The Statute Law Revision Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 14) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed various United Kingdom enactments from 1837 to 1868 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of the new edition of the revised edition of the statutes, then in progress.

Cotton said the act is the twenty-second Statute Law Revision Act.The Practical Statutes of the Session 1893. 1894. Part I. p 38. The act was the first to be referred to the Joint Committee for consideration of Statute Law Revision Bills.

Section 3 of the Statute Law Revision Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 22) provided that the second part of the schedule to that act was to be substituted for so much of this act as related to the Record of Title Act (Ireland) 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 88), and that this act was to be read and construed as if the part so substituted had originally been enacted as part of this act.

Background In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.

In 1806, the Commission on Public Records passed a resolution requesting the production of a report on the best mode of reducing the volume of the statute book. From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts. In 1816, both Houses of Parliament, passed resolutions that an eminent lawyer with 20 clerks be commissioned to make a digest of the statutes, which was declared "very expedient to be done." However, this was never done.

At the start of the parliamentary session in 1853, Lord Cranworth announced his intention to the improvement of the statute law and in March 1853, appointed the Board for the Revision of the Statute Law to repeal expired statutes and continue consolidation, with a wider remit that included civil law. The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform.

In 1854, Lord Cranworth appointed the Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law. The commission made four reports.

An alternative approach, focusing on expunging obsolete laws from the statute book, followed by consolidation, was proposed by Peter Locke King MP, who was heavily critical of the expenditure of the commission and the lack of results. This approach was taken by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64), considered to be the first Statute Law Revision Act.

On 17 February 1860, the Attorney General, Sir Richard Bethell told the House of Commons that he had engaged Sir Francis Reilly and A. J. Wood to expurgate the statute book of all acts which, though not expressly repealed, were not in force, working backwards from the present time. +Previous ActsYear passedTitleCitationEffect1861Statute Law Revision Act 186124 & 25 Vict. c. 101Repealed or amended over 800 enactments1863Statute Law Revision Act 186326 & 27 Vict. c. 125Repealed or amended over 1,600 enactments for England and Wales1867Statute Law Revision Act 186730 & 31 Vict. c. 59Repealed or amended over 1,380 enactments1870Statute Law Revision Act 187033 & 34 Vict. c. 69Repealed or amended over 250 enactments1871Promissory Oaths Act 187134 & 35 Vict. c. 48Repealed or amended almost 200 enactments1871Statute Law Revision Act 187134 & 35 Vict. c. 116Repealed or amended over 1,060 enactments1872Statute Law Revision Act 187235 & 36 Vict. c. 63Repealed or amended almost 490 enactments1872Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 187235 & 36 Vict. c. 98Repealed or amended over 1,050 enactments1872Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (No. 2)35 & 36 Vict. c. 97Repealed or amended almost 260 enactments1873Statute Law Revision Act 187336 & 37 Vict. c. 91Repealed or amended 1,225 enactments1874Statute Law Revision Act 187437 & 38 Vict. c. 35Repealed or amended over 490 enactments1874Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (No. 2)37 & 38 Vict. c. 96Repealed or amended almost 470 enactments1875Statute Law Revision Act 187538 & 39 Vict. c. 66Repealed or amended over 1,400 enactments1876Statute Law Revision (Substituted Enactments) Act 187639 & 40 Vict. c. 20Updated references to repealed acts1878Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 187841 & 42 Vict. c. 57Repealed or amended over 460 enactments passed by the Parliament of Ireland1878Statute Law Revision Act 187841 & 42 Vict. c. 79Repealed or amended over 90 enactments.1879Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 187942 & 43 Vict. c. 24Repealed or amended over 460 enactments passed by the Parliament of Ireland1879Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 187942 & 43 Vict. c. 59Repealed or amended over 130 enactments1881Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 188144 & 45 Vict. c. 59Repealed or amended or amended almost 100 enactments relating to civil procedure.1883Statute Law Revision Act 188346 & 47 Vict. c. 39Repealed or amended over 475 enactments1883Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 188346 & 47 Vict. c. 49Repealed or amended over 475 enactments1887Statute Law Revision Act 188750 & 51 Vict. c. 59Repealed or amended over 200 enactments1887Sheriffs Act 188750 & 51 Vict. c. 55Repealed or amended almost 75 enactments related to sheriffs1887Coroners Act 188750 & 51 Vict. c. 71Repealed or amended over 30 enactments related to coroners1888Statute Law Revision Act 188851 & 52 Vict. c. 3Repealed or amended 620 enactments1889Master and Servant Act 188952 & 53 Vict. c. 24Repealed or amended over 20 enactments related to master and servants1888Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 188851 & 52 Vict. c. 57Repealed or amended ? enactments1890Statute Law Revision Act 189053 & 54 Vict. c. 33Repealed or amended ? enactments1890Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 189053 & 54 Vict. c. 51Repealed or amended ? enactments1891Statute Law Revision Act 189154 & 55 Vict. c. 67Repealed or amended ? enactments1892Statute Law Revision Act 189255 & 56 Vict. c. 19Repealed or amended ? enactments

Passage The Statute Law Revision (No. 1) BillStatute Law Revision (No 1) Bill 1893. p 1 and Amendment thereto. had its first reading in the House of Lords on 6 February 1893, presented by the Lord Chancellor, Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell. The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 27 February 1893, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, and committed to a joint committee. The bill was referred to the Joint Committee for consideration of Statute Law Revision Bills, which reported on 23 March 1893, with amendments. The amended bill was recommitted to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 24 March 1893, with amendments. The amended bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 24 March 1893 and passed, without amendments

The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 27 March 1893. The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 2 June 1893 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 2 June 1893, without amendments. The bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 2 June 1893 and passed, without amendments.

The bill was granted royal assent on 9 June 1893.

Legacy Amendments to schedule This schedule was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 49). However, the proviso to section 1 of that act provided that the schedule was not repealed so far as the schedule was in force in any part of His Majesty's dominionsAs to the meaning of "Her Majesty's dominions", see Roberts-Wray, "Her Majesty's Dominions", Commonwealth and Colonial Law, 1966, p 23 et seq; and Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th Ed, vol 6, para 803, 5th Ed, vol 13, para 707. outside the United Kingdom.

Accordingly, it did not repeal, as to His Majesty's dominions outside the United Kingdom, much of this schedule as related to the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 72), the Act 25 & 26 Vict. c. 48, the Act 27 & 28 Vict. c. 77, the Indian High Courts Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 15), the India Military Funds Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 18), the Act 29 & 30 Vict. c. 74, the British North America Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) and the Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 57.This is the effect of the proviso to section 1 of the Statute Law Revision Act 1908: see, for example, The Public Acts of Queensland, vol 7, pp 808, 829 & 830; The Queensland Statutes (1962 Reprint), vol 3, pp 816, 826 & 827.

The effect of the act is that the schedule is repealed in the Republic of Ireland.1893. British Public Statutes Affected. eISB.

Section 15 of the Naval Discipline Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 30) provided that so much of the schedule as related to the preamble to, and part of section 86 of, the Naval Discipline Act (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109) was to cease to have, and was to be deemed never to have had, effect.

Provisions of schedule relating to Canada

The schedule repealed, as to all Her Majesty's Dominions, the following enactments of the British North America Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3): Sections 2, 25, 42, 43, 81, 89, 127 and 145 The words from "Be it therefore" to "same as follows"; Section 4 to "provisions", where it last occurred; In section 51, the words from "of the census" to "seventy-one and" and the word "subsequent". In Section 88, the words from "and the House" to the end.

The Bill for the act says the ground of repeal was "As to Crown, see Interp. Act. Rest spent".Statute Law Revision (No 1) Bill 1893, p 72 The words "As to Crown, see Interp. Act." refer to section 30 of the Interpretation Act 1889.(2002) 4 Constitutional Law and Policy Review; Zines, Constitutional Change in the Commonwealth, 1991, p 30; First Report of the Constitutional Commission, 1988, vol 1, pp 108 & 112. The provisions of the schedule which relate to Canada consist of those which repeal parts of the British North America Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3).British North America Act and Amendments . . . 1867 - 1943. King's Printer. 1943. p 78 (see further p 76). The Revised Statutes of Canada 1952, King's Printer, 1953, vol 6, pp 161 & 162. The provisions of the schedule which repeal parts of the British North America Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) were not repealed, as to His Majesty's dominions out of the United Kingdom, by the Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 49).

In 1936, these repeals were not known to all Canadians; and in 1942, they were described as forgotten.F R Scott, "Forgotten Amendments to the Canadian Constitution" in "Case and Comment" (1942) 20 The Canadian Bar Review 339 at 340 and 341. See further, page 573.Paul Gérin-Lajoie. "Note on the Statute Law Revision Acts". Constitutional Amendment in Canada. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. 1950. . pp 129 to 131. PT120

Effect of repeals As to the construction of the act, see Cairney v Wright (1908).Cairney v Wright Session Cases 894 (5 December 1908) and see pp 17 & 78 ; 16 Scots Law Times Reports 602 (12 December 1908); (1908) 46 The Scottish Law Reporter 223 and see p xxiv. See further: The Faculty Digest: Faculty of Advocates, An Analytical Digest of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland ... 1868 to 1922, 1924, vol 2, p 95, 1925, vol 5, p 201; The Scots Digest, 1915, p 265.