STATUTE LAW COMMITTEE (Hansard, 14 December 1953)

§ The Solicitor-General

The following statement includes an account of the work done by the Committee since the statement on 19th May, 1952, and a summary of its work during the last five years. I am sure that my hon. Friend, who is a member of the Committee, will agree that creditable progress has been made.Five consolidation Bills received Royal Assent during last Session. The Acts consolidated were those relating to the Post Office, Births and Deaths Registration, the Registration Service, Licensing for the sale of Intoxicating Liquors, and the Auxiliary Forces. As soon as the Food and Drugs Bill for England and Wales now before Parliament has been passed it is intended to introduce a Bill to consolidate its provisions with those of the Acts relating to the same subject now in force. Bills are in course of preparation for consolidating the Medical Acts and certain of the Acts relating to Pharmacy, which it is 2W the intention to introduce in time for them to be passed during the present Session. Introduction of a consolidation of Acts relating to Savings Banks, which will have to be by more than one Bill, is also hoped for. Work is now to be begun on the long needed task of putting into order the very numerous and scattered enactments which constitute the statute law as to highways; this cannot be limited to strict consolidation, because amendments will be needed for putting more than a century's continual legislation into a form which will be intelligible and up to date, but they will be limited to such as are needed for that purpose as distinguished from amendments of substance. This task is of a magnitude which will absorb much of the resources available for legislation of the kind which is the concern of the Committee, but other consolidations of lesser but substantial importance are either in hand or have been authorised by the Committee. A Statute Law Revision Bill was introduced at the beginning of this Session and has now been passed. The putting into order of subordinate legislation which comprises instruments that have been much affected by amendment is constantly under review by the Committee, and they have particularly welcomed the recent putting before the House of a comprehensive Order under the Aliens Restriction Act, 1914, which replaces a large number of previous interacting Orders. The Committee's arrangements for the production and making available to the public by the Statutory Publications Office of the yearly volumes of the Statutes and of subordinate legislation, and of the Indexes and other works which facilitate reference to them, have worked normally. Since a statement was last made to the House the dates of publication have been up to the time-table aimed at, except in the case of the Index to the Statutes; as the latter, covering the Statutes to the end of 1952, was published in July, the next edition will not be published until April, 1955, when it is intended to publish an edition extending to the end of 1954. The following is a short summary of the progress of the Committee with its task generally. In the past five years there have been 40 consolidation Acts. Each has reduced to order a group of Acts the arrangement of whose provisions had become most complex. A number of them have been of particular importance and concern to the public. They include consolidation of the Acts relating to Companies, Representation of the People, Marriage, Summary Jurisdiction, Housing in Scotland, and Income Tax. There have been three Statute Law Revision Acts. An Edition of the "Statutes Revised" has been published, and reduces to 32 volumes the whole corpus of the statute law in force to the end of 1948. Similarly an Edition of the "Statutory Rules and Orders and Statutory Instruments Revised" to the end of 1948 has been published. The Committee made this year, by inquiry from each of the Departments, a review of the process analogous to consolidation of keeping 3W the arrangement of principal and amending subordinate legislation in intelligible form, and satisfied themselves that the process is pursued with attention and energy. There is a timetable for bringing out the annual volumes of the Statutes and the other periodical publications of the Committee which make information of current changes in the law readily accessible, and there has been a continuous move in the direction of earlier publication.