Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law

Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law

Royal Commission overview
Formed	29 August 1854 (1854-08-29)
Preceding Royal Commission	Board for the Revision of the Statute Law
Dissolved	1 February 1859 (1859-02-01)
Jurisdiction	England and Wales
Royal Commission executives	Lord Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, Commissioner Lord John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, Commissioner Lord Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Commissioner Lord Chief Justice John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell, Commissioner Sir John Jervis, Commissioner Sir Frederick Pollock, Commissioner James Parke, Commissioner James Moncreiff, Commissioner Spencer Walpole (Commissioner) Joseph Napier (Commissioner) William Page Wood (Commissioner) Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet (Commissioner) Sir Richard Bethell (Commissioner) Abraham Brewster (Commissioner) William Keogh (Commissioner) James Crawford (Commissioner) Charles Henry Bellenden Ker (Commissioner) Walter Coulson (Commissioner, after 1854) Lord James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale (Commissioner, after 1854) Sir Fitzroy Kelly (Commissioner, after 1854)
Key documents	[First Report] (10 July 1855) [Second Report] (5 March 1856) [Third Report] (June 1857) [Fourth Report] (February 1859)

The Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law (also known as the Statute Law Commission of 1854) was a royal commission that ran from 1854 to 1859 to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law.

Background

In the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the late 18th-century, raised questions about the system and structure of the common law and the poor drafting and disorder of the existing statute book. By the start of the 19th-century, it was widely recognised that the criminal law stood in need of the greatest reform.

In 1806, the Commission on Public Records passed a resolution requesting the production of a report on the best mode of reducing the volume of the statute book. From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts. In 1816, both Houses of Parliament, passed resolutions that an eminent lawyer with 20 clerks be commissioned to make a digest of the statues, which was declared "very expedient to be done." However, this was never done.

The Royal Commission on the Criminal Law was established in 1833 and issued its final report in 1845, proposing a draft bill digesting criminal law and procedure. However, the ambition for such a comprehensive legal was dissipating. Lord Brougham introduced a bill embodying the digest, but it was withdrawn on an undertaking by Brougham's opponent, Lord Lyndhurst, that a second Commission would be appointed to revise it.

The Royal Commission on Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law was established in 1854 and issued its final report in 1849. In autumn of 1852, the Lord Chancellor, Edward Sugden, 1st Baron St Leonards, directed James John Lonsdale and Charles Greaves to prepare Bills for the codification of criminal law based on the reports of the Criminal Law Commissioners. Two major Bills based on the work of the Commission covering offences against the person and larceny were introduced in 1853 and continued under Lord Cranworth. The bills made no progress, principally because of the unanimously unfavourable judicial reaction to the prospect of the common law being embodied in statutory form.

At the start of the parliamentary session in 1853, Lord Cranworth announced his intention to the improvement of the statute law and in March 1853, appointed the Board for the Revision of the Statute Law to repeal expired statutes and continue consolidation, with a wider remit that included civil law. The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform.

Terms of reference

The Commission was appointed by letters patent dated 29 August 1854 by the Lord Chancellor, Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth. The Commission's terms of reference were to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law.

The Commission consisted of:

• Lord Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth
• Lord John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
• Lord Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
• Lord Chief Justice John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell
• Sir John Jervis
• Sir Frederick Pollock
• James Parke
• James Moncreiff
• Spencer Horatio Walpole
• Joseph Napier
• William Page Wood
• Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet
• Sir Richard Bethell
• Abraham Brewster
• William Keogh
• James Crawford
• Charles Henry Bellenden Ker

The barrister Matthew Brickdale was appointed Secretary to the Commission. Ker was the only paid member of the commission, receiving a salary of £1,000.

Walter Coulson, Lord James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale and Sir Fitzroy Kelly were subsequently added to the Commission

Proceedings

The Commission issued four reports on 10 July 1855, 5 March 1856, 11 June 1857 and 21 June 1859.

First report

The Commission issued its first report on 10 July 1855. Work undertaken included:

1. Consolidation of the national debt acts
2. Consolidation of the statutes relating to masters and servants or workmen
3. Consolidation of the criminal law
4. Consolidation of the stamp laws
5. Consolidation of the statutes relating to bills of exchange and promissory notes
6. Consolidation of the statutes relating to prisons
7. Consolidation of the law of landlord and tenant
8. Consolidation of the statutes relating to leases by ecclesiastical and collegiate corporations
9. Bill to consolidate and amend the Copyhold Commissioners Acts

The Commission concluded by observing that, which respect to current legislation:

"Perhaps nothing satisfactory towards the improvement of future legislation can be effected until either a board or some other persons are appointed, whose duty it shall be either to prepare or revise and report upon all Bills before they are brought into Parliament, and to watch them during their progress through the two Houses, either as officers of the Lord Chancellor or of some other Minister, or as officers of the two Houses of Parliament"

Second report

The Commission issued its second report on 5 March 1856. It recommended the adoption of two plans:

1. The appointment of an officer or board to revise and improve current legislation
2. The adoption of a system of classification to the public general statutes

Third report

The Commission issued its third report on 11 June 1857. The Commissioners stated that they had given instructions for the preparation of a classification of statutes and a register of statutes showing how far each statute was in force.

Fourth report

The Commission issued its fourth report on 21 June 1859. The Commissioners stated that the register and classification had been completed from the time of the union with Ireland to the end of the session of 1858 and that it was probable, from the data furnished by the register, that the whole of the existing statute law might be usefully consolidated into 300 or 400 statutes.

The Commissioners had prepared 90 consolidating Bills and the work may require ten or twelve permanent draftsmen two years to complete.

Criticism

The Commission incurred expenses of £40,052 23s. and 8d, which was subject to criticism by Peter King MP and George Hadfield MP as part of an 1869 resolution criticising the expensive process of legal revision that had taken place over 36 years, costing the country over £80,000 without yielding substantial results.

Legacy

Recommendations made by the Commission were implemented by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64).

In 1857 a Select Committee was appointed to consider the Commissioner's second report to improve the manner and language of current legislation. The Committee took evidence from Coulson, Ker, and Coode, but their proceedings were interrupted by the dissolution of Parliament before they had time to make a report.

In April 1859, the Attorney General, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, introduced a series of bills to consolidate the criminal law, which had been prepared by the Commission. The bills became Charles Greaves' Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. Speaking in Parliament, Kelly said:

"A plan had been proposed to the Commission which had been to a considerable extent acted upon, and in accordance with which ninety- three Bills were then ready, or nearly ready, which would consolidate the whole of the criminal statute law, the whole of the mercantile statute law, and the whole of the real property statute law"

Pursuant to an order of the House of Lords dated 5 July 1859, the Register of Public General Acts, which had been prepared by the Commission and consisted of two volumes from 1800 to the end of 1858, was published.

On 17 February 1860, the Attorney General, Sir Richard Bethell told the House of Commons that he had engaged Sir Francis Reilly and A. J. Wood to expurgate the statute book of all acts which, though not expressly repealed, were not in force, working backwards from the present time. This became the Statute Law Revision Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 101), the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125) and subsequent Statute Law Revision Acts.