David Dudley Field and the History of the Field Codes.

My legal research indicates that the 1872 California Codes: The Political Code, Penal Code, Civil Code, and Code of Civil Procedure, are all derived directly from David Dudley Field's New York State Codes. I wanted to know more about why and how that came to be.

I believe David D. Field deliberately incorporated major amounts of then-existent French/Spanish/Roman 'Code Civil' (or 'Code Napoleon') into his "Codes" and, almost single-handedly, changed the entire nature of New York's and California's [at minimum] legal systems from one based upon English Common Law into one based upon some kind of quasi-Civil European statutory scheme.

David D. Field's brother, Stephen J. Field, was a California Supreme Court Justice during this period and later become a Justice of The United States Supreme Court.

I would really hate to believe that what I think of as California law is actually only the result of some major sleight-of-hand by the Field brothers.

You may wish to read my articles: History of the California Codes or California Codes are not General Law.

Excerpted from the NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL of January 20, 2000. I supplemented the article with boldface emphasis, hotlinks, and notes in brackets [ ].

THE COURT THROUGH THE DECADES
1847-1997
THE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS

...
The 1846 [New York State] Constitution, article VI, section 24, required the Legislature, in the first Session following the adoption of the Constitution, to provide for the appointment of a Commission on Practice and Pleadings. The three Commissioners appointed were Arphaxed Loomis, David Graham, and David Dudley Field. As described by the Commissioners in their preface to the First Report of the Commission, presented to the Legislature on February 29, 1848:
In the act which thereupon passed, creating the commission, the duties of the Commissioners are more explicitly defined; the eighth section declaring that they shall "provide for the abolition of the present forms of actions and pleadings in cases at common law; for a uniform course of proceeding in all cases, whether of legal or equitable cognizance, and for the abandonment of all Latin and other foreign tongues, so far as the same shall by them be deemed practicable, and any form or proceeding not necessary to ascertain or preserve the rights of the parties."
To say that the reforms thus enjoined upon them were such as their own judgment approved, is but to repeat what is already known to the Legislature. In accordance with their own convictions, and in the spirit of the law, they have prepared the portion of the system which is now submitted. Though compressed within a narrow compass, it reaches far, and sweeps away the needless distinctions, the scholastic subtleties, and the dead forms which have disfigured and encumbered our jurisprudence. If the performance be equal to the intention, they will have relieved justice from many of her shackles, and opened the way for a thorough reform of remedial law in all its departments.

The Commission prepared the instrument known as the New York Code of Procedure, or the "Field Code," which was adopted in 1848. This pivotal document has influenced not only modern practice and procedure in New York but also that of many other states, and of England and the British Commonwealth. In 1849, Missouri adopted the Code, as did California in 1850. Subsequently, Washington, Nebraska, Kansas, Nevada, Dakota Territory, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma and New Mexico adopted codes based on the Field Code/California Code.
In his essay entitled David Dudley Field: A Lawyer's Life, Philip J. Bergan observed:

Finally, coming full circle, the Field Code was to influence the English Judicature Act of 1873 and, through the English reforms, the whole English speaking world, including some of the older States of the eastern United States.
...
The [New York State] Court of Appeals held its first session in the Richardson-designed Courtroom on January 14, 1884. William C. Ruger was the Chief Judge at this time, and the Associate Judges were Charles Andrews, Charles A. Rapallo, Theodore Miller, Robert Earl, George F. Danforth and Francis M. Finch.

David Dudley Field had the honor of being the first lawyer to address the Court in its new Courtroom. On behalf of the New York State Bar Association, he presented resolutions urging that the Judges wear official gowns. Chief Judge Ruger, in reply, thanked the Bar for the interest taken in the matter, and said the Court would take it under advisement. On February 25, 1884, the Court appeared on the Bench wearing gowns for the first time. (information in square brackets added; emphasis added in boldface)

Who was David Dudley Field ?

What is The Code Napoleon ?

References on comparative Law systems.

Here is what a California law professor wrote about the history of The Code of Civil Procedure:

History of Louisiana's Civil Code:

Civil Law Process.

END

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