§ 3.10 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD GARDINER)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time. During the course of the discussion on this Bill in your Lordships' House, several of your Lordships have been good enough to describe the Bill as my child. I should indeed be glad to claim parentage for it, but I must remind your Lordships that on Second Reading of the Bill I did refer to a letter written by one of my distinguished predecessors, proposing that five Law Commissioners should be appointed. As this was in 1835, I can hardly claim parentage of this Bill. But I do believe that in course of time the extent to which a Law Commission will help us to rectify and modernise our law will have the result that we shall all he wondering why on earth we never had such a body before. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ VISCOUNT DILHORNEMy Lords, we have discussed this Bill in considerable detail in the course of its passage through 1030 this House, and I do not propose to say much on Third Reading, except that I trust that the hopes expressed by the noble and learned Lord, the Lord Chancellor, with regard to the Law Commission will be fulfilled. We shall watch with interest the Commission's activities. I hope that they will be productive, but I believe that some time is bound to elapse before we see any fruits of their labours.
Looking back on the course that this Bill has taken, upon which I will not elaborate, I must say that I feel that a considerable amount of Parliamentary time might have been saved, if not in this House, at least in another place, if this Bill had been first introduced in your Lordships' House. It is a Bill of great interest to lawyers; and lawyers are, of course, well represented in your Lordships' House. I cannot ask the noble and learned Lord to give an undertaking or any pledge in regard to this matter, but I hope that when the Law Commission does produce draft Bills, the noble and learned Lord will seriously consider whether it would not be more appropriate that they should be introduced first into this House, and go from here to another place, rather than be introduced first in another place. It seems to me that such a procedure not only would be more appropriate but might also lead to a saving of Parliamentary time, as I believe might have been the case if the present Bill had been introduced in your Lordships' House. I am not asking for a pledge or an undertaking. I merely put forward the thought in the hope that it will be acceptable to the Lord Chancellor.
I would conclude by saying that by his disclaimer of parentage the noble and learned Lord has not, in fact, made the offspring illegitimate, but has clearly accepted the rôle of guardian to the infant. I am sure that that is a rôle which he will faithfully discharge. I congratulate him on securing the passage of the first Bill which he has himself conducted through the House.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble and learned Viscount for what he has said. I am sure that when the Law Comsion has prepared draft Bills, we ought to consider whether they ought not advantageously to be introduced in your 1031 Lordships' House. One of our Parliamentary difficulties is that at the beginning of the Session the work in your Lordships' House tends to be minimal and later on in the Session to be crowded. I am sure that that, too, is a factor which we should bear in mind.
On Question, Bill read 3a, with the Amendments, and passed, and returned to the Commons.