Much of California’s current laws can be traced to the 1872 original adoption of the California Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Political Code, and Penal Code. When we research of these first four Codes, we look prior to 1872 for early New York or Louisiana laws, our 1850’s California Practice Acts, Fields Drafts of New York laws, and even the Napoleonic Code for their genesis. The 1872 effort followed the appointment of a Code Commission in the late 1860’s by the State Legislature. Stephen J. Field was an important contributor and, importantly, was one of the brothers of David Dudley Field, who drafted the New York codes and promoted the establishment of federal procedural rules. In 1849, Stephen brought Dudley’s drafts to California as he followed the glint of the gold rush.
The Fields brothers came from a family whose ancestors were pilgrims and whose other siblings were quite successful: Dudley was a leader in the New York legislature; Stephen, a leader in California, became a California Supreme Court Justice and later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice; Henry edited a Presbyterian newspaper; Jonathan led the Massachusetts legislature and revised its state’s statutes; Matthew built the longest suspension bridge at that time; and Cyrus laid the first transatlantic cable. Their sister, Emelia, married a missionary who was the first to introduce European education into the Turkish empire, and her son also became a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Dudley Field was an extremely intelligent and intense individual, who seemed unable to endear himself to his professional peers but he persevered in his vision for reform of the judicial system and codification of all laws, both procedural and substantive. For all of this effort by Dudley, much of what he worked on was never adopted in New York. As observed in the 1895 ALBANY LAW JOURNAL, while Dudley served as chair of the New York Code Commission, he worked “substantially alone” and he was “only measurably successful” in New York. (ALB. L.J., Vol. LI, pp. 40 and 41) One of the reasons for his “measurable” success was discussed by Floyd Clarke, author of the 1898 “Science of Law and Lawmaking,” who explained that “For many years a discussion went on between two factions of New York lawyers. The point at issue concerned the proposed adoption by that State of a codification of Common Law known as the Field Civil Code. Year after year, the venerable author of that Code presented it to the Legislature for passage. Year and year, with equal untiring energy, the Champions of the Common Law system met him in public and private debate. The result has been that the Field Civil Code remains neither a text-book nor a Statute.” (p. 33) While not adopted in New York, Dudley’s Civil Code was adopted in the Dakotas, California, Idaho and Montana.
When Stephen Field brought his brother’s civil and criminal codes of procedure, he took the drafts as his guide, modifying and adding to these codes to conform to California. Prof. Carl Swisher, in his “Stephen J. Field, Craftsman of the Law,” noted that “[Stephen’s] ability to adjust the acts to the needs of California indicates that he had not been idle at the time when Dudley was working at the task of codification a few years earlier.” (p. 55)
