The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-13 00:00:00

niE S'T'ATUTE LAWS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR rose to call the atten-
tion of the house to the present state of the statute law in the
courts of law and equity, and for the purpose of introduc-
ing a bill for the revision of the statute law. The noble
and learned lord said he 'proposed to do littls if any' hing
more than revise the proposition of that great man, Lord
13 icon, which appeared in a production of his entitled "The
amendment of the laws of England," the wisdom and excel-
lency of which, although it had been admitted from age
to age, yet, from that singular inertia which characterized
:English legislature nothing had been done. The object of
the measure would be to insure a greater certainty in legal
decisions that a case might be recorded according to the
statute rather than by precedent. The noble lord, in assert-
ing the necessity for such a measure, quoted statements
made by Lord Eldon, Lord Ellenborough, and other learned
lords, in various cases that had come before them. Until
they could say that they had but one law and one rule of
procedure, they would not be in a condition to:approach
-the formation of a code. The formation of the statute law
to regular form bad been first proposed in the reign of Ed-
ward VI. Again the proposition was made in the reign of
Elizabeth. And in 1816 their lordships came to a resolu-
tion to arrange the statutes under distinct and proper heads,
'but the resolution had fallen to the ground. The bill which
he held in his hand was the work of many years. It had been
prepared with:very limited means, which the Government
had thought fit to place at the disposal of th 3 law officers of
the Crown. Two gentlemen only were allowed to assist the
law officers, and their salaries were so inadquate that they
were obliged to f Alow their profession at the bar besides.
As to the revision of the reports, he hoped that a commis-
sion would be appointed for that important task, and that
the commissioners would compare and revise the decisions
as he had suggested. He had confidence iu inaugurating
the measure which he now brought forward. Their lord-
ships had time for the great work, and he hoped they would
not allow it to fall, as they hal allowed their resolution of
of 1816 to remain as a reproach to them. His lordship con-
cluded by moving the first reading of the bill, and resumed
his seat amidst loud cries of (" Hear, hear.")
-Lord BROUGHAM thought that their lordships were
deeply indebted to his noble and learned friend for the
admirable statement which he had made and the measure
he had introduced. (Hear, hear.) It had often been his
own duty to make statements complaining of the state of
the law, but never had he drawn so dark a picture of the
common and the statute law as that which his noble and
learned friend had just painted. His lordship cited several
eases in support of the views put forward by the Lord Chan-
cellor, and described the process of a bill through Parlia-
ment, to show the difficulty of passing statutes carefully
and uniformly. He should support the bill.
Lord CRANWORTH had listened with great interest to
the statement of his noble and learned friend, But as to
the measure which he proposed, and the plans which he laid
down, he (Lord Cray worth) considered that his noble and
learned friend had undertaken, with regard to the common
law, a simply impossible task. As to talking about the
difficulty of ascertaining what the law is, there was no such
difficulty whatsoever really existing. The real difficulty was
one which could never be got rid of; it was the difficulty of
making laws ante to meet cases to come thereafter. No
statute could provide for the shades of difference which
might arise subsequently in cases which might come before
the courts of law. The most complete code of laws that
probably was ever made was the Code Napoleon, and yet
under that code they found the judges differing in opinion,
revising judgments, and reversing decisions en appeal. And
they found the French courts even sometimes divided in
opinion, half the judges taking one view of the case and the
other half the opposite one. He, however, gave his best
wishes to the effort of his noble and learned friend to revise
and improve the statute law, and he gave him his beat
thanks for the trouble he had taken and the lucid statement
which he had made.
Lord SINGSDOWN thought that the difficulties of
the proposal made by his noble and learned friend would be
found t ) be almost insurmountable. When difficulties arose
in the law, the Parliament could be applied to to rectify
what was wrong.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that he had guarded

himself very carefully against the use of the word " codifi •
cation." He had distinctly said that the English law was
not, as yet, fit for codification. He did not even propose to
use the word " consolidation." He merely proposed by his
bill the revision of the statute law.
The bill was then read a first time.
REDEMPTION OF RENTS (IRELAND) BILL.
This bill went through committk e.
DUCHY OF CORNWALL MANAGEMENT BILL.
The adjourned debate on the report of the amendments
to this bill was resumed. The new clauses having satisfied
the Opposition the amendments were agreed to, and the bill
as amended was ordered to be reported next Monday.
LONDON COAL AND WINE DUTIES CONTINU