The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-15 00:00:00

THE SUNt LOL9DoN, FRIDAV EVENING, FEBRUARY 15, 1856

counsel or the attorney who had to apply it, and the
subject who had to observe and obey it, were obliged, in
order to ascertain what the law was, to refer to text books
which might or might not exist, which, if they existed,
might not be ample or accurate enough to satisfy the re-
quirements of the inquirer. Having found a text book he
had to go through all the statutes and sections of statutes
on the sebject, from Magna Charta to the present time,
till he discovered, or hoped that he discovered, the parti-
eller provision he wished for. And after all he could not
be certain that he was right,- because he could not be sure
that he had not overlooked some statute or section of a
statute bearing on the subject of inquiry. This was one
of the many evils resulting from the preSent state of the
law. Another evil was this, that whenever a member of
that house was desirous •of amending the law, and intro-
duced a bill for that puroso, he could never be sure, un-
less he was a perfeCt master 'of every provision relating
to the subject (and who couldesay that), that he had not
overlooked some clause in some act of Parliament, which
would be inconsistent with the proposed measure, and
thereby merely increase the confusion and the evil. He
might point out a variety of other evils resulting from this
state of things. He would only refer to one particular case
to illustrate this evil. An act of Parliament was passed in
the time of George 11., which made a malicious destruction
of property in certain conditions a felony. Fifty years after
that another act was passed on . the same subject, the
framer of which, probably a very learned man, but whose
attention had not been callel to the previous act, made it a
misdemeanour. Some one committed the offence in ques-
tion, and the framer of the indictment, being acquainted
with the earlier and better known statute, and not with
the latter one, framed it for a felony. The person was
tried, convicted, and punished under that statute. It was
fortunate that it was not a capital felony, for then he
would have been hanged, and it would have been too late
to discover that a statute was passed half a century later
which reduced that particular offence to a misdemeanour.
(Hear, hear.) The consequence was less serious than it
might have been, but it was still a consequence highly
discreditable to the state of the law. (Hear, hear.)
These ware another set of statutes tamiliar to some mem-
bers of that house, the acts under which the ecclesiastical
commissioners, or rather the commissioners for building
churches, were constituted.' These acts were so confused
and inconsistent that no lawyer would advise a client to act
on any single section without great doubt and' hesitation.
He need not dwell further on the state of confusion in
which the statute law no* was, as the subject was familiar
to the house, but would proceed to call their attention to
the history of the attempts, to_ remedy it, and then explain
the nature of the steps which,-supported by the ablest as-
sistance, he proposed to take for the entire consolidation
of the statute law. (Hear, hear.) -The subject had been
under their consideration a few evenings ago, on the mo-
tion of the right honourable member for the Univer-
sity of Dublin, but the complaints then made were
almost in the same terms as those made by Lord
Bacon 250 years ago. From time to time various attempts
had been made to remedy, these evils, but from the
time of Lord Bacon to that of Lord Brougham no attempt
to consolidate the statute law of England had succeeded.
He felt therefore that he -was entitled to the indulgence of
the house, when he appeared before them to commence such
a task. He had lately become a member of the Statute Law
Commission, and he felt satisfied that with the assistance
to be derives from the labour of the commission the ob-
ject could be attained. Two centuries had elapsed from the
time of Lord Bacon, when in 1806*the subject of the con-
solidatiot, of the statute law came under the consideration
of the Record Commission. They resolved, " That Francis
Hargrave, Esq., should be requested to consider and re-
port as to the best mode of reducing the statute law into a
smaller compass and more systematic form." The recom-
mendations of the Record Commission were approved of
by both houses of Parliament, but nothing was done, nor
any attempt made, to carry them out from thence until
1816. In that year a report was made to the House of Lords,
aid they resolvel," That from the present state of the sta-
tute law, it is inexpedient that effectual means should be
taken to' arrange the matters contained ih the statute-book
Gilt.!. United _Kingdom; and the statutes passed by the
several Parliaments of England, Ireland, and Scotland,
under their distinct and proper heads.". For some years
nothing was done, until Lord 'Brougham made his cele-
brated oration in that house, on the state of the law, but
the consolidation of the statute "law die not form one of
the subjects of his speech. In 1833, when he became Chan-
cellor, he issued a commission to inquire into the subject.
The commissioners made a report; but it, was never acted
on. It was always found that as soon as any classification
was attempted, the raosteantive la,* reformers 'soon con-
foueded consolidation and codification, and the scheme
always turned out a failure. . In 1843 one step was taken
in preparing an index of the statutes. In 1852 an-
ote.er attempt was made, and a bill was actually laid on
the table of the House of Lords. It was intended to be
the first of a series, but. it failed because it attempted
to codify : it dealt with- the criminal law, repealing
existing enactments, and re-enacting such of their pro-
visions as were not obsolete. Unfortunately it did not
stop there, but attempted to give definitions of, and to re-
duce into a statutable form of expression a number of
offences which before were left to be determined by the
common law. The result- was, that whilst there was no
difference of opinion as to the sections of the bill which re-
newed the statutory enactments, every single definition
and every single provision affecting the common law be-
came a subject of discussion-and difference. That was fatal
to the bill. It was referred to a select committee, but
came to nothing. In 1853, the present Lord Chancellor,
when laying on the table of the House of Lords a bill re-
lating merely to registration, entered into a statement of
the arrangements he proposed to make for attempting the
consolidation of the statute law. That system, how-
ever, confounded consolidation and codification, and must,
of necessity, have proved itupracticable. Towards the
end of the session, the Lord Chancellor brought in a bill,
the first of the. promised series, for the consolidation of the
criminal law, but it did not pass. In 185 t Lord Cran-
worth appointed the pre-zent statute-law commission, of
which he (Sir F. Kelly) had, within the last few weeks,
heceme a member. He could iibt, therefore, claim any
credit for the many useful suggestions that had emanated
from that body; but having now become a member of it
he had undertaken to peruse and revise every bill prepared
for the classification and consolicletion of the different
subdivisions of the statute /awe 'He had further under-
taken to bring each of these hslls before the house, and he
trusted lie would succeed' ire accomplishing the task, if he
received from the different members of the house that as-
sistance they were so ,ell qualified to give, and which he
stood so much in netsd of. (Haar, hear.) The commission,
when first appoirieed, held several meetings; some very
eminent members of it insisted on an attempt at some
general eeditieUtion, but that, as before, proved inconsist-
ent with any effort at consolidation. Mr. Anstey, a
gentleman for whose zeal and abilities he had the highest
roepec', devoted himself to the preparation of an analysis
of t.:ae law as a preliminary to au attempt at codification,
lent it was found to be productive of the greatest con-
fusion and difficulty; and, like every other attempt
at codification, ended in failure and disappointment. The
first head of Mr. Anstey's analysis was—" Of personal ca-
pacities—and of natural-born British subjects, all their
rights and liberties, however secured by statutes or other-
wise, shall be taken to be by common law. No act of the
Sovereign derogatory to those rights shall be valid." If
the ideas of the hon. gentleman had been carried out, he
would by such an enactment repeal Magna Charts and
substitute some general. cause of his. After this system
had been abandoned, the commission, at the suggestion of
the Lord Chancellor, employed different memoers of the
profession to consolidate the statute law relating to the
subjects with which they were each most conversant.
From the experience which ho had derived from the la-
bours of these gentlemen., ho was perfectly convinced that
the entire consolidation of the whole statute law was easy
and practicable. He now undertook, with the assist-
ance of the commission, to'go through the whole com-
pass of the statute law, and reduce every act and
every section of an act relating to the various subjects
into a complete classification. He would now shortly
explain the plan on which he intended to proceed, then en-
deavour • explain to the house what appeared to him to be
the distinction between consolidation and codification, and
he thought he coull satisfy the house that if ever the latter
was to be successful, it coiled only be after consolidation.
The plan on which they intended to proceed was this—in
the first place, they would take one, two, or three, of the
most important, and at the same time most familiar sub-
jects within the compass of the law, then go over the en-
tire volume of the statutes, and extract from them not
only every net of Parliament, bet every section, every pro-
vision, every line of an act that bore on either of the sub-
jects ; this had been done with the two bills which he now
asked leave to lay on the table. He would take the second,
that relating to the laws on bills of exchange and promis-
sory notes, as an instance, to make his statement more
clear. At present, if a merchant or lawyer wished to
know what was the statute law relating to bills of ex-
change or promissory notes, he would have to look into
no less than 15 acts, some of them containing a groat
many sections, passed from the. Bth Win. 111. down to the
present day. The course which had been taken on this
subject; and which would bo followed in every other in-
stance, was to take out of-the statute-book every act, and
every section of an act, relating to bills of exchange or pro-
missory notes, and at once repeal them all, and then bring
in, not 13 acts, but substitute for those dispersed through
the entire statute-hook one single act containing every ex-
isting provision bearing on gills of exchange ' • by this'
means a portion of the statute-nook would at once be swept
away, and some 400 pages struck out of the 4) volumes.
The next subject they proposed to deal with was insurance;
that would strike out 1,000 pages more. The whole statute
law of the realm, which now fills forty volumes, contain-
ing some eighteen or twenty thousand acts, would be re-
duced to a seventh or aneelifith orits present bulk ; aud,
instead of a collection of a multitude of enactments, from
Magna Charts to the latest act, following each other with-
out
statutes,e('ll e IlbCeeg
ion%r
ienoglrwe tt 0 h
:11_,
ci to.
nws
oi
il
dCaOt itd
Aoeft.a
Nseori.esl_of
Offences against the Person; Consolidated Act, No. 2—Law
of Bills of Exchange and- Promissory Notes ; Consolidated
Act, No. 3—Policies oft Insarance against File, on Lives,
tic. • and so en till theyreached the end of the statute-book.
Each act would contain all the statute law of England on
the subject to which it referred. Although this task might
seem easy, yet there were many difficulties in the way.
One was that the Legislature must rely entirely on the ac-
curacy of the framers of these acts—that he had extracted
from the statute-book every provision bearing on the sub-
ject. As far as that was concerned he had recommended—
and if he obtained the sanction of the house would see the
recommendation larded GC—that for the consolidation of
the statute law in each
_particular subject that member of
the profgesion who was undoubetedly and unquestionably
the most competent for the task, from his acquaintance
with it, should be selected ; for example, with regard
to bills of Exchequer they had employed the ablest
men who could afford the time required for tee
slight remuneration they were enabled to offer. -It
would be invidious to mention names, but he could
promise the house that the same rule would be adopted in
erscaosfet.heAlafwte,r
atshetyttehearidmieitnnaeltlharNovu, gthhethmeeprerhinacnit-
the law of customs and' exciseethere would still remain a
lie)aavwlery,btrhaonethclew relating to public rights, the municipal law,
he
plei,rgt withenum bbeerfoorfestthaetyutecsowulhdiceha7cotuald.croziertee tobeglp-
consolida-
tion of the law. It appeeredfroin a return annexed to one
of the reports of the statute law conemission that
ftltite nseumn-
ber of acts passed in the last session was 131. 0
were general public 'statutes relating to the United
and
King-
dom ; two applied to Groat Britain, six to England
Iterati no dg, l
altogether to England,
ltativte - b o oko
Now supposing that these had been carried through
of
Par-
liament a succession of bills upoteall the branches of the
to Scotland, 13 to Ireland;
tssixof a general aud public nature.tar.
and
toohfavPeareline
embracedf n
mine-tenths
theens
teh
sa cotfs
solidated into several distinct and single acts
purged the e sta..-
itssocontents, have
the r
would come the question what was to be done with e-
'Cent, all subjects of a geneeartand public nature, then.
'rnaining acts? Besides the 59 public eets,-to which he-had
referred, there remained 26 apecial and local acts, six re-
lating to the-colonies, two relating to the East Indies, 11
to the army, the navy, and the militia, and 39 to the re-
venue and other financial subjects. These last-mentiontd
acts were noe strictly of a general and public nature, but
it would po tzi vain to say that they had consolidated the

statutes if these were not included. He did not at present upon himself a large proportion of the Parliamentary la-
contemplate dealing with aces which related to Ireland. beur which it involves, but the great mass of the work to
There were many acts relating to-England which did not b 3 done will have to be done out of this house. (Hear.)
relate, or at least only to a partial extent, to Ireland, anti Two methods present themselves of getting through that
were he to perpetuate Ireland in his present scheme, the work. One is to have a fixed body of men, either a Minis-
effect might be to perpetuate that confusion which he was tar of Justice with subordinate agents, or a certain num-
seeking to put an end to. There were probably some six ber of commissioners to deal successively with all the sub-
or eight thousand local acts of which the judges were jects concerning which enactments are contained in the
found to take notice, and which were painted in extenso, rn statutes. The other is to divide the statute law into groups,
all the editions of the statutes. He might mention, as a and to confide each separate group to some ,person or per-
specimen of them, the act relating to Dover Harbour, by sons who have made that particular branch of law their
which certain commissions were created, having various special study. Each method has its advantages. By the
powers concerning the management of the harbour. There 'first you will obtain that uniformity of system which fol.
were many thousand acts of a similar description applying ' lows upon the action of a single directing mind. By the
to Liverpool, Hull, and other. large towns. In these acts, second you will utilise the services of men who have ac-
which were of a strictly local character, were to be found i'quired a special familiarity with a particular subject, with-
many provisions of a public and general nature. For ex- i out perhaps being under the necessity of taking them alto-
ample, an assault committed on any of the commissioners i Igether away from their profession. It is a question whe-
or superintendents, or any of the officers under them, while I ther the two methods might not be advantageously united,
they were in the execution of their duty, was made a mil- whether the necessary unity of plan may not be gained by
demeanour : the mere obstructing of such persons was the superintendence of a Minister or commissioner, while
dealt with in a similar way. No action could he brought, the work of consolidation upon each particular subject is
however, more than six months after the offence was al- assigned to the person best able to undertake it. The next
legee to have been committed, and thus there was a special question that arises refers to the arrangement of the sta-
statute of limitations. The .greatest inconvenience arose tutese Some jurists have proposed an entire redistribution
from the existing state of these local acts : and what he of the statutes, which would require many of them to be
should propose to do when they came to deal with this taken to pieces and arranged under separate heads. It is
class of statutes was to repeal all the provisions that ex- 'clear that this process (whether desirable or
not I do not
isted, and all that might hereafter be enacted, and to pronounce) is one of codification, and not merely of conso-
subebibute for them one single general act of Parlia- lidation. • The plan which is the most simple, and which
meat resembling the - Railway Clauses Consolidation involves the least departure from the existing arrange-
Act. The acts relating to the army and navy, and the
.ment, would no doubt be the most convenient. Thereare
militia, the acts relating to the revenue, and the loan acts many statutes which cannot be arranged or classified with-
might be consolidated with great facility. Of the forty out difficulty, but those of • the greatest importance relate
volumes of statutes, at least four or five relating to the re- to subjects upon which Parliament has frequently legis-
venue would, he believed, be found to have expired. The lated, and they might be classified into large and corapre-
effect of the system of consolidation for which the present hensive groups. I have made out a list of nine such groups,
bill was intended;to provide would be to remove from the which I will lead to the house. With regard to the qua-
statute-book at least three-fourths of the statutes of which lifica'ion and election of members of Parliament 185
the law consisted, and to make the statute-book, instead of separate acts have been passed ; with regard to Excise,
comprising a long succession of statutes withoutorder, con- f2O; stamps, 130; Poor Law, 120; assessed taxes, 40;
sistency, or arrangement, consist only of a series of cense.. Crown lands, 4(1; municipal corporations, GO ; rent, 40;
lidation acts, beginning with those of a general nature and and sheriffs and their officers, 55. This list by no means
finishing with those of a. departmental or administrative exhausts the instances in which a large number of statutes
character? But then came the important and difficult has been passed upon a single subject, but it shoWs that
question, what were they to do as regarded future legisla- 790 separate acts may easily be reduced to nine. This
lation. The statute law commission, which had devoted kind of legislation is different from every other kind. In
its attention to this branch of the subject, had it appeared, other cases, if the work to be done is not completed the
prepared a report which would shortly be laid before Par- labour bestowed upon it is entirely lost, but in this case
liament, comprising a scheme for future legislation. Tne every step gained is gained once for all, and Will be
framing of bills by independent members, not familiar with equally useful and valuable whether the work be completed
thestatute law, vas a very serious matterfor consideration; or not. A question has been raised with regard to the
and as soon as tae report in question had been presented, degree of verbal alteration which ought to be made in
he should propose to have distributed among members of the different statutes when they .were thrown together.
both houses of Parliament suggestions as to the phrase- The commissioners of 1834 have fully argued that ques.
ology and structure of bills to be introduced into Parlia- tiou, and answered the objection that verbal alterations
ment, which Would greatly assist such persons as he had would destroy the authority of the judicial decisions now
referred to. As regarded the future framing of bills, he in existence. They contend that the result of former
thought that the house would entirely concur with him judicial interpretations would be embodied in such alte-
in the opinion that there ought to be, and must be, some rations, and litigation, instead of being created, would be
officer, or a corps of officers, appointed by and invested decreased by the consequent remuvrj.of doubts. A doubt
with the authority of bothe houses of Parliament, to has been raised as to whether anything ought to be at-
watch and assist in the course of legislation ; to consider tempted in the Way of substantive as well as verbal altera-
every bill for the amendment of the law, not forgetting tion, and it has been said that nothing ought to be done
its bearing on the statute-book as it already existed, and beyond consolidating the law as it stands, lest the Govern-
to take upon themselves the general superiutendence and moat or the commissioner should assume au undue respon-
revision of the bills introduced -into Parliament. Sup- sibility in making alterations. No doubt there is jest
posing some such authority to exist, then came the titles- ground for such a ,fear ; but, on the other hand, much of
tion by what means could the new enactments be made our statute law has become wholly or partially obsolete,
consistently and conveniently to form part of the pre- much has been virtually repealed, and thus substantive as
vionsly consolidated statute law. Not wishing to deal well as verbal alterations may, to a certain degree, be ne-
with the question merely in the abstract, he would ces,ary, while no persons can be so competent to suggest
take the case of the other bill which he was about such alteration, as those whoee attention has, by the very
to ask leave to introduce, relating to bills of exchange and labeur of col:no:Hating, been closely fixed upon the law as
promissory notes. At piesent there was in this country a it stands. The Government and the framers of any act em-
mercantile custom by which three days grace was allowed bodying such alterations will be responsible for them.
on notes of lend. Suppose it were thought expedient by Care roust always be taken to explain their nature and
Parliament to make the law of England consistent with the extent ; and I take for granted that nothing will be at-
law of other countries in that respect, and to do away with tempted in net way except what the state of the law, and
the three el tyre grace, and suppose a bill were passed for the necessities of the time render obviously expedient. I
that purpose—in-thee Case if the Consolidation Act re- now come to what has been looked upon as the greatest
lating to bills of exchange and promissory notes were en- difficulty in the way of consolidation, namely, the con-
title i " Consolidation Act No. 1, Bills of Exchange," no- tinual introduction and passing of new acts. It is urged
thing eyelid be easier than to affix the same title to the that no reform in the nature of consolidation can be more
act which matte the alteration. And iu like manner, alter than tennerary, because fresh changes aro every day being
the general consolidation of the statutes, it might be pro- ma ie. My answer is, that this objection, even admitting
vided by a resolution cf both houses of Parliament its validity to the fullest extentedoes not touc't the ques-
that whenever a new act was passed it diode be tion of the benetici ci elects of consoli t will be a
printed, so as to become pert of the consolidation act re- great step towards the simplification of the law, and a
lating to the same subject. Under this scheme, or mocias great saving of labour and time, it all we obtain he that
operandi, not only would the consolidation of the sta- those who have to ascertain the statute law upon a parti-
tutes be attended with immediate benefit, but, as legisla- (ruler subject shall be able to begin their inquiries with the
tion proceeded, the new acts would be made to form part of year 1856 or 1857, instead of having to look back 300 or
the already consolidated statutes, and the statute-book 400 years. My hon. and learned friend, however, holds
would consist of a series of single acts, eadh series contain- that the difficulty, such as it is, is not insuperable. The
ing the whole statute law ou the subject to which it re- consolidation act upon a particular subject will embody
lated. This, then, was the plan for consolidatin the whole the law up to the time of its passing, and whether any
statute law of the land, for which he asked the sanction of amendment act subsequently passed be classified separately
the house--5 plan in which no attempt was made to codify as a consolidation amendment act, or whether it be
or deal with the common law. It was essential to the sue- joined on by way of supplement to the consolidation
cess of his scheme that, if the principle of it should receive act, the objection will in either way be overcome, and the
the sanctioneof both Houses of Parliament, the several whole statute law upon that subject may still be found in
consolidation acts which would be founded upon it should the ;same part of the saute book. I think it clear that
be passed in as rapid succession as practicable, so that some competent authority is required—whether a board
they might with the least possible delaybecome part of the or a Minister, Parliament must decide—by whom every
law of the land. He had satisfied himself that the scheme act of Parliament shall be examined to see that it is not
was practicable, and would his successful if it received the inconsistent with former acts, and that it rightly and fully
sanction of Parliament ; and he would, at any sacrifice of expresses the intentions of its propounders. That propo-
time which might be necessary, undertake the superinten- sition is not novel. It was put forward about two years
deuce and preparation of all the acts of Parliament. As re- ago in an able pamphlet by Mr. Willmore, it has been
garded the possible objeetions to bis scheme, he believed it again and again discussed among members of the profes-
was owing to the mixing up ofeconsolidation with codifi- slon, I believe there is a general concordance of legal
cation that the greatest and ablest men who had hitherto opinion in its favonr,. and I at, least never heard any valid
attempted to deal with this sneject had hitherto failed. argument against it. The expense will be but trifling,
The consolidation of a multiplicity of acts of Par- even if in such a matter expense can be regarded. My
liatnent was a comparatively simple task, consisting in the hon. and learned Lieu,' has raised the point of far greater
substitution for 20 or 30 acts of one Single act containing difficulty—namely, what ought to be done with local or
verbatim the same provtaions. This wont' lead to no dis 7 personal acts which are in some SODS° acts of a general
cussion—it was only putting the law in a different form ; character—as, for instance, where special and exceptional
but if they superadded to that the codification of the eta- protection is given, in certain cases, to parsons or pro-
tute law, on what a wide field would they enter ! He yen- perty. It is rash to generalize, bat I confess to me all
tured to say, with perfect confidence, that no one could such acts (I don't deny their necessity in supposable cases)
advance through one pegs of a bill for codifying the cone- appear faulty in principle, and in the case of the Rail-
mon law of England without giving rise to discussions and way Clauses Act, they ought, for the warning and guid -
differences of opinion as to the construction and exposition ante of the public, to be embodied in one general statute,
of the law, doubts upon the construction and exposition of controlling and limiting their provisions. With regard to
the law, and as to what the law was, which would render the specific measures which my hon. and learned friend
the passing of a single act of Parliament for the consolida- his introduced I shall nos trouble the House. They are
tion of any one single branch of the law in any one session large in themselves, but they are far less important than
of Parliament utterly impossible. (Hear, hear.) So long the general plan which! ho has sketched out, and the pledge
as the house limited its exertions to consolid ding the which he hats given. The ;pledge is before the country.
statutes, there would be no diffieelty in proceeding, but I will only observe that we are too apt, in the conflict of
if an attempt were made to codify, the result would, he parties, to forget the right, t'ao duty, and the responsi-
feared, be differeat. As an instance of this he would call bility which belongs to individual members of aiding in
attention to what took place in the House of Lords a few the work of legislation. We retnern bar and talk loudly
sessions since, when an attempt was made to codify the of the responsibility of action, but we lose sight of the
criminal law The bill which was brought in at that time equally real responsibility of doing nothing e here abuses
was referred to a committee, consisting, he would not say exist. It is not reasonable or just that the exclusive
of some of the most distinguished lawyers, but of the most burden of legislation should devolVe on those who have
distinguished lawyers of the kingdom. Four of the cone- already on their hands the administrative business of the
mittee were noble lords who had filled the office of Lord nation. My hon. and learned friend, in asociating himself
Chancellor, one was then Lord Chancellor, and the sixth with the Executive in undertaking this task, is not only
was chief justice of England. Lord Truro, Lord St. Lee- promoting a legal reform, but setting a good Parliamentary
nerds' Lord Brougham, Lord Cranworth, Lord Lyndhurst, example, anti with the energy and. industry he has dis-
and Lord Campbell, were the noble lords composing that played it is not likely that he will fail from any want of
committee. The first clause of the bill was an interpre- support either in or out of the house. (Hear.)
Wien clau e, fixing the meaning of the words thereinafter The ATTORNEY-GENERAL thought they well all per-
used. The committee held eleven meetings, sitting on fectly agreed on this—that it was desirable to consolidate
the average from four to six hours upon each oceasiou,
and in the end they were obliged to give up the bill iu their statutes. (Hear.) That was a point on which it was
despair, finding it absolutely impossible to agree upon not necessary to labour. Every one would agree that the
the meanings to be affixed to the technical words used state of the law with regard to its promulgation was highly
in the bill. If any hon. member thought that the difficulty discreditable to the legislature. The laws of England were
was one easy to be got over he worths suggest to him to en- Scattered on the face of it large number of text books, in
deavour to put into the shape of a section of aei act a defi-
nition of the word " malicious " a term constantly occur- hundreds of volumes of reports, and in thousands of statute
ing in criminal jurisprudence. If then they coule not have books. (Hear.) In the course of his able speech, in se-
codification, they might certainly have consolidation. And conding the motion before the house, the noble lord the
the advantage of acceding to this proposition was this, that member for King's Lynn had pointed out a hundred dif-
the one plan by no means interfered wills the other, but was
rather a step towards it. Were the entire statute law cen- ferent statutes on the saran subject. Now that was beyond
solidated solidated and arranged under appropriate headings, aSt p all doubt scandalous, (Hear.) But the question was, what
which would materially aid any future attempts to seedify was the beat remedy for that state of things ? What was
would be accomplished. There was anether metter con-
the best mode of consolidating the statutes : He quite
nected with the subject which he mu: t bring before the agreed with his hon. and learned friend the member for
house. He was perfectly willing to undertake the respousi- Suffolk and with the noble lord, that it was not desirable
bility of superintending such measures as might be rcces- to attempt to combine codification with consolidation.
sary to carry into effect the scheme wnich he had moire (rear.) Let'tbeln first consolidate the statutes, and in that
factly sketched out, but it was obvious that it would require point of view he was strongly disposed to think, that how-
the close attention of learned and competent men, and the ever defective they might be, the task of proceeding to deal
country could not expect that the services of shah persons with the statutes by proceeding to name
them and to alter
could be given without remuneration. Whenothe house their provisions and their laeguago in the way thet had
came to consider that, in order properly to frame an act eon" been suggese,ed would be a protracted work —a work of im-
solidating a branch of the late, it would be necessary to road mense labour. He believed that by such a procedure what
through, collate, and weigh the effect of 30, 40, or perhaps was necessarily a work of great time would assume an un-
50statates, he did not thinkehat a remuneration for each limited duration. He thought that the first thing they
bill averaging between 50/. and 10)/. would be too large. ought to do was, to sweep away from the statute book all
But in connection with this matter hon. members should statutes that had been repealed, or all parts of statutes
bear in mind the fact that a great saving would result to that hail been repealed and then begin to consolidate
the country at large from the system which he advocated. It those that remained. (Hear, . hear.) They then came to
was almost impossible to over-estimate the advantages of the question—how could that consolidation be effected ?
such reform. Ho believed that two recent acts of Parliament The honourable and learned member for Suffolk had
—the County Court Act and the Common Law Procedure detailed to the house the scheme by which ho proposed to
Act—had effected an anneal saving of 1,000,009/. sterling, effect that object ; but he (the Attorney-General thought
He therefore hoped that the house would favourably veetv that his hon. and learned friend had taken too much credit
the plan which he had brought under its consideration to himself for the originality of that scheme. As he (the
and if he were fortunate endugh to obtain its consent to the Attorney-General) Understood it, it was nothing more nor second reading of this bill, hod. members might rely upon i less than what the statute law commission had fur some
it that he would not relax his efforts in the course whicn I time been acting on in the preparation of statutes to be
he was now pursuing. Of course so vast a subject would submitted to Parliament. He dad not quite under stand the
require some time to carry it through in all its parts, position of hon. and learned friend, who he was sure
but he did not hesitate in saying that it might be done wss sincerely desirous- of turning his great knowledge and
within 2 years from that time. He was quite sure that he his gr.eat ability; to the furtherance of . that most essential
should not back co-operation. There was no want of earnest object, the come/id:4bn of the statute law—bo did not
and able men ready to ail the cause of legal reform ; in understand whether his bon. and learned friend was to be
deed, so true was this that he could see no reason why, at considered as the organ of the statute law commission, or
the present day, one single grievance in the laws of England whether he assumed an independent position in that house
should remain unredressed. with respect to the consolidation of the statutes._ He had
Lord ST.A.NLEY—I rise to second the motion of my ' no wish tt accord to the bon and learned member—who
hon. and learned friend; but, after his comprehensive had been for so many years an ornament of the profession
speech, and not anticipating opposition at this stage, I shall of which they were both members—a modesty for which a
barrister of such standing would scarcely claim credit, but
trouble the house with but few remarks. I see with plea- he did not think that his hon, and learned friend would' as-
sure, as does every man who has reflected on the Wants of mine a merit which in hie case fie did not possess. However'
this community, that, in the rather unusual cessation of . he should say that het did not apprehend there was tiny-
political antagonism which characterises the present time, thing in the ;den of his hon. and learned friend that was
the question of law reform is rising daily into greater pro-
not contained in the plan of the statute law commission,
mineace. Daring half a century that question has occupied j which was now proceeding with its duties. Ho did not, as
had before observed, quite understand whether the hon.
the attention of Parliament, and to some extent of the pub- and learned member was the organ of that commission or
lie ; but what has been wanting is not so much the guidance • not. Ho (the Attorney-General) had the honour to be a
of a directing mind or the ifeencY of honest and competent member of the commission, as were two or three of his
parsons skilled in the law, as that popular interest and sup- learned friends now around him, and they were not aware
port out of doors, without which, in a popularly-con itituten that the hon. and learned member was authorised to speak
Government, any reform, especially if it involves much in the name of the statute law commission, It might be
labour of detail, is sure to he thrust aside to make way for that he was; but if so, certainly he (the Attorney-par:as'?
other measures less important, but at the moment more did not know it. His hon. and learned friend
nice
allie
interesting. The difficulty with which law reformers have that he would take under his' careful superintend
to contend has arisen not so much from the actual magni- bills on the statute law. They-were to come into that
doubt they
tude and weight of Obstaclenin the way as from the want house under his auspicious supervision, and-
anro)
He (the
of sufficient impelling force to encounter and bear them could not come in under better. (Hear,
down. The work has teen there to be done, the machine Attorney-General) did not know whetherhetahsenheopril.aannudf
was ready to do it, but /he propelling driving power wee ' learned gentleman was to introduce the plan t
not adequately supplied. If Parliament be in earnest in the statute law commission—whether he was to exercise
dealing with this subject, what course ought we to adopt? his own prerogative or appear there as ono of that body
'donee dogrnetise on such esquestiOn, but I accept my hon. However, evhosesoever tho scheme might be, he (the Al..
and learned friend's conchision, that, any attempt to recast torney-General) was not disposed to vindicate its merits ;
the whole law of England into the form of a code would, for he thought that a far store comprehensive scheme than
for the present at least, be useless. Tote would have to that proposed by his hon. and learned friend washroenq.niarnel
amalgamate with the statutes the whole f the!eommon un- to meet the existing state of things. He thought that i
written law, now scattered over more than 500 volumes ; they went on acting on the principle which
,whhei-ehclllis
to try on an immense scale, undei-'everYdisadvantage, that learned friend had stated that n hbe thought
experiment ,which was tried 3or 4 years ag°, on a small was the principle of the statute law commission—so far
scale, Under the most, favourable circumstances, the result from completingdoubted if they
of which say learned friend bus described- The alternative, would complete it in two ce uries. He was of opinion
the work iu twont years
then, is to deal with one part of We law—the statute law • that if they dealt with the e law by taking, say first,
—only; to simplify it, to amend it, to bring it within the the law respecting bills. of exchange, and then the laws
smallest possible compass, arid, after that task has been ac- concerning offences against the person, those as between
complished, then, but not till thee, to consider what fur- roaster and servant, those relating to landlord and tenant,
ther steps ought to be taken: . I use the word alternative, those having reference to stenips, and so on, they wou!d.
.a never get terougb them. He was incline t to think they
but, in truth, the acceptance of one plan does not imp
the rejection, hardly even the postponement, of the other. would have to wait till doomsdny for a completion of their
For it must be borne in mind by the advocates of codifica- task. What he would recommend was, that they should
tion that the firat step towards Codification is the consolidae , compile_asany one would to forma code, or to write a text analytically the statute law of Eiofland complete
tion of the statute law, and even if nothingsheuht bo done
beyond consolidation a great economy of time and labour • book of the law of England, claeeifying and subdividing
would be effected, and much -c°"fusieu would be removed. into chapters and heads; anal having got a great outline
Every step taken in that direction tie a guarantee for fur- or skeleton of the law of England, they could arrange
ther improvement, because when confusion has been re- tinder their proper heads all the laws relating to money, to i
moved from the law upon any single subject the force of husband and wife, to guardian and ward, to person and
contrast will operate, and mete will ask why one part of the property, to political offences, to police, to Parliamentary
lawshould be simple and another obscure ?If consolidation representation, Zee. This, he thought, would be a com-
bo determined Qll Xay bons and l rood friend gill tau prehensive mode of dealing with the Ulf tters )3ut the plan
ea

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