J 54 Literarj; and Philosophical fnteUigenee. — Tht Statutes. [Sept. 1, 



capable •f Iwing ajiplied to all purpose* 

 where mecbauical power is required. — 

 May 4. 



Richard Banks, of Hadley, in the 

 parish of Welliuglon, Salop, engineer ; for 

 certain improvemtnts on wheeled car- 

 riages. — May 4. 



William Threaugoi.d, of F;\rm- 

 •treet, Berkeley-square, Middlesex, sur- 



veyor and builder ; for a machine or appn* V 

 rams to preteut obstriictiong to the passage ^ 

 of smoke in and tiirough cliimnies. — ^[ay4. 

 KoBERT CoPLANiJ, of Liverpool, Lan- 

 caster, uierchnnt ; for a means of effecting 

 a saving in tlie consumption of fael.— 

 May 4. 



•»• Communications of Specifications art 

 sulicitcd. 



VARIETIES, LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL^ 



Incluftiiifr Notices of Worhs in Hand, Domestic and Fweign. 



AMONG the mimcrons benefits 

 which Earl Stanhope bas con- 

 ferred on his conntry and the world, his 

 last public ser\ ice is far lioin being- the 

 least. Every man who has had occa- 

 sion to consult them must be sensible 

 ef the involved intricacy, increased bulk, 

 and inextricable confu.sion of the Sta- 

 tutes of the realm. Half of them arc 

 disregarded, because buried in such a 

 lieap of rubbish ; many of them serve as 

 occasional traps to ensnare the unwary; 

 and others are rendered useless by the 

 opposing provisions of other statutes. 

 Yet in the value of definite, positive, 

 and unequivocal laws; and in the neccs- 

 . sity of leaving as little as possible to the 

 sophistry, venality, and caprice of law- 

 yers, all men are unanimous. The desi- 

 deratum therefore has been to arrange, 

 class, contrast, and index the whole un- 

 der the authority of Parliament, so that 

 contradictions, absurdities, and super- 

 fluities, by being rendered apparent, 

 might be expunged ; and .so that the 

 whole should become intelligible to the 

 people, to whom they are intended to serve 

 as a rule of conduct. So many complaints 

 of the intricacy and ccmfusion of the sta- 

 tutes exist in every writer on legal sub- 

 jects, and they serve as the basi.s of so 

 much iTiinous litigation, that we need 

 not dwell on that vexatious part of the 

 aubject ; but, as their increased bulk is 

 less generally understood, and is capa- 

 ble of arithmetical proof, we will briefly 

 describe it, leaving it to the reader to 

 draw his own inferences fiom so extra- 

 ordinary and anomalous a circumstance 

 ill the history of jinisprudcncc. 

 The FiiisT volume of the Sta- 

 tutes contains a period 

 from Magna Charta to the Yrs. Pages. 

 dpath of Edward III. . 6i 700 



The SECOND from Richard IL 

 to tlie death of Richard 



III 86 700 



TheTHIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, 



and SIXTH, from Henry 



YJLL t« tli« d«atli of Abhc SS9 £,800 



The SEVENTH, EIGHTH, and 

 NINTH, the reigns of Geo. 

 I. and II. . \ . , , 46 J,100 



The TENTH to the twenti- 

 eth, Geo. III. to 1800 . 40 8,50« 



The twentv-first to th» 



THIRTY-THIRD, from 1800 



to 1815 1.5 12,000 



Hence it appears that in the first vo- 

 lume, of 62 years, the Statutes averaged 

 1 1 pages per annum ; in the second vo- 

 lume, of 86 years, 8 pages per annum ; 

 in the four next, of 229 yeais, 12 pages 

 per annum; in the three next, of 46 

 years, 46 pages per ainiuiu ; in the eleven 

 next, of 40 years, 212 pages per annum ; 

 aud in the thirteen next, of 15 years, 800 

 pages per annum !!! I'liat is to say, as 

 many words are now added annually 

 to the public statutes in one year as in 

 the age of the Plantagenels were added 

 in fourscore years; and in the reign of J 

 George the Third above three times as I 

 many words have been added as in tin j 

 whole previous period of our history! 1 

 Can a stronger proof be necessary of the *' 

 prompt interference of the legislature? 

 and accordingly, during the last sessions, 

 on (he moliou of Earl STANHorE, the 

 two subsequent resolutions were adopt- 

 ed by the House of Lords. 



" First, Tliat it is highly expedient that 

 the Sfainte-Law of tliis cotmtry be ar- 

 ranged under distinct and proper heade, 

 with all convenient dispatch ; and that a 

 person, learned in the law, be appointed, 

 for the exprei^s purpose of snperintendio{> 

 such systematic arrangement. 



*' Secondly, lliat a nunil)er of clerks, not 

 exceeding twenty in the wliole, be placed 

 under the immediate direction of such per- 

 «on learned in the law, for the purpose of 

 noting down, under each such distinct 

 head, the reign, and year thereof, the ses- 

 sion, and chapter, if any, (or, if no chapter, 

 the title or other description,) of each Act 

 of Parliament, or of the section, or other 

 part, of each such Act (as the case may 

 be) as shall, upon examination, be found to 

 belong to each such head respeciively. ' 

 — A joiut r($soIutiga was afterwards 

 »doptc4 



