The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-03 00:00:00

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the consolidation of any branch of the craninal or eta-
tote law, and moved that an humble addrPss be
presented to her Majesty, praying her Maj-sty
to dispense with the present Statute Law Commission.
The hon. and learned gentleman reviewed what bad been
done toward+ the consolidation of the statutes, and to
the sum of 10,0001. that had been paid to Mr. B Ker,
accruine, to the Commissioners for services rendered.
Mr. HADFIELD seconded the mot.on. _

Sir F, KELLY communicated to the house what had
been done by the Statute Law Commission since its ap-
pointment. .The consolidation of the statutes had for 250
years baffled the efforts of the most eminent jnri,ts
of this country, but the Statute Law Commission bad
succeeded in laying down a- single and comprehensive
plot for accomplishing that object. The work was ac-
tually commenced, and was in course of successful
execution by that commission which the honour-
able and learned gentleman called upon the
house to censure and dissolve. The right hon, and
learned gentleman (Sir, F. 1(slle) then referred to the
nuenherof Statutes in existence ranging from the time of
Magna Charts to the present day, and enumerated the
lainur of the commission in classifying, dividing, and sub-
dividing them for their effectual consolidation. The Com-
mission had done much service to the country in the
work they had done during the last three years, and he
confidently appealed to the house for their approval of the
conduct. The cumm►asion had not attempted the con-
solidati n of the criminal law of Ireland, in consrquence
of it differing in many essentials from that of E gland,
hut the commission had put it into the hands of persons
capable of efficiently accomplishing it.
Mr. wairE -IDE, after complimenting the last
speaker on his industry and practical knowledge, said
that the late A.torney-General, the Lord C..anceltor,
and the present Attorney-General had all advocated dif-
ferent modes of effecting this object. If it• were in-
tended to nice one set of statutes fur England, another
for Scotland, and another Ireland, the evil, instead of
being removed, would be aggrava,ed. ar, hear.) He
had obtained a copy of the New Consolidated 13111 s, and
had sought an opinion from a competent gentleman as
to the time the work ought to occupy. He thought
about two men' hs ; and be added that the plan pro
ceeded on was one that would not remedy the evil corn-
Wainer' of. There were no insuperable difficulties in the
way of having the same criminal taw for England awf Ire-
land ; there were no such broad differences between he
two as to require a separate set of statutes. Where laws
wereconenlidated and amended, the first object ought to
be to make them of general applicati in to ad parts of the
country. One main difference was that cots, iracy was
capital crime i❑ Ireland, and was not so in England.
Why sh Sul 1 this distinction c,ntiuue? At any rate, it
,vas surely not necessary that they should have separate
statutes for the mercantile law. The recent Shipping
Act of this country was one of the best specimens of
consolidation, and the work was really well done. He
should be compelled to oppose the plan of inflicting
separate sets of statutes on the different branches of the
empire. _ _

Sir F. KELLY said it was a part of the plan of con-
solidation that it should apply equally to England and
Ireland, and tie reaso❑ of these fir,,t bills on the cri-
minal law was on account of some differences existing
i❑ the Irish law which had not been taken into acc.dint.
He hoped the hon. and learned gentleman would give
them his assistance when the bills came befire them, in
making them applicable to Ireland.

Mr. BAINES said the commission was most anxious
to avoid these distinctions, and to have one set of laws
for E,gland, Ireland, and Scotland. There was nothing
let practicable in this, and none of the exiting differences
were so great as to render separate statutes necessary.
It ought to be the of j,ct of ail to get rid of tho-.e diffe-
rences. As to the motion itself, he thought the discon-
tinuance of the commission would be a great public mis-
fortune. Mr. King had mentioned the criminal law
c )intnission, and the expense it bad incurred. That com-
mission, though it did not result successfully in the con-
solidation of the statutes, had been productive of great
benefit. It bad produced several valuable reports, and
its labours had guided those who followed. A digest of
the whole criminal law had been completed, and it was
inipssitile to underrate the value of that work. Tne
statute law commission, of which he had been a member
15 months, had now a greater prospect than ever -cf
bringing their labours to a successful issue. No man
more deserved the thanks of the country on this question
than Lord Br.lugbarn, and he had declared in reference
to the bills recently introduced by the Lord Chancellor
in the o'ber house that he entirely approved of the cour,e
taken, that great misrepresentations had been made as to
the statute law commission, and that Mr. Bcllendeu
Ker, Mr. Coulson, and Sir F. Krlly were eminently en-
t tied to the thanks of the country. This was the opinion
of the man best qualified to form a judgment, given only
ten days agl, and yet the house was now asked to vote
for the di•contiouance of the commission. Lord Wen -
leydale now regularly attended that commission, and ,e-
-perintended some of the bills ; so did Vice-Chancellor
Wood, and so far from thinking that the commission was
of no use, they were evidently anxious to promo's i s
labours all in their power. Seeing that between 40 and
50 bids had been a:realy prepared, and would sh,,rtly be
before Parliament, nothing could be more ra,h than to
agree to the motion proposed. The establishment of a
[idolater of justice—a suhj -at of very gr..at ditlizulty
bad recently been confodered, and until this impirt:int
question was decided, he hoped the house would nut ask
for the abandenment of the commission.

Mr. N4PIER sa'd that at the request of the commis-
sioners he had turnAii-d them a plan of v.hat he thou:4lA
would be the bevt means of carrying out the tichetne with
regard to Ireland. His views were not adopted, and think-
in,!. that he could do no good, he did ❑ot Inter!, ra with
the bills that were sent over to Ireland. Onegreat c-
tion to the comteibsion wa-., that there was no respon-

ible person who could devote his whole time and a. ten
. . .

lion to the bn. loess. There was no controlling mind to
take the direction. H s hon. and learned friend (sir F.
Kelly) was an invaluable member of the commission, but
with his exten -ive enga..ernents he could no-, po i ly
devote much time to it. He was in hopes that a depart-
ment would soon be constructel in Ireland, under the
auspices of the Government and the Attorney-General,
which woul•f give effective aid in the cinsolniation of th-
Aatutes, which ought to be done so as not only to get
rid of obsolete statutes, but to adapt the whole law to
the spirit of the times. (Hear.)

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that a more
unreasonable proposition—to cut down the tree at the
moment when it was about to bear fruit—c ul t hardly
have been submitted to any assembly ; nor anything
more impatient than that, on a suhj •ct like this, they
should expect not only a plan matured, but actually
carried int.) operation, in the abort time that had
been allowed to the cominision. (Hear.) Tne coal-
rni-sion, it should be remembered, was not able to sit
de die in diem; it was composed principally of the most
important legal functionaries in the kingdom, most of
whom were so fully occupied that they could not devote
more than a few hours ip a week to this important work.
There was no sulject on which he felt more anxious,
and to which he held himself more fully pledged, than
the prosecution of the engagement which be consid• red
had been formed by the Government to carry into effect
the formation of a department of public justice He bad,
with considerable dlfficuity, prepared a plan on the sub-
j.!ct great part of which was now before the Government
for their consideration ; and he hoped the plan would be
matured in t'rne to be made public before the end of the
,ession. That was an additional reason why Mr. King
should consent to withdraw the motion he had now
made. (Hear.)
Lord J RUSSELL said he did not think the propo-
sition of his hon. friend was so entirely absurd as the