An Act for further promoting the Revision of the Statute Law by repealing Enactments which are superfluous or have ceased to be in force or have become unnecessary.
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.[1] From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts.[1] 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]
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.[1] The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform.
In 1889, the Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) was passed, which generalised definitions used in acts of Parliament and provided rules of statutory construction. This rendered enactments unnecessary, for example the words "the Commissioners of Her Majesty's" before the word "Treasury" or the words "heirs and successors" after reference to the monarch.[1]
The amended bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 9 August 1889.[6] The bill was withdrawn in the last week of the session, on 16 August 1889,[6] following opposition on the ground that it sought to repeal enactments of the present reign without the authority of a select committee of the House of Commons.[1] This led to delays in the publication of the new edition of the revised edition of the statutes.[7]
...they desire to express their sense of the great caution and accuracy with which the Bill has been prepared, and their opinion that the Statute Law Committee and its assistants have fully justified the confidence which has been shown in them by both Houses of Parliament. In examining the statutes in order to consider the verbal amendments proposed, your committee came to the conclusion that the process of revision might be safely made much more extensive and valuable by the repeal of such of the preambles of these Acts as, having regard to the provisions of the third section of this Bill, were not required for the purpose of explaining or interpreting the Acts to which they were prefixed, and were not of any such historical interest and importance as to make it desirable that they should be reprinted in future and revised editions of the statutes."
The amended bill was considered by the House of Lords on 28 July 1890,[14] who agreed to some amendments, disagreed with others and made some consequential amendments.[10] The report of the select committee was adopted by the House of Lords after consideration by leading legal peers, including Lord Thring and Lord Herschell,[14] and consultation with the Statute Law Committee.[1] This resulted in amendments to the bill to authorise the omission, not repeal, of certain preambles and the addition of words to preambles into the revised edition of the statutes.[1][14] A committee was appointed to report reasons to the House of Commons,[14] which reported on 28 July 1890.[15]
The report was received by the House of Commons on 29 July 1890,[10] and the amended bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 1 August 1890.[10]
The repeals of preambles by section 1 of the act was criticised by legal writers after the passing, who described the "slaughter" as "quite unwise".[16]
Sections 2 and 5 of, and both schedules to, the act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 49).
The words "to the court of the county palatine of Lancaster or" in section 4 of the act were repealed by section 56(4) of, and Part II of Schedule 11 to, the Courts Act 1971.
The act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010.[17]
Repealed acts
Section 1 of the act repealed enactments, listed in the first schedule to the act, across six categories:[18][c]
Expired
Spent
Repealed in general terms
Virtually repealed
Superseded
Obsolete
Section 1 of the act also provided that parts of titles, preambles, or recitals specified after the words "In part, namely" in connection with acts mentioned in the first schedule to the act could be omitted from any revised edition of the statutes published by authority, with brief statements about the acts, officers, persons, and things mentioned in those titles/preambles/recitals being added as necessary.[19]
Section 2 of the act provided that acts listed in the second schedule could be omitted from any revised edition of the statutes published by authority after the passing of the act, treating them as if they were local and personal acts.[19]
Section 3 of the act provided that repeals were subject to the standard Westbury Saving.[19]
↑ The Note of the bill, unlike the schedule, gives commentary on each act, noting any earlier repeals and the reason for the new repeal.
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1 2 3 Lords, Great Britain Parliament House of (1889). Journals of the House of Lords. Vol.121. H.M. Stationery Office. pp.310, 318, 324 345, 380, 530.
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