84] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Revision of the Statute Book. — Motion on Extents in Aid. — Debates 

 on the Slave Registry Bill. — Prince Regent's Speech on proroguing 

 Parliament. 



I 



N this year a course was be- 

 gun for effecting a very useful 

 reform in legal proceedings, by 

 a revision of the statute book. 



On May Stli, J'Mrl Stanhope 

 rose in the House of Lords to 

 submit a promised motion on the 

 subject of the statute book. There 

 were, he said, two precedents 

 wliich involved his principle : 

 one, the proposition of Lord 

 Grcnvillc in 1809, for forming 

 into one act all those acts which 

 imposed the punishment of death 

 in re^'cnue cases, which had been 

 adopted : the other, a projjosition 

 made by himself for I'eferring to 

 the judges, a bill to reduce into 

 one act all those imposing the 

 punishment of the i)illory, which 

 bill now lay upon the table. At 

 the end of this bill of the judges, 

 some observations were anne.\e<l, 

 stating, that the pillory was made 

 the punishment for some offences, 

 not merely by statute, but by 

 common law ; and that they 

 coidd not say, but that some sta- 

 tutes on the subject might have 

 escajjcd them. In fact, he him- 

 self had pointed out two statutes 

 of George II., to which tliey had 

 not adverted — a proof of the dis- 

 ordered state of the statute book. 

 The earl then enumerated a con- 

 siderable number of instances, 

 some of them very curious, of 



the contrariety and inconsistency 

 of statutes ; and affirmed, that 

 at present the statute book was a 

 perfect hotchpot, a chaos of dark- 

 ness, disorder, and confusion. 

 He concluded by moving, " That 

 the House do I'csolve itself into a 

 committee of the whole House, 

 to consider of the best means of 

 arranging the statute law of this 

 coimtry under distinct and proper 

 heads." 



The Lord Chancellor declared 

 himself willing that the matter 

 should be referred to a committee, 

 to sec to what extent the noble 

 Earl's idea could be acted upon, 

 though he had no hope that it could 

 be cairieti to the extent which he 

 seemed to suppose. Some good, 

 however, might be done. 



After some further conversa- 

 tion on the topic, the Lord Chan- 

 cellor nun ed an amendment, that 

 the matter should be referred to 

 a select comiuittee ; which was 

 adopted. 



On the lOth, Earl Stanhope re- 

 ])orted from the select committee 

 two resolutions, declaring the ex- 

 pediency, in their opinion, of ar- 

 ranging the enactments in the 

 statute book under distinct heads, 

 and that a person learned in the 

 law should IjC apjiointed for that 

 purpose, with a number of clerks 

 under him. These resolutions 



were 



