The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-10 00:00:00

colleagues to state to him his views as to what had oc-
curred to him, or as likely to be most advantageous.
They all made their reports. Two of them went through
the whole, or nearly the whole, of the existing statutes,
arriving at the result that there were only 2,500 out
of more than 16,000 general and public statutes now
actually in force ; a.d one of them made a digest
of the law relating to distress for rent. There was
no particular reason for his taking that last-named sub-
ject, excepting that it might be completed before the
close of the last session, and a report was accordingly
made on that branch of the subject. He (the Lord Chan•

cellor) had read all those reports, and it had appeared to
him that the direction he ought to give them on re-as-
sembling after the long vacation was, that they should
immediately proceed under the superintendence of Mr.
Ker, who took an active part in the work, to the actual
consolidation of certain statutes. That they had done,
and Mr. Ker had laid on the table a very able second
report, in which he exhau-ted the subject—stated what
could be done —what was practicable, and giving the
reasons for what he recommended. On this recommen-
dation he (the Lord Chancellor) approved, and intended
to prosecute it, subject to certain observations which be
was about to make. In his report Mr. Ker, after stating
his objections to other measures, proceeded to assign his
reasons for the course which he did recommend. He
would not say that what Mr. Ker recommended was
what he (the Lord Chancellor) had suggested, because he
wished to give Mr. Ker all the credit to which he was
fairly entitled ; but Mr. Ker stated that the course which
he thought the most feasible and the most desirable for
improving the state of the statute law was the gradual
consolidation, or he would rather call it the re-writing,
of the statute law, meaning by that the effecting of all
such amendments of the law as could be suggested—in
short, the continuation of that process which had been
already applied to isolated' subjects and in a desultory
manner. He (the Lord Chancellor) presumed that Mr.
Ker here referred to those very statutes to which his
noble and learned friend (Lord Lyndhurst) had alluded
as instances of what had already been achieved in this
direction. He (the Lord Chancellor) would just say that
preparatory to doing this, two of the other gentlemen he
hall engaged under Mr. Ker's superintendence made
what they ceded a group of the statutes -that was to
say they had grouped such statutes together as might be
conveniently taken together, and put into one or more.
Having done that, they arranged amongst themselves
certain subjects, upon each of which they proposed,
before the year was out (and he had no doubt they
would accomplish it) to have the statutes ready to be
put into his hand, in the shape of a consolidated group
of statutes, formed in the way to which his noble and
learned friend had alluded. His noble and learned
friend asked him what course he intended to pursue.
He would tell him. He had stated from the first that
this was a matter, to a certain extent, experimental—not
that he doubted the possibility, and, to a certain extent,
the feasibility of doing that which he proposed to do—
for he did not doubt it ; but as soon as the year came to
an end he proposed to take the actual statutes as con-
solidated, and submit them to their lordships to be passe
into law. His noble and learned friend had alluded to
what had been done in the United States of America in
this respect ; but he must say that he was quite con-
vinced that the Legislature of this country would refuse
to entrust—and he doubted if it ought to entrust—any
man or body of men outside the wallsof Parliament with
the task of declaring, by their own authority, what
should and what should not become law. All they
could do would be to employ properly qualified persons
to put the statute law into an amended or consolidated
form, and then for the Lord Chancellor, or some other
authority, to propose that in that form Parliament
should pass it into law. That that was the only course
they could pursue he would make manifest to his noble
and learned friend, by what both of them had been wit-
ness to in the last session of Parliament. In the com-
mission of 1831 certain gentlemen were employed to
form a consolidated code of criminal law. That was done,
and done by gentlemen of the highest eminence, who
devoted great care and time, and attention to the work.
Various attempts were made to carry this out in the
way in which it was done in the United States ; but to
that that house would never listen, and it was a wholly
impracticable measure, because their lordships would
have to treat every proposed consolidated statute in pre-
cisely the Sallie manner as if it were a new law intro-
duced into Parliament for the first time. His noble
and learned predecessor (Lord St. Leonards) last session
brought in a bill taken from a measure that had been
framed by the criminal-law commissioners, with some
slight alterations and improvements, and which related
only to one head of the criminal law, namely, to murders
and other offences against the person. What was the
history of that bill ? It was, as must naturally be the
case with every such bill, referred to a select committee,
upon which the law lords acted arid devoted great atten-
tion to the subject, and yet, at the end of the session, it
was still an imperfect bill. Why did be refer to all
this ? Because he thought that if they were to attempt
too much, and sought to consolidate, not the statues
only, but the common law, with theM, so as to say
that, " from and after the passing of a particular bill
relating to a particular subject, no law, statute or com-
mon, relating to it should have any force, or except. such
as was within the four corners of this parchment,' they
would be attempting something which, although it
looked theoretically right, would be perfectly impracti-
cable, and would only be postponing what might be ac-
complished in a more modified form ad Grcecos Kalendas,
and nothing at all would be done. When he received
the bills as they were framed by these four gentlemen.
whose services lie had engaged for a twelvemonth, if he
found them such as he could, consistently with his duty,
lie would submit them to Parliament bill's for the con-
solidation of the statute with theas view that they
at
might become the law of the land. He ful!y anticipated
that this would be the result, and he thought that they
ought not to take the quantum of work done this year
as any criterion or am =no Oa. would Le clue La