopted before any act was
passed, it could not be "adopted at that session, because it
would not contain all the acts up to the time of its adoption,
as the Constitution requires. It must be clear to any one
that during a session so limited that the ordinary legislation
cannot be done, no considerable portion of time could be given
to the examination of the code.

We, therefore, respectfully recommend that a joint com-
mittee be appointed to examine the code in the recess. In
the opinion of the committee it would not be necessary to