§ LORD GARDINERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
[The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to implement the recommendations contained in the 29th Report of the Law Commission on offences of damage to property; and, if so, when the necessary legislation is likely to be introduced.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD WINDLESHAM)My Lords, the Government are giving careful consideration to the Law Commission's Report on this important subject, and hope to announce their conclusions shortly.
§ LORD GARDINERMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that Answer, may I ask whether I am right in thinking that, since the formation of the Law Commission by Statute, this is the first time that any Question directed to a Report of the Law Commission, delivered by Statute to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor, has been answered by a Minister from the Home Office; and what this portends?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I was advised that it would be right for me to reply to this Question by the noble and learned Lord the former Lord Chancellor. I have had a word with his successor on the Woolsack about it; but if the noble and learned Lord, Lord Gardiner, feels that we ought to give further thought to the matter I shall certainly be willing to do so.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD HAILSHAM OF ST. MARYLEBONE)My Lords, if the noble and learned Lord will forgive me for intervening, may I say that the situation, as I understand it, is that civil law is the province of the Lord Chancellor, but, for a reason which I do not altogether comprehend, it is well established that criminal law is a matter for the Home Secretary.
§ LORD GARDINERMy Lords, is it not, with respect, the fact that Parliament has remitted the whole of the law to the Law Commission—criminal law as well as civil law—and has provided that their Reports, whether in the field of civil law or criminal law, are to be made to the Lord Chancellor? That being so, I am glad to hear that this new practice will be reconsidered.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, as I understand it, the practice of your Lordships' House is that each Minister replies for the Government as a whole, and Questions are directed to the Government as a whole. But if it is more for the convenience of the House that one Minister should answer rather than another, I will certainly put myself entirely at the disposal of the House. Needless to say, the Answer given met with my full approval.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Earl the Leader of the House would ask whether any other members of the Government Front Bench would like to participate.