JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After waiting for more than two decades, Patty Buxton now has the final say about where legislation fits into Missouri's voluminous statutes.

Buxton was recently named Missouri reviser of statutes and is the first woman to hold the position since Missouri's laws first were revised in 1825 -- just four years after statehood.

Buxton, who held the No. 2 position in the office since 1976, was promoted after reviser Ralph Kidd recently retired. Kidd was the third reviser that Buxton had served under.

Missouri's statutes line the walls of Buxton's corner office on the first floor of the Capitol in an area that was once a dining room. Paint is peeling from the walls in the small office with a window Buxton says she's not really aware of.

That's because the Springfield native has a love for the law and an attention to detail that keeps her eyes glued to the thousands of pages of legislation that pass over her desk each day.

"This position is important because the decisions that you make have an impact on people's lives, and there are a lot of decisions to make," Buxton says. "Before the laws are passed, they have to be codified. I decide what chapter a piece of legislation goes into. A lot of time, lawmakers don't know. We have to be sure that everything is correct and that everything that they say is in that bill is in it."

In other words, the buck stops with Buxton.

A 1959 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law, Buxton joined the state after years of private practice.

Buxton was the only female member of her law class, which included future Gov. Mel Carnahan and House Speaker Bob Griffin. Buxton and her husband, Jerry, also were the first married couple to become lawyers together at the university.

Though female professionals were still rare in Missouri at the time, Buxton said she never let her gender get in the way of her ambitions.

"My parents felt I could do anything that I tried and never to give up," Buxton said. "You have to believe in yourself and really believe that you are needed."

'In constant revision'

The Missouri Constitution requires that a revision of state law be conducted at least every decade -- the last was completed in 2000.

But bills are introduced each year to clean up technical problems with the law. The Committee on Legislative Research is responsible for removing outdated laws from the books.

"We are in constant revision," said Buxton, who has seen the number of statute volumes grow from four to 20.

Buxton also has a keen sense of history when it comes to her predecessors and Missouri's laws.

House Speaker Henry Geyer of St. Louis and a man named Rufus Pettibone are believed to be the first to revise Missouri's laws, Buxton notes. Then, with a hearty laugh, she reflects on some interesting tidbits about old laws long since wiped from Missouri's books.

For example, in 1825, state law prohibited hunting and tippling in a tippling house (drinking liquor in a saloon) on Sunday. The shooting of wolves, panthers and wildcats were allowed.

Also, slaves could be put to death for giving medicine to others without permission of their owners. If no malice was intended and the person receiving the medicine survived, Missouri considered it a misdemeanor punishable by whipping.

Buxton, who has four full-time staff that interact with legislative staff members when preparing legislation, said her job does not give her license to change the intent of legislation or the law.

If she changes anything in the bills passed by lawmakers, it most often is spelling.

"We are not allowed to go in and think, 'this is perfectly ignorant section, and I will rewrite it.' You would not last very long," Buxton said. "My job is to get things in shape. I can change something as long as it doesn't change the meaning and we abide by that as if our souls depend on it."