The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-29 00:00:00

STATISTICAL SOCIETY.

At the last ordinary meeting of the Statistical Society,
held at the rooms of the society in St. James's-square—
present Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., V.P., in the chair, the
Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of St. David's, and Dr. Gug-
genbuhl of Bern, a paper was read, entitled " A Statistical
and Historical view of the Statute Law of the Realm from
the earliest recorded pe iod to the present time," by Wil-
liam Taylor, Esq. The author commenced by stating that
the statutes were inscribed in latin to the time of Edward
I. (1272), in Norman French to about the time of Richard
111. (1483), and subsequently in the English language.
The earlier statutes were extremely defective, and courts
of justice were not only unfrequently overawed and in-
fluenced by the crown, or corrupted by the nobles.
He gave the number of statutes passed in each
reign from Henry 111. (1225), to the 16th and 17th
of Victoria (1853), and passed in review the more
interesting or special ones. The aggregate number of sta-
tutes of all kinds passed from the 12th of Henry 111. to
the end of the reign of Charles 1., comprising a period
of nearly four centuries, were 3,316. The acts and or-
dinances of the Commonwealth and Protectorate
(1649-60), were not recorded as statutes of the realm,
every possible trace of the acts of the regicides and rebels
being removed at the Restoration, from a scarce
work of the period it Appeared that they consisted of
some hundreds of rare and curious ordinances, many
of them assuming the character of imperial edicts. From
the time of Cromwell to the end of George 11. (1660 to
1760), there were 5,844 statutes of all kinds enacted. In
the long reign of George 111. (60 years), the number of
statutes passed were 14,800. In the reign of George IV.,
3,223 ; William IV., 1,802 ; and in the 16 years reign of
Victoria, 5,334 ; in all from Henry 111. (1225), to the present
time, 34,319 statutes of every description. A tabular state-
ment gave a sub-division of the acts into public and private,
and in latter years into local acts. The average number of
statutes that were passed annually in each reign were also
given, and they exhibited the great increase of legislation
iler.re
of recent years. In the reign of Henry 111 (1225), the
number the statutes passed annum were only -26 (one
every four
years) In the 'reign of Henry IV. (1399), they
had increased t
0.461), they hOl-(3.9 per annum. In the reign of Edward IV.
William and STa)' hatilf
(15 in, they
hatA•eceded to 2.4. In the reign of Edward VI.
the time George 1-138 t
Charles I. (tee- incuemsed to 27'8, and in the time of
in receded to 3 5. In the time of
Ituthe y had increased to .6).2. In
WA, and to the 16 alTild "17111V* trialVt.htleyleyhahtai dinic-eLasedoectil
to
George IV. tf, 349.3, . in George 111. to 246'7, in
reign being taken in each histan'icTura, the
the large number of 523'1 per
Thus showing the rapid
averagg of the
increase of legislative enactments inTti
an appeal for
in-
ternal tranquillity. The author conclauXel by f
code
ora legislative consolidation of the statuts-71:
system under distinct beads, and for the absolutei expulsion
of all expired, obsolete, or repealed statutes :the
the last he could not arrive at from the cha3s that number•prevai
le ode.
He expressed his full conviction that it was competent
for an effective commission appointed for such a purpose to
effect a consolidation of the statutes, and to free them from
those not in force, and the measure would only be in ac-
cordance with the recommendations of many learned au-
thorities and jurists from Lord Chancellor Bacon down-
wards, and would not fail to confer on the statesman who
should devote himself to the task, the gratitude of his
country. A discussion followed, in which the following
took part, the Bishop of Oxford, Mr. Slang', Mr. Lumley.
Dr. Waddileve, Mr. Newraarch, Mr. Jellicoe, and Dr.
Guy.