HL Deb 03 November 1955 vol 194 cc293-4

3.45 p.m.

Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT KILMUIR)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.

Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

EARL JOWITT

My Lords, I rise to express to the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor our gratitude for and our appreciation of the fact that he is pressing on with this work of consolidation, and our sense of the importance attached to this work, which is going so well under our present Lord Chancellor. We are apt to take this a little too much for granted. Here is a formidable Bill of 112 pages which repeals, in part or wholly, some thirteen Acts of Parliament. It reduces to order a branch of the law in which hitherto there has been a good deal of chaos; arid I. consider that that is a very important achievement. I am proud that I managed to start this work and get it under way, and I am happy to think that the present Lord Chancellor is as keen upon it as I was myself. I believe it is immensely important that the law of this country should be so stated that people without high technical training will understand whim it is all about; and the reason lying behind our Consolidation Bills is that that may come about. We bring various Statutes into one Statute or we do away with obscurities and ambiguities. I wish only to say how pleased I am that we have achieved this important result. The noble and learned Lord Chancellor is to be commended for this, and I thought your Lordships would forgive me if I rose to express that opinion. We are getting so accustomed to these Consolidation Bills that we always pass them sub silentio. I thought it as well, therefore, to say that we are deeply appreciative of the good work which is being done under the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor by the staff which he retains for this particular purpose.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble and learned Earl. He has been kind enough to make reference to my continuance of his work. I can assure him that the torch which he lit is still very much alight. I are sure that the noble and learned Earl and all your Lordships would like me to pass on to the staff who work so hard in this field of the law and on the improvement of the Statute Book the commendation of your Lordships' House.

On Question, Bill read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.