Statute Law Revision Act 1867

In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the late 18th-century, raised questions about the system and structure of the common law and the poor drafting and disorder of the existing statute book. From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing the first authoritative collection of acts. The first statute law revision act was not passed until 1856 with the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64). This approach — focusing on removing obsolete laws from the statute book followed by consolidation — was proposed by Peter Locke King MP, who had been highly critical of previous commissions' approaches, expenditures, and lack of results. == Passage ==

The Statute Law Revision Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 21 May 1867, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford. The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 28 May 1867 and was committed to a committee of the whole house. In his speech in support of the bill, the Lord Chancellor explained that the bill aimed at filling the gap between the Statute Law Revision Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 101) and the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125), which had covered 10 Geo. 3 to 21 & 22 Vict. and the Magna Carta to the end of the Reign of James II respectively. On the passing of the act, the revised edition of the statutes would be six or seven volumes, instead of the eighty-five or eighty-six before (when including repeals by the 1861 and 1863 acts). The Committee met and reported on 31 May 1867, without amendments. The bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 3 June 1867 and passed, without amendments. The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 6 June 1867, second reading in the House of Commons on 13 June 1867 and was referred to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 24 June 1867, without amendments. The bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 1 July 1867 and passed, without amendments. The bill was granted royal assent on 15 July 1867. == Subsequent developments ==

The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whole or any part of the United Kingdom) by the act were repealed so far as they extended to the Isle of Man on 25 July 1991. The act was retained for the Republic of Ireland by section 2(2)(a) of, and part 4 of schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. The schedule to the act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 14). == Repealed enactments ==

Section 1 of the act repealed 1,386 enactments, listed in the schedule to the act, across six categories: • Expired • Spent • Repealed in general terms • Virtually repealed • Superseded • Obsolete Section 1 of the act included several safeguards to ensure that the repeal does not negatively affect existing rights or ongoing legal matters. Specifically, any legal rights, privileges, or remedies already obtained under the repealed laws, as well as any legal proceedings or principles established by them, remain unaffected. Section 1 of the act also ensured that repealed enactments that have been incorporated into other laws would continue to have legal effect in those contexts. Moreover, the repeal would not revive any former rights, offices, or jurisdictions that had already been abolished. == See also ==