2. In order to make good laws, it is necessary to understand those which are in force; the legislator ought therefore, to be thoroughly imbued with a knowledge of the laws of his country, their advantages and defects; to legislate without this previous knowledge is to attempt to make a beautiful piece of machinery with one s eye shut. There is unfortunately too strong a propensity to multiply our laws and to change them. Laws must be yearly made, for the legislatures meet yearly but whether they are always for the better may be well questioned. A mutable legislation is always attended with evil. It renders the law uncertain, weakens its effects, hurts credit, lessens the value of property, and as they are made frequently, in consequence of some extraordinary case, laws sometimes operate very unequally. Vide 1 Kent, Com. 227 and Le Magazin Universel, tome ii. p. 227, for a good article against excessive legislation; Matter, De l Influence des Lois sur les Moeurs, et de l Influence des Moeurs sur les Lois.