THE COMPILED STATUTES OF THE State of Vermont, BEING SUCH OF THE REVISED STATUTES, AND OF THE AS ARE NOW IN FORCE: TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF THE STATE OF VERMONT. COMPILED, IN PURSUANCE OF AN ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE, US 1 2018.1.35- HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS, NO. 37, CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON, MASS. COMPILER'S REPORT. TO HIS EXCELLENCY CHARLES K. WILLIAMS, Governor of THE STATE OF VERMONT : I herewith transmit the Compilation of the Public Acts and Laws of the State of Vermont, including the Revised Statutes and those passed since, which I have prepared in pursuance of an act of the legislature, entitled "an act to provide for compiling the laws of this state," approved November 13, 1850. I have followed, as nearly as practicable, the arrangement adopted in the Revised Statutes, believing that to have been intended by the legislature, and thinking that such an arrangement would be more convenient and intelligible. I have however, in many instances, disregarded the previous arrangement of the sections in particular chapters, and adopted one essentially different; this, in some cases, having been rendered necessary by the numerous additions and amendments which have been made, and in others because I believed that thereby the subject would be presented in a more natural and readily intelligible order. The act under which the compilation has been prepared requires the omission of all acts or parts of acts repealed; but, in a few instances, I found that such omissions could not be made without, at the same time, suppressing some provision which is still in force, or which was necessary to be retained for the purpose of fully understanding some other provision which has reference to it. When, to prevent such a suppression, any acts or parts of acts, which have been repealed or superseded, are retained, I have endeavored to prevent their misleading, by making references to the subsequent enactments by which they are affected. I have generally omitted those sections which declared at what time the act should take effect, or which provided for the repeal of former laws, and the preservation of rights accrued under them; believing that a recurrence to such provisions would be rare, except in cases where resort must necessarily be had to the original publication of the law, and that, on this account, no inconvenience would arise from their omission. To avoid the confusion which might otherwise arise from the alteration in the arrangement of sections, the omission of those which have been repealed or superseded, the addition of amendments and new enactments, and from the references which are made in them to other chapters and sections by their numbers, I have, whenever such references occur, made an additional one to the corresponding chapter and section in this compilation; and, that any error in such references may be at once detected, I have added, at the end of each section, a designation of the chapter and section of the Revised Statutes, or of the number and section of the subsequent act from which it is copied. All such references and designations, and all remarks of my own by way of explanation or otherwise, are italicised and included in parenthetical marks, thus (). The language of the legislature is intended to be preserved entire; and whenever, in consequence of the altered arrangement of the sections, subsequent enactments, or from other causes, words are used by them which have become superfluous, or have a tendency to mislead, they are embraced in brackets, thus [ ]. I have prefixed to the compilation of the statutes the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Vermont; and, in an appendix, I have given a list of the chapters of the Revised Statutes and of the laws passed since, designating therein such acts or parts of acts as have been repealed or superseded, with a statement of the number and year of the act by which they were so repealed, and referring to the chapters and sections of the compilation in which the laws still in force are to be found. Having thus explained the leading features of the work, I submit it with the hope, that, in the propriety of its arrangement, the fullness and accuracy of its references, which are the principal if not the only excellences to be aimed at in a compilation, and in the copiousness and correctness of its index, it will be found all that could reasonably be expected to have been accomplished during the limited time allowed by the legislature for its performance. I am, with due respect, Your obedient servant, Rutland, Aug. 27, 1851. CHARLES L. WILLIAMS. ANALYSIS SEVERAL TITLES AND CHAPTERS CONTAINED IN THE COMPILED STATUTES. |