Edward Livingston

A System of Penal Law for the State of Louisiana Edward Livingston Reprint edition

Livingston, Edward
A System of Penal Law, for the State of Louisiana: Consisting of A Code of Crimes and Punishments, A Code of Procedure, A Code of Evidence, A Code of Reform and Prison Discipline, A Book of Definitions. Prepared Under the Authority of a Law of the Said State. To Which are Prefixed a Preliminary Report on the Plan of a Penal Code, and Introductory Reports to the Several Codes Embraced in the System of Penal Law
Philadelphia: James Kay, Jun. & Brother, 1833. v, 745 pp. Reprinted 1999, 2010 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 9781616190736. Paperback. New. $29.95.

* A comprehensive system of criminal law which, while not adopted in the United States, is still influential today because it is the first complete penal code built on Jeremy Bentham's principles of codification. Hicks marvels at the scope of this code and notes that Bentham, Hugo, Lafayette, Story, Marshall, Madison, Kent and Jefferson were compelled by "the most comprehensive and enlightened system of criminal law that has ever been presented to the world." Smith. Columbia Law Review 2:32. Hicks 180. From a penal standpoint the code is important as well not only in terms of its completeness and order, but from its perspective of the advancement of crime prevention over punishment. Livingston [1764-1836] was a senator from Louisiana and later a member of Andrew Jackson's cabinet. Dictionary of American Biography VI: 309-12.