Select Committee on Temporary Laws, Expired or Expiring
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United Kingdom House of Commons select committee
Select Committee on Temporary Laws, Expired or Expiring
Formation
April12,1796(1796-04-12)
Dissolved
May12,1796(1796-05-12)
Purpose
To inspect and consider all the Temporary Laws whatever of a Public Nature, which are expired, or expiring; and to report to the House, a Statement of all such expired Laws, as shall appear to them to have been made upon Occasions, whereof the like may recur hereafter, and also, a Statement of all the expiring Laws of every Sort whatever of a Public Nature; describing each Statute by its principal Matter, Date, Chapter, Section, and Title; and distinguishing the Duration of such as are expiring; together with the Observations of the said Committee, growing out of the several Matters referred to them
The Select Committee on Temporary Laws, Expired or Expiring was a select committee of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom appointed in 1796 to inspect and consider all the temporary laws of a public nature, which are expired or expiring.
On 12 April 1796, the House of Commons resolved to appoint a select committee to "inspect and consider all the Temporary Laws whatever of a Public Nature, which are expired, or expiring; and to report to the House, a Statement of all such expired Laws, as shall appear to them to have been made upon Occasions, whereof the like may recur hereafter, and also, a Statement of all the expiring Laws of every Sort whatever of a Public Nature; describing each Statute by its principal Matter, Date, Chapter, Section, and Title; and distinguishing the Duration of such as are expiring; together with the Observations of the said Committee, growing out of the several Matters referred to them."[2]
Membership
The committee was appointed on 12 April 1796, consisting of 14 members with a quorum of five and the power to "send for persons, papers, and records".[2]
The committee first met on 13 April 1796 and was granted the power to report to the House on 21 April 1796.[2] The committee reported on 12 May 1796.[3]
The committee found that there was no authentic and entire publication of the statutes, a problem compounded by the fact that many statutes had never been printed and that some of those printed were not faithful to the original and the increased volume of the statute book, which contained obsolete, obscure and poorly drafted statutes.[3]
The committee also summarised the history of statute law revision, finding that despite the attention of previous parliaments since the 16th-century, nothing substantial had been achieved.[3]
The committee recommended the "extreme importance" of obtaining a "complete and authentic publication of the statutes", and suggested the recompiling of past laws by conducting a detailed examination of all laws, identifying:[3]
Existing perpetual laws, labelling each as fit to stand, able to be simplified, or able to be repealed and replaced by a new law.
Existing but expiring laws, labelling each as fit to stand or to be made perpetual.
Repealed laws, labelling each as fit to be re-enacted or not.
Expired laws, labelling each as fit to be revived or not.
The committee recognised the importance of the Committee for Expired and Expiring Laws appointed annually to enquire what laws were fit to be revived or continued, but cited irregularities and mistakes, including:[3]
Temporary laws enacted by the insertion of a clause in the body of a perpetual act, for example the Customs and Excise Act 1787 (27 Geo. 3. c.13).
Inconsistent operating words, for example in acts continuing wars.
This resulted in inconsistencies. For example, section 3 of the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 (20 Geo. 2. c. 42), an act relating to window tax, which illustrates what the text calls a "hotch-potch" (mixed or inconsistent) approach to legislation. Section 3 of this act contained a broad provision stating that all existing and future statutes mentioning England would automatically apply to Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed, even when these places weren't specifically named. Then, oddly, section 4 immediately returns to discussing window tax specifically.[6]
Furthermore, the committee criticised that laws confined to cases of limited description, but depending on some general principle, were not extended to all the cases which fall within the range of the principle.[3]
To help with this, committee recommended that the Committee for Expired and Expiring Laws be required to inspect annually all the statutes of the preceding session and to insert into the Register of Expiring Laws those which are temporary, including the their matter, date, chapter and duration. Once expired, these acts would be transferred to the Register of Expired Laws.[3] The committee published these two tables as an appendix to their report.[3]
The committee found that while all public and private acts from each session were recorded sequentially on the official statute roll, the King's Printer published them as separate public and private collections with different numbering systems, creating a mismatch between chapter numbers in the official roll and the printed versions. Additionally, the chapter numbers, section numbers, margin summaries, and punctuation in the printed versions were added solely by the King's Printer, resting on private authority.[3][6]
The work of both committees drew attention to the unsatisfactory state of the statute book, following a resolution of the House of Commons on 20 March 1797 that "that his Majesty's printer should also be authorized to class the general and the special statutes (viz. the public, local, and private acts) of each session in separate volumes, and to number the chapters of each volume, together with a general table of all the acts passed in that session".[7] This led to the distinction now recognised between public general acts, local and personal acts and private acts.[6]
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.[6] From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts.[6]
↑ The Journals of the House of Commons and the published report differ slightly in the acts cited.
↑ Incorrectly cited as "13 Geo. 3. c. 74" in the source.
↑ Described in the act as "The general Customs House Act, for Duties and Drawbacks", although not cited exactly. Given the importance of the act, the chronological ordering of the list and the fact that the act is cited later in the report, this is the most probably act the committee to which the referred.
↑ Incorrectly cited as "28 Geo. 3. c. 28" in the source.
↑ Incorrectly cited as "32 Geo. 3. c. 28" in the source.
↑ The Journals of the House of Commons and the published report differ slightly in the acts cited.
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