The Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 123) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that for the United Kingdom the death penalty for all offences of forgery, except for forging wills and certain powers of attorney.
In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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. [1]
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. [2] From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts. [2] In 1816, both Houses of Parliament, passed resolutions that an eminent lawyer with 20 clerks be commissioned to make a digest of the statutes, which was declared "very expedient to be done." However, this was never done. [3]
In 1812, William Booth was the last person to be hanged for forgery in England. A public outcry at the harshness of his sentence resulted in the death penalty in England and Wales being reserved for capital crimes, making Booth the last person in England hanged for a non-capital crime. [4]
In 1822, Sir Robert Peel entered the cabinet as home secretary and in 1826 introduced a number of reforms to the English criminal law, which became known as Peel's Acts. This included efforts to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions from a large number of earlier statutes, including: [5]
In 1827, several acts were passed for this purpose, territorially limited to England and Wales and Scotland, including:
In 1828, parallel Bills for Ireland to Peel's Acts were introduced, becoming: [6]
In 1828, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for England and Wales almost 60 statutes relating to the criminal law. In 1829, the Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for Ireland almost 60 statutes relating to the Criminal law.
In 1828, the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 74) was passed, which repealed for India offences repealed by the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827 (7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 27) the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31).
In 1830, the Forgery Act 1830 (11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. 66) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to forgery and repealed for England and Wales over 25 statutes relating to the criminal law.
In 1832, the Coinage Offences Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to the counterfeiting and clipping of coins, repealed for the United Kingdom almost 50 statutes relating to the criminal law, and abolished the punishment of the death penalty for coinage offences.
In 1832, several petitions were made to Parliament of the United Kingdom to abolish the death penalty in relation to offences of forgery: [7]
Leave to bring in the Forgery Punishments Bill was granted to the attorney general, Thomas Denman MP , and the solicitor general, Sir William Horne MP , [7] and the Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 22 June 1832, introduced by Thomas Denman MP . [16] The Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 30 June 1832, and was committed to a Committee of the Whole House, [17] which met on 24 July 1832 and reported on 25 July 1832, with amendments. [7] The amended Bill was considered on 26 July 1832 and had its third reading in the House of Commons on 31 July 1832. [18] Notable opposition came from Sir Charles Wetherell MP .
The Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 1 August 1832. [19] The Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 10 August 1832, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, [20] and was committed to a Committee of the Whole House, which met on 13 August 1832, and reported on 14 August 1832, with amendments, [19] adding exceptions at the request of Lord Wynford, allowing the death penalty in cases of forgery of wills and power of attorney. [21] The amended Bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 15 August 1832, with amendments. [19]
The amended Bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 15 August 1832. [7]
The Bill was granted royal assent on 16 August 1832. [19]
Section 1 of the act abolished the death penalty for all offences of forgery. [22]
Section 2 of the act provided that this abolition did not extent to punishments for forging or altering wills and certain powers of attorney. [22]
Section 3 of the act provided that it is sufficient to describe a forgery in an indictment and that indictments did not need to include a copy of the forged document. [22]
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. [23] The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform.
In 1854, Lord Cranworth appointed the Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law. [23] The Commission made four reports. Recommendations made by the Commission were implemented by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64).
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. [23]
In 1861, Bills were introduced to consolidate and modernise the criminal law, drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves across: [24]
In 1861, the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts were passed:
Section 1 of the Forgery Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 84) abolished the exception, providing that any person convicted of any of those offences was liable to be transported for life, or for a term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding four years and not less than two years.
The act was wholly repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 95).
The Offences Against the Person Act 1828, also known as Lord Lansdowne's Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales provisions in the law related to offences against the person from a number of earlier piecemeal statutes into a single act. Among the laws it replaced was clause XXVI of Magna Carta, the first time any part of Magna Carta was repealed, and the Buggery Act 1533. The act also abolished the crime of petty treason.
The Offences Against the Person Act 1837 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the law to lessen the severity of punishment of offences against the person, lessening the severity of the punishment of offences.
The Coinage Offences Act 1832 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated England and Wales all legislation concerning the counterfeiting and clipping of coins into one act. Such conduct was often considered to be high treason: this act downgraded the offence to felony and abolished the death penalty for all coinage offences.
The Criminal Law Act 1826 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated a large number of acts relating to criminal procedure.
The Forgery Act 1837 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that abolished the punishment of the death penalty for all offences of forgery, substituting it for transportation or imprisonment.
The Forgery Act 1830 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales all legislation imposing the death penalty for forgery into one act. Two years later, the Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832 abolished the death penalty for most of these offences. The Forgery Act 1837 abolished the death penalty for the remaining offences.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1876 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that substituted references of repealed enactments in various acts with references to non repealed enactments.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1863 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for England and Wales enactments from 1235 to 1685 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1873 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for the United Kingdom enactments from 1742 to 1830 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of the revised edition of the statutes, then in progress.
The Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861(24 & 25 Vict. c. 95) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for England and Wales and Ireland statutes relating to the English criminal law from 1634 to 1860. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes.
The Summary Jurisdiction Act 1884, also known as the Summary Jurisdiction (Repeal) Act 1884, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that clarified the Summary Jurisdiction Acts as amended by the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879 and repealed for England and Wales statutes from 1691 to 1882.
The Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829, also known as the Offences Against the Person Act (Ireland) 1829, is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for Ireland provisions in the law related to offences against the person from a number of earlier piecemeal statutes into a single act.
The Juries Act 1825, also known as the County Juries Act 1825, is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated and amended statutes for England and Wales related to juries. The act abolished outdated penalties, moved responsibility for creating jury lists from petty constables to churchwardens and parish overseers, expanded jury qualification to include bankers and merchants and devise a new method of jury selection. The act repealed for England and Wales statutes from 1259 to 1824.
The Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827 or the Criminal Statutes (England) Repeal Act 1827 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for England and Wales enactments relating to the English criminal law from 1225 to 1826.
The Summary Jurisdiction Act1848, also known as the Duties of Justices Act 1848 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated the provisions of a large number of statutes relating to summary jurisdiction. The act is one of the Jervis's Acts, also known as Summary Jurisdiction Acts, which reformed the local administration of justice in England.
The Criminal Statutes (Ireland) Repeal Act 1828 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for Ireland statutes relating to the criminal law from 1225 to 1826.
The Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed criminal justice in India.
The Select Committee on the Criminal Law in England was a select committee of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom appointed to consider consolidating and amending the criminal law of England and Wales.
The Juries (Ireland) Act 1833 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated and amended statutes for Ireland related to juries. The act abolished outdated penalties, moved responsibility for creating jury lists from petty constables to churchwardens and parish overseers, expanded jury qualification to include bankers and merchants and devise a new method of jury selection. The act repealed for Ireland statutes from 1259 to 1825.
The Juries Act (Ireland) 1871, also known as the Juries (Ireland) Act 1871, is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated and amended statutes for Ireland related to juries. The act notably replaced the existing system of jury qualification based on property requirements with a new system based on poor law ratings.
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