An eiijlith conckisinn is tliat anv code sh(uild ho dratted to take account ot local and national preterences. In no sense should the code he a skeleton hut, especialh’ tor acts in the law, it shoidd he so dratted as to he tlexihle. d'hus, it should prov ide tor more than one regime of matrimonial property, with an alternative ot dowry; though the rules of intestate succession should he fixed, various methods of prov ing the validitv ot a will should he allowed; also for proof of a contract. Individual states shotdd have the power to make suhordinate legislation. In addition, the princijvle of'l.aw Keeps Out' shoidd he recognized. Different states at different times feel that some matters should he regulated hv law, and others left unregulated.^'’ A particularlv striking example can he drawn trom'Stonehenge,'^ Wauualof British Ruw/.S/wrAf (London, i(Ss’6) on the laws ot tox hunting: 4' 'I'lic.sc laws are vx'rv ditficulr to yet at, hccause thev are not recorded in anv written code of rule.s, hut are retained in the traditional records helonyiny to the families ot the various masters ot foxhounds. (Certain countries have lony l)een held hv certain families, trom father to son, and anv attempt t(^ encroach upon them would he resisted hv all parties concerned, with as much force as if the title-deeds to their estates were themselves endangered. Long disjnites and violent controversies ha\e estranged the masters ot neighhoring packs tromeach other; hut, ne\ ertheless, no step has heen taken to avoid a recurrence of these unpleasant tracas, hv the framing ot written rides, to which an appeal coidd he made. Objections are doubtless easilv produced at the onset to anv such course; tor it woidd he rather a dangerous proceeding, perhaps, to admit o)i ptipfrx\rM\ has a right to draw B's ciwerts whenei er it suits him. It mav he all verv well to .og/c/ it as a habit or custom between gentlemen, hut to admit it as the prehminarv section ot an estahlished law would do awav with the lihertv ot the subject. .\t present .V has the right (recognized among gentlemen) of drawing R's coverts during the rime not objected to hv him; hut more than that would he conceded, it B admitted the torce of a law hv which he would allow to .\ the right ot ente45 Cf. the French code civil arts. 46 See, e.g. Alan Watson, The Nature of Law, (Edinburgh, 1977), pp. 96ff. 47 )ohn Henry Walsh. 177
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