"66 WALL ST., NEW YORK, _June 10th, 1886_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. D. D. Field has succeeded in getting
through the Legislature a bill purporting to be a codification of
the Law of Evidence.
"It is as bad as, or worse than, any of his schemes for bedevilling
the law under the pretence of simplifying it.
"No one man in twenty of the members even read it, as I am assured.
It is replete with gross errors, and in many ways changes the
existing law not only in respect to evidence, but other topics.
"The chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly, who was
mainly instrumental in working it through both houses, confessed
before the Governor last Thursday in my presence that in its present
shape it is unfit to go into operation.
"He urges the executive approval on the ground that it contains a
clause authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission for the
purpose of amending it, and postponing the time of its taking effect
until after the next session.
"This very provision seems to me to be abundantly sufficient to call
for a veto. There can be no more shocking fallacy than that it is
safe to pass bad laws merely because they may be amended.
"I write this to the end that, should the Governor consult you
about this measure, you may have such assurance as my opinion,
whatever that may amount to, may afford that it is an unwise one.
"Mr. Field's abominable tinkering of our law has already brought
about measureless mischief, and I am doing all I can to prevent the
further progress of it.
"Very truly yours,
"JAMES C. CARTER.
"_Hon. S. J. Tilden._"