[BILL 262.] SECOND READING. (Hansard, 12 July 1887)

§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL (Sir EDWARD CLARKE) (Plymouth)
I ask the House to agree to the second reading of this Consolidation Bill, the object of which is to gather into one Statute a number of provisions that are now 591 scattered over the Statute Book in a great many Acts of Parliament, and which are, of course, very inconvenient for the purpose of reference. If there were any objection to the Bill, I should not now seek to go on with the second reading. I have not heard of any objection, and I therefore trust that the House will allow the measure to be read a second time. I will not put down the Committee stage for a week, so that if in the meantime any objection is raised, I may know the nature of such objection, and may endeavour to meet it.

§ MR. T. M. HEALY Longford, N.)
Why does not this Bill apply to Ireland?

§ SIR. EDWARD CLARKE
I will deal with that question upon the Motion to go into Committee if the hon. and learned Gentleman desires it.

§ MR. CHANCE (Kilkenny, S.)
What change in the law does the measure effect?

§ MR. T. M. HEALY
This matter has evidently come upon the hon. and learned Member himself by surprise; for, judging from his manner of moving it, he does not appear to have been able to give the smallest study to its provisions. I have gone over the Bill with great curiosity. It was delivered to me with some documents relating to friendly societies. It seems a very admirable Bill, and I am not prepared to oppose the second reading. It involves an important change in the law. I do not rise in opposition to the second reading; but I do desire to have some information. The Bill deals with a subject of even more antiquity then the question of Coroner's Law, or than any other proposal for codification possibly can do. As I say, I believe it to be a desirable Bill; but I fail to see why, when we are simply dealing with a matter of construction and arrangement, you should leave Ireland out of this codification and improvement of the law. Now, as the Irish Office has very little to do, except to answer Questions—a function which is so admirably performed by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for the Isle of Thanet (Colonel King-Harman)—I think we have a right to ask that they should go into this matter, and should extend 592 this Bill to our country. It will not extend to Ireland as it is now drafted, because a great many provisions differing from Irish Law could not be made to apply. I do maintain, however, that the law affecting the Sheriffs is in our country in the same state of entanglement as it seems to be in Scotland, and ought to be elucidated. I will give the Government a very substantial reason for doing this, and it is that whenever you in England come into conflict with the Sheriffs, you do so upon a question of debt; but that, so far as Ireland is concerned, it is not only in matters of debt that you come into conflict with the Sheriff, but also as regards the land struggle in that country; there is not a day, there is hardly an hour in which in some form or other you are not brought into collision with this official. Anyone who possesses any sort of knowledge upon this matter knows that there are actions pending with the Sheriffs in almost every county, and the only wonder is that there are not a great many more. I appeal to the two legal Representatives of England in this matter. Certainly, no Conservative Government was ever represented by two Gentlemen more courteous or better informed, or more capable of discharging their duty. We would submit to them that when passing measures of this kind for their country, they should remember that it is their constant boast that they are dealing with a united Kingdom. If we are a united Kingdom, surely Irish law should be taken into consideration when such measures as this are before the House. The Irish Law Officers, I venture to say, would only be too glad to look into this matter, and give the Government the benefit of their advice. What I complain of is this, that while in England you have what I may call a scientific study of ancient laws, with a desire to codify and improve them, the Irish Law Officers apply themselves to nothing but the development, of the criminal side of the law against the people, with no desire whatever to make any improvement in that law, and to prevent friction and anything of that kind, which, in a well-ordered community, should be the first duty of the governing body of the country, and especially of the Executive officers, who have the most onerous duties cast upon them to attend to.

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER) (Isle of Wight)
I cannot, of course, discuss with the hon. Member at this moment whether or not any particular Bills should be passed for Ireland. This is a Bill to consolidate the law with regard to Sheriffs in Scotland. Of course, I agree that it is desirable to assimilate the law of Ireland to that of England and Scotland; I am quite sure that the Irish Law Officers will be willing to promote that object, and when I am appealed to on the subject I shall be quite ready to give my cooperation.