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

TH 3N LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING- FEBRUARY 15, 1856.

statutes if these were net included. Ho did not at present
contemplate dealing with acts which related to Ireland.
There were many acts relating to England which did not
relate, or at least only to a partial extent, to Ireland, and
were ho to perpetuate Ireland in his present scheme, the
effect might be to perpetuate that confusion which he was
seeking to put an end to. There were probably some six
or eight thousand local nets of which the judges were
found to take notice, and which were printed in extenso, in
all the editions of the statutes. He might mention, as a
specimen of them, the act relating to Dover Harbour, by
which certain ccnemissions were created, having various
powers concerning the management of the harbour. There
were many thousand acts of a similar description applying
to Liverpool, Hull, and other large towns. In these acts,
which were of a strictly local character, were to be found
many provisions of a public and general nature. For ex-
ample, an assault committed on any of the commissioners
or superintendents, or any of the officers under them, while
they were in the execution of their duty, was made a mis-
demeanour : the more obstructing of such persons was
dealt with in a similar way. No action could he brought,
however, more than six months after the offence was al-
leged to have been committed, and thus there was a special
statute of limitations. The greatest inconvenience arose
from the existing state of these local acts : and what he
should propose to do when they cam© to deal with this
class of statutes was to repeal all the provisions that ex-
isted, and all that might hereafter be enacted, and to
substitute for them one single general act of Parlia-
ment resembling the Railway Clauses Consolidation
-Act. The acts relating to the army and navy, and the
militia, the acts relating to the revenue, and the loan acts
might be consolidated with great facility. Of the forty
volumes of statutes, at least four or five relating to the re-
venue would, he believed, be found to have expired. The
effect of the system of consolidation for which the present
bill was intendedeto provide would be to remove from the
statute-book at least three-fourths of the statutes of which
the law consisted, and to make the statute-book, instead of
comprising a long succession of statutes without order, con-
sistency, or arrangement, consist only of a series of cons°.
lidation acts, beginning with those of a general nature and
finishing with those of a departmental or administrative
character ? But then came the important and difficult
question, what were they to do as regarded future legisla-
lation. The statute law commission, which had devoted
its attention to this branch of the subject, had it appeared,
prepared a report which would shortly be laid before Par-
liament, comprising a scheme for future legislation. The
framing of bills by independent members, not familiar with
the statute law, was a very serious matter for consideration ;
and as soon as the report in question had been presented,
he should propose to have distributed among members of
both houses of Parliament ,suggestions as to the phrase-
ology and structure of bills to be introduced into Parlia-
ment, which would greatly assist such persons as he had
referred to. As regarded the future framing of bills, he
thought that the house would entirely concur with him
in the opinion that there ought to be, and must be, some
officer, or a corps of officers, appointed by and invested
with the authority of bath houses of Parliament, to
watch and assist in the course of legislation ; to consider
every bill for the amendment of the law, not forgetting
its bearing on the statute-book as it already existed, and
to take upon themselves the general superintendence and
revision of the bills introduced into Parliament. Sup-
posing some such authority to exist, then came the ques-
tion by what means could the new enactments be made
consistently and conveniently to form part of the pre-
viously consolidated statute law. Not wishing to deal
with the question merely in the abstract, he would
take the case of the other bill which he was about
to ask leave to introduce, relating to bills of exchange and
promissory notes. At present there was in this country a
mercantile custom by which three days' grace was allowed
on notes of hand. Suppose it were thought expedient by
Parliament to make the law of England consistent with the
law of other countries in that respect, and to do away with
the three days' grace, and suppose a bill were passed for
that purpose—in that case, if the Consolidation Act re-
lating to bills of exchange and promissory notes were en-
titled " Consolidation Act No. 1, Bills of Exchange," no-
thing wield be easier than to affix the sauce title to the
act which made the alteration. And in like manner, after
the general consolidation of the statutes, it might be pro-
vided by a resolution cf both houses of Parliament
that whenever a new act was passed it should be
printed, so as to become part of the consolidation act re-
lating to the same subject. Under this scheme, or modes
operandi, not only would the consolidation of the sta-
tutes be attended with immediate benefit, but, as legisla-
tion proceeded, the now acts would be made to form part of
the already consolidated statutes, and the statute-book
would consist of a series of single acts, each series contain-
log the whole statute law on the subject to which it re-
lated. This, then, was the plan for consolidating the whole
statute law of the laud, for which he asked the sanction of
the honse—a plan in which no attempt was made to codify,
or deal with the common law. It was eezential to the suc-
cess of his scheme that, if the principle of it should receive
the sanction of both Houses of Parliament, the several
consolidation acts which would be founded upon it should
bo passed in as rapid succession as practicable, so that
they might with the least possible delaybecome part of the
law of tho land. He had satisfied himself that the scheme
was practicable, and would be successful if it received the
sanction of Parliament; and he would, at any sacrifice of
time which might be necessary, undertake the superinten-
dence and preparation of all the acts of Parliament. As re-
garded the possible objections to his scheme, he believed it
was owing to the mixing up of consolidatiou with codifi-
cation that the greatest and ablest men who had hitherto
attempted to deal with this subject had hitherto failed.
The consolidation of a multiplicity of acts of Par-
liament was a comparatively simple task, consisting in the
substitution for 20 or 30 acts of one single not containing
verbatim the same provisions. This would lead to no die-
cuasion—it was only putting the law in a different form ;
but if they superadded to that the codification of the sta-
tute law, on what a wide field would they enter ! He ven-
tured to say, with perfect confidence, that no one could
advance through one page of a bill for codifying the com-
mon law of England without giving rise to discussions and
differences of opinion as to the construction and exposition
of the law, doubts upon the construction and exposition of
the law, anti as to what the law was, which would render
the passing of a single act of Parliament for the consolida-
tion of any one single branch of the law in any ono session
of Parliament utterly impossible. (Hear, hear.) So long
as the house limited its exertions to consolidating the
statutes, there would be no difficulty in proceeding, but
if an attempt were made to codify, the result would, he
feared, be differeet. As an instance of this he would call
attention to what took place in the House of Lords a few
sessions since, when an attempt was made to codify the
criminal law The bill which was brought in at that time
was referred to a committee, consisting, he would not say
of some of the most distinguished lawyers, but of the naost
distinguished lawyers of the kingdom. Four of the com-
mittee were noble lords who had filled the office of Lord
Chancellor, one was then Lord Chancellor, and the sixth
was chief justice of England. Lord Truro, Lord St. Leo-
nards, Lord Brougham, Lord Cranworth, Lord Lyndhurst,
and Lord Campbell, were the noble lords composing that
committee. The first clause of the bill was an interpre-
tation clan e, fixing the meaning of the words thereinafter
used. The committee held eleven meetings, sitting on
the average from four to six hours upon each occasion,
and in the end they were ule'iged to give up the bill in
despair, finding it absolutely impossible ,to agree upon
the meanings to be affixed to the technical words used
in the bill. If any hon. member thought that the difficulty
was one easy to be got over he would suggest to him to en-
deavour to put into the shape of a section of an act a defi-
nition of the word "malicious," a term constantly occur-
ing in criminal jurisprudence. If then they could not have
codification, they might certainly have consolidation. And
the advantage of acceding to this proposition was this, that
the one plan by no means interfered with the other, but was
rather a step towards it. Were the entire statute law con-
solidated and arranged under appropriate headings, a st_p
which would materially aid any future attempts to codify
would be accomplished. There was another matter con-
nected with the subject which he mu: t bring before the
house. He was perfectly willing to undertake the responsi-
bility of superintending such measures as might be neces-
sary to carry into effect the scheme which he hadimper-
fectly sketched out, but it was obvious that it would require
the close attention of learned and competent men, and the
country could not expect that the services of such persons
could be given without remuneration. When the house
came to consider that, in order properly to frame an act con-
solidating a branch of the law, it would be necessary to read
through, collate, and weigh the effect of 30, 40, or perhaps
50statutes, ho did not think that a remuneration for each
bill averaging between 501. and 10i/. would be too large.
But in connection with this matter hon. members should
bear in mind the fact that a great saving would result to
the country at large from the system which he advocated. It
was almost impossible to over-estimate the advantages of
such reform. He believed that two recent acts of Parliament
—the County Court Act and the Common Law Procedure
Act—had effected an annual saving of 1,000,0001. sterling.
He therefore hoped that the house would favourably view
the plan which he lead brought under its consideration ;
and if he were fortunate enough to obtain its consent to the
second reading of this bill, hon. members might rely upon
it that he would not relax his efforts in the course which
ho was now pursuing. Of course so vast
a subject would
in
require some time to carry it through all its parts,
but he did not hesitate in saying that it might be done
within 2 years from that time. He was quite sure that he
should not back co-operation. There was no want of earliest
and able men ready to aid the cause of legal reform ; in-
deed, so true was this that he could see no reason why, at
the present day, one single grievance in the hews of England
should remain unredressed.

Lord STANLEY—I rise to second the motion of my
hon. and learned friend; but, after his comprehensive
speech, and not anticipating opposition at this stage, I shall
trouble the house with but few remarks. I see with plea-
sure, as does every man who has reflected on the wants of
this community, that, in the rather unusual cessation of
political antagonism which characterises the present time,
the qu,stion of law reform is rising daily into greater pro-
minence. Daring half a century that question has occupied
the attention of Parliament, and be some extent of the pub-
lic ; but what has been wanting is not so much the guidance
of a directing mind or the agency of honest and competent
persons skilled in the law, as that popular interest and sup-
port out of doors, without which, in a popularly-constituted
Government, any reform, especially if it involves much
labour of detail, is sure tube thrust aside to make way for
other measures less important, hot at the moment more
interesting. The difficulty with which law reformers have
to contend has arisen not so much from the actual magni-
tude and weight of obstacles in the way as from the want
of sufficient impelling force to encounter and bear thorn
down. The work has been there to be done, the machine
was ready to do it, but the propelling driving power was
not adequately supplied. If Parliament be in earnest in
dealing with this subject, what course ought we to adopt?
I do.not dogmatise on such a question, but I accept my hon.
and learned friend's conclusion, that any attempt to reeset
the whole law of England into the form of a code would,
for the present at least, be useless. You would have to
amalgamate with the statutes the whole f thelcommon un-
written law, now scattered over more than 500 volumes ;
to try on an immense scale, under every disadvantage, that
experiment which was tried 3 or 4 years ago, on a small
scale, under the most favourable circumstances, the result
of which my learned friend has described. The alternative,
then, is to deal with one part of the law—the statute law
—only; to simplify it, to amend it, to bring it within the
smallest possible compass, and, after that task has been ac-
complished, then, but not till then, to consider what fur-
ther steps ought to be taken. I use the wcrd alternative,
bet, in truth, the acceptance of one plan does not imp
the rejection,
hardly even the postponement, of the other.
For it must be borne in mind by the advocates of codifica-
tion that the first step towards codification is the consolida-
tion of the statute law, and even if nothing should be done
beyond consolidation a great economy of time and labour
would be etlected, and much confusion would be removed.
Every step taken in that direction 'is a guarantee for fur-
ther improvement, because when confusion has been re-
moved from the law upon any single subject the force of
contrast will operate, and men will ask why ono part of the
law should be simple and another obscure ? If consolidation
be determined. on Loy hon. and learned friend wall take

upon himself a large proportion of the Parliamentary la-
bour which it involves, but the great mass of the work to
be done will have to be done out of this house. (Hear.)
Two methods present themselves of getting through that
work. Ono is to have a fixed body of met, either a Minis-
ter of Justice with subordinate agents. or a certain num-
ber of commissioners to deal successively with all the sub-
jects concerning which enactments are contained in the
statutes. The other is to divide the statute law into groups,
and to confide each separate group to some :person or per-
sons who have made that particular branch of law their
special study. Each method has its advantages. By the
first you will obtain that uniformity of system which fol-
lows upon the action of a single directing mind. By the
second you will utilise the services of men who have ac-
Tared a special familiarity with a particular subject, with-
out perhaps being under the necessity of taking them alto-
gether away from their profession. It is a question whe-
ther the two methods might not be advantageously united,
whether the necessary unity of plan may not be gained by
the superintendence of a Minister or commissioner, while
the work of consolidation upon each particular subject is
assigned to the person best able to undertake it. The next
question that arises refers to the arrangement of the -sta-
tutes. Some jurists have proposed au entire redistribution
of the statutes, which would require many of them to be
taken to pieces and arranged under separate Leads. It is
clear that this process (whether desirable or not I do not
pronounce) is ono of codification, and not merely of conso-
lidation. The plan which is the most simple, and which
involves the least departure from the existing arrange-
ment, would no doubt he the most convenient. There are
many statutes which cannot be arranged or classified with-
out difficulty, but those of the greatest importance relate
to subjects upon which Parliament has frequently legis-
lated, and they might be classified into large and compre-
hensive groups. I have made out a list of nine such groups,
which I will lead to the house. With regard to the qua-
lification and election of members of Parliament 185
separate acts have been passed ; with regard to Excise,
120; stamps, 130; Poor Law; 120; assessed taxes, 40;
Crown lands, 40; municipal corporations, 60 ; rent, 40;
and sheriffs and their officers, 55, This list by no means
exhausts the instances in which a large number of statutes
has been passed upon a single subject, but it shows that
790 separate acts may easily be reduced to nine. This
kind of legislation is different from every other kind. In
other cases, if the work to be done is not completed the
labour bestowed upon it is entirely lost, but in this case
every step gained is gained once for all, and will be
equally useful and valualewhether the work be completed
or not. A question has been raised with regard to the
degree of verbal alteration which ought to bo Made in
the different statutes when they were thrown together.
Tho commissioners of 1854 have fully argued that ques-
tion, and answered the objection thet verbal alterations
would destroy the authority of the judicial decisions now
in existence. They contend that the result of former
judicial interpretations would be embodied in such alte-
rations, and litigation, instead of being created, would be
decreased by the consequent removal of doubts. A doubt
has been raised as to whether anything ought to be at-
tempted in the way of subetantiye as well as verbal altera-
tion, and it has been said that nothing ought to be done
beyond consolidating the law as it stands, lest the Govern-
ment or the commissioner should assume an undue respon-
sibility la making alterations. No doubt there is just
ground for such a ffear ; but, on the other hand, much of
our statute law has become wholly or partially obsolete,
much has been virtually repealed, and thus substantive as
well as verbal alterations 'may, to a certain degree, be ne-
cessary, while no persons can be so competent to suggest
such alteration: as those whose attention has, by the very
labour of consolidating, been closely fixed upon the law as
it stands. The Government and the framers of any act em-
bodying such alterations will be responsible for them.
Cara must always be taken to explain their nature and
extent ; and I take for granted that nothing will be at-
tempted in that way except what the state of the law and
the necessities of the time render obviously expedient. I
now come to what has been looked upon as the greatest
difficulty in the way of consolidation, namely, the con-
tinual introduction and passing of new acts. It is urged
that no,reform in the nature of consolidation can be more
than temnorary, because fresh changes are every day being
ma !e. My answer is, that this objection, even admitting
its validity to the fullest extent, does not touch the ques-
.tion of the beneficial e Teets of consolidation. t will be a
great step towards the simplification of the law, and a
great saving of labour and time, it all we obtain be that
those who have to ascertain the statute law upon a parti-
cular subject shall be able to begin their inquiries with the
year 1856 or 1817, instead of having to look back 300 or
400 years. My hon. and learned friend, however, holds
that the difficulty, such as it is, is not insuperable. The
consolidation act upon a particular subject will embody
the law up to the time of its passing, and whether any
amendment act subsequently passed be classified separately
as a consolidation semendment act, or whether it be
joined ou by way of supplement to the consolidation
act, the objection will in either nay be overcome, and the
whole statute law upon that subject may still be found in
the !same part of the same book. I think it clear that
some competent authority is required—whether a board
or a Minister, Parliament must decide—by whom every
act of Parliament shall be examined to see that it is not
inconsistent with former acts, and that it rightly and fully
expresses the intentions of its propounders. That prepo-
sition is not novel. It was put 'forward about two years
ago in au able pamphlet by Mr. Willmore, it has been
again and agein discussed among members of the profes-
sion, I believe there is a general concordance of legal
opinion in its favour, and I at least never heard any valid
argument against it. The expense will be but trifling,
even if in such a matter expense can be regarded. My
hon. and learned friend has raised the point of far greater
difficulty—namely, what ought to be done with local or
personal acts which are in some sense acts of a general
character—as, for instance, where special and exceptional
protection is given, in certain cases, to persons or pro-
perty. It is rash to generalize, but :I confess to me all
such acts (I don't deny their necessity in supposable cases)
appear faulty in principle, and as in the ease of the Rail-
way Clauses Act. they ought, for the warning and guid-
ance of the public, to be embodied in one general statute,
controlling and limiting their provisions. With regard to
the specific measures which my hon. and learned friend
his introduced I shall 1106 trouble the House. They are
large in themselves, bat they aro far loss important than
the general plan which he has sketched out, and the pledge
which he has given. The
.pledge is before the country.
I will only observe that wo are too apt, in the conflict of
parties, to forget the right, the duty, and the responsi-
bility which belongs to individual members of aiding in
the work of leeislation. We remember and talk loudly
of the responsibility of action, but we lose sight of the
equally real responsibility of doing nothing %share abuses
exist. It is not reasonable or just that the exclusive
burden of legislation should devolve on those who have
already on their hands the administrative business of the
Dalian. My hon, and learned friend, in asociating himself
with the Executive in undertaking this task, is not only
promoting a legal reform, but setting a good Parliamentary
example, and with the energy and industry he has dis-
played it is not likely that he will fail from any want of
support either in or out of the house. (Hear.)
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL thought they well all per-
fectly agreed on this—that it was desirable to consolidate
their statutes. (Hear.) That was a point on which it was
not necessary to labour. Every one would agree that the
state of the law with regard to its promulgation was highly
discreditable to the legislature. The laws of England were
scattered ou the face of a large number of text books, in
hundreds of volumes of reports, and in thousands of statute
books. (Hear.) In the course of his able speech, in se-
conding the motion before the house, the noble lord the
member for King's Lynn had pointed out a hundred dif-
ferent statutes on the same subject. Now that was beyond
all doubt scandalous. (Hear.) But the question was, what
was the best remedy for that state of things ? What was
the best mode of consolidating the statutes : He quite
agreed with his hon. and learned friend the member for
Suffolk and with the noble lord, that it was not desirable
to attempt to combine codification with consolidation.
(Hear.) Let them first consolidate the statutes, and iu that
point of view ho was strongly disposed to think, that how-
ever defective they might be, the task of proceeding to deal
with the statutes by proceeding to name them and to alter
their provisions and their language in the way that had
been suggested would ha a protracted work—a work of im-
mense labour. He believed that by such a procedure what
was necessarily a work of great time would assume an un-
limited duration. He thought that the first thing they
ought to do was, to sweep away from the statute book all
statutes that had been repealed, or all parts of statutes
that had been repealed ; and then begin to consolidate
those that remained. (Hear, hear.) They then came to
the question—how could that consolidation bo effected ?
The honourable and learned member for Suffolk had
detailed to the house the scheme by which he proposed to
effect that object ; but he (the Attorney-General thought
that his hon. and learned friend had taken too much credit
to himself for the originality of that scheme. As he (the
Attorney-General) understood it, it was nothing more nor
less than what the statute law commission had for some
time been acting on in the preparation of statutes to be
submitted to Parliament. He did not quite under stand the
position V his hon. and learned friend, who lie was sure
wee sincerely desirous of turning his great knowledge and
his great ability to the furtherance of that most essential
object, the coneolidatiou of the statute law—he did not
understand whether his hon. and learned friend was to be
considered as the organ of the statute law commission, or
whether he assumed an independent position in that house
with respect to the consolidation of the statutes. He had
no wish to accord to the hon and learned member—who
had been for so many years an ornament of the profession
of which they were both members—a modesty for which a
barrister of such standing would scarcely claim credit, but
he did not think that his hon. audio trned fi iei.d would as-
sume a merit which in this case ho did not Possess. However
he should say that he did not apprehend there was any-
thing in the plan of his hon. and learned friend that was
not contained in the plan of the statute law commission,
which was now proceeding with its duties. Ho did not, as
he had before observed, quite understand whether the hon.
and learned member was the organ of that commission or
not. He (the Attorney-General) had the honour to be a
member of the commission, as were two or three of his
learned friends now around him, and they were not aware
that the lion. and learned member was authorised to speak
in the name of the statute low commission. It might, be
that he was; but if so, certainly he (the Attorney-General)
(lid not know it. His hon, and learned friend had said
that he would take under his careful superintendence
bills on the statute law. They were to
.to theexer.cise
hear.)
hon. and
Attorney-General) did not know whether t
plan of
could
de
nuontdceormlieisivu auspiciousnde r
bettor.supervision,
H eand(Hoar,
doubt°°:anroe) intoitet(hhtiyet
that body.
his own prerogative or appear there
ht he, he (the At-
Ht hlearnedoew However,
statuterg .e nwlt
hal gentleman
eacs noo
fuawfi
commission—whether
oens—c Weintroducemheethmet
rhi
gi::shpeo_la.nwnoataos assf
forto r nheey•Generthoughtal) was
that a d friend required
to was required
that proposed by his hon. and
e He thought that •
to meet the existing state of Slimes. _ if
they went on acting on the principle which his hon. and
not
mdiosrpoosettportre=escihtsemmeeztltasn;
the work in two years, he doubted if they
from completing
complete it in two centuries. He was of opinion
would
learned friend
principlef riend lla do
f statedth e that
statute law night--whichcoturnigs
commission—so
thought_ so afar
the lawrespecting that if they dealt with the statute law by taking, say first,
concerning offences against the person, those as between
bills of exchange, and then the laws
master and servant, blouse relating to landlord and tenant,
those havingget g
thrroeuferientcheeinto stamps,uewas
inclinedan dso on,tothink they
they would
n
would have to wait till doomsday for a completion of their
task. What he would recommend was, that they should
compile analytically the statute law of England complete
—as any one would to form a code, or to write a text
book of the law of England, classifying and subdividing
into chapters and heads • and having got a great outline
or skeleton of the law of England, they could arrange
under their proper heads all the laws relating to money, to
husband and wife, to guardian and ward, to person and
property, to political etfences, to police," to Parliamentary-
repreeentation, &sc. This, he thought, would be a com-
prehensive mode of dealthir, with the matter, But the plan