Report of the Committee of Revisors

by the Virginia General Assembly, Committee of Revisors

Report of the Committee of Revisors
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library at the College of William & Mary.
Author	Virginia General Assembly, Committee of Revisors
Editor
Translator
Published	Richmond, VA: Printed by Dixon & Holt
Date	November, 1779
Edition
Language	English
Volumes	volume set
Pages	6, 90
Desc.	Folios (33 cm.)

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson introduced a plan to revise the entirety of Virginia’s statutory code. This project was intended "to strip [the legal code] of all vestiges of its earlier monarchical aspects and to bring it into conformity with republican principles." Jefferson initially embarked on this mission with the help of George Wythe, Thomas Ludwell Lee, George Mason, and Edmund Pendleton. The process proved to be long and arduous, and the personnel on the committee underwent changes as time went on. "It was a long-drawn-out movement, ending in something of an anti-climax, and never became embodied in a single enactment."

This report details the current status of the project to the House of Delegates. It was "the first and only report made" on the project. It notes the difficulties the committee had faced in moving the project forward, including the resignation and death of some of the original members. As the report notes, the work on this project had not yet been completed. "It was not until 1785 that action was systematically taken upon the greater proportion of the bills." Even still, "many of the proposed laws were not adopted or even seriously considered." However, the project did produce Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. This bill had huge influence and importance, and was one of Jefferson’s proudest achievements. It "play[ed] a critical role in the development of American religious freedom and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."

Furthermore, there is no complete text that has been reproduced by historians of the actual Report of the Committee of Advisors. It remains "a rare and inaccessible text of the most interesting and significant legal reforms attempted during the Revolutionary era."

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

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IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TUESDAY the 5th day of November, 1776.

RESOLVED, that Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, George Mason, and Thomas Judwell Lee, Esquires, be appointed a committee to revise the laws of the commonwealth.

Teste.

JOHN TAZEWELL, C. H. D. JOHN PENDLETON, Jun. C. S.

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IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, the 18th day of June, 1779.

THE Speaker laid before the House a letter from Thomas Jefferson, Esq; Governor of the commonwealth, and George Wythe, Esq; two of the Committtee of Revisors, in the words the following:

WILLIAMSBURG, JUNE 18, 1779.

SIR, THE committee appointed in pursuance of an act of General Assembly passed in 1776, intituled "An act for the revision of the laws," have according to the requisitions of the said act gone through that work, and prepared 126 bills, the titles of which are stated in the the inclosed catalogue. Some of these bills have been presented to the House of Delegates in the course of the present sessions two or three of them delivered to members of that House at their request to be presented, the rest are in the two bundles which accompany this; these we take the liberty through you of presenting to the General Assembly.

In the course of this work we were unfortunately deprived of the assistance and abilities of two of our associates appointed by the General Assembly, of the one by death, of the other by resignation. As the plan of the work had been settled, and agreeable to that plan it was in a considerable degree carried into execution before that loss, we did not exercise the powers given us by the act, of filling up the places by new appointment, being desirious that the plan agreed on by members who were specially appointed by the Assembly, might not be liable to alteration from others who might not equally possess their confidence, it has therefore been executed by the three remaining members, one of whom being prevented from putting his signature hereto, by the great distance of his residence from this city, has by letter authorized us to declare his concurrence in the report.

We have the honor to be with the utmost respect,

SIR,

Your most obedient

And most humble servants,

T. JEFFERSON,
G. WYTHE

Hon. BENJAMIN HARRISON, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Delegates, ORDERED that the said letter with its enclosures do lie on the table.

Extract from the journal.

JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D.

George Mason, Esq; one of the Committee of Revisors declined to act, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Esq; another of the same Committee died without having taken any part in the business, and the three remaining Gentlemen, to wit: Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton, and George Wythe, Esquires, performed the present work.

See also

• Collection of All Such Public Acts of the General Assembly, and Ordinances of the Conventions of Virginia
• Wythe's Library

External links

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