Statute Law Repeals
Team members:
John Saunders (Team manager)
Jonathan Teasdale (lawyer)
Jessica Wickham (research assistant)
Carmen McFarlane (secretary)
In reforming the law, the Law Commission does not just propose new laws. It also proposes the repeal of laws that have become obsolete.
The purpose of our statute law repeals work is to modernise and simplify the statute book, reduce its size and save the time of lawyers and others who use it. This in turn helps to avoid unnecessary costs. It also stops people being misled by obsolete laws that masquerade as live law. If an Act still features in the statute book and is referred to in text books, people reasonably enough assume that it must mean something.
Implementation of our repeal proposals is by means of special Statute Law (Repeals) Bills. 18 such Bills have been enacted since 1965 repealing more than 2000 Acts in their entirety.
Of course, this is a huge task and there are many ancient laws and legal curiosities that are still in use today.
Latest news
The most recent Statute Law Repeals Report (the 18th report in the series) was published on 29 January 2008. A draft Bill to give effect to the repeal proposals contained in the report was included. The Bill was approved by Parliament without amendment. The Statute Law (Repals) Act 2008 came into force at Royal Assent on 21 July 2008. A press release is available.
Full details of the repeal proposals are set out in the Notes on the Bill.
The 2008 Act has repealed 260 whole Acts and part repealed 68 other Acts including:
- Obsolete laws relating to London workhouses including the workhouse at Wapping mentioned by Charles Dickens in The Uncommercial Traveller.
- An Act of 1819 passed following the Peterloo Massacre of that year when 11 people were killed in Manchester.
- Obsolete laws on the police including a law of 1839 requiring street musicians to leave the area if required to do so by irritated householders.
- 40 Acts dating from 1700 for building local prisons across 19 counties in England and Wales .
- 12 obsolete Acts relating to the former East India Company.
- Obsolete laws on turnpikes dating back to a time when roads were maintained locally, with travellers having to pay a toll to cross a turnpike.
Current consultations
- A consultation paper on obsolete Dublin Acts will be issued this summer.
Background information is available about the process of repealing obsolete laws.
Further information
For further information, please contact the Statute Law Repeals team.