The Statute Law Revision Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 33) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed various United Kingdom enactments which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary.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.
The act had been framed on the same lines as the Statute Law Revision Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 3), except that it also repealed certain expressions made unnecessary by the passing of the Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63).
The act was the first Statute Law Revision Act to pass both Houses of Parliament with opposition, on the ground that it sought to repeal enactments of the present reign without the authority of a select committee of the House of Commons.
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In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.
From 1810 to 1825, the 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. +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 enactments1888Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 188851 & 52 Vict. c. 57Repealed or amended ? enactments1889Master and Servant Act 188952 & 53 Vict. c. 24Repealed or amended over 20 enactments related to master and servants In 1889, the Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) was passed, which generalised definitions used in acts of Parliament and provided rules of statutory construction. This rendered enactments unnecessary, for example the words "the Commissioners of Her Majesty's" before the word "Treasury" or the words "heirs and successors" after reference to the monarch.
Passage The Statute Law Revision Bill was first introduced in 1889 and had its first reading in the House of Lords on 26 July 1889, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Baron Halsbury. The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 August 1889 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 8 August 1889, with amendments.
The amended bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 9 August 1889. The bill was withdrawn in the last week of the session, on 16 August 1889, following opposition on the ground that it sought to repeal enactments of the present reign without the authority of a select committee of the House of Commons. This led to delays in the publication of the new edition of the revised edition of the statutes.
On 14 February 1890, the Attorney General, Richard Webster , confirmed the intention of the government to re-introduce the bill. The re-introduced Statute Law Revision Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 20 February 1890, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury. The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 3 March 1890 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 6 March 1890, with amendments. The amended bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 10 March 1890 and passed, without amendments.
The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 11 March 1890. The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 17 March 1890 and was committed to the Select Committee on the Statute Law Revision Bill. which reported on 5 May 1890, with amendments.
The select committee reported that:
The select committee supported removing unnecessary formal language and eliminating historically unimportant preambles from the revised edition of the statutes. The select committee also reported that many still unrepealed statutes, especially as well as to many acts of the Parliament of Ireland before the Union or those repealed for England and Wales only, could be repealed for Scotland and Ireland, and recommended unifying future repeals across the three jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.
The amended bill was re-committed to a Committee of the Whole House on 5 May 1890, which met on 12 May 1890 and expressed support of the recommendations made by the select committee. The committee met again on 2 July 1890 (following a number of deferrals) and 14 July 1890, during which an attempt to repeal the Justices of the Peace Act 1361 (34 Edw. 3. c. 1) and a motion by Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare to report progress was rejected. The committee reported on 14 July 1890, with amendments. The amended bill had had its third reading in the House of Commons on 14 July 1890 and passed, with amendments. During debate, an objection to the third reading made by Dr Charles Kearns Deane Tanner was rejected.
The amended bill was considered by the House of Lords on 28 July 1890, who agreed to some amendments, disagreed with others and made some consequential amendments. The report of the select committee was adopted by the House of Lords after consideration by leading legal peers, including Lord Thring and Lord Herschell, and consultation with the Statute Law Committee. This resulted in amendments to the bill to authorise the omission, not repeal, of certain preambles and the addition of words to preambles into the revised edition of the statutes. A committee was appointed to report reasons to the House of Commons, which reported on 28 July 1890.
The report was received by the House of Commons on 29 July 1890, and the amended bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 1 August 1890.
The bill was granted royal assent on 4 August 1890.
Subsequent developments The repeals of preambles by section 1 of the act was criticised by legal writers after the passing, who described the "slaughter" as "quite unwise".
Sections 2 and 5 of, and the first and second schedules to, the act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 49)), which came into force on 21 December 1908.
The words "to the court of the county palatine of Lancaster or" in section 4 of the act were repealed by section 56(4) of, and part II of schedule 11 to, the Courts Act 1971, which came into force on 1 January 1972.
Section 4 of the act was repealed by section 32(4) of, and part V of schedule 5 to, the Administration of Justice Act 1977, which came into force on 29 July 1977.
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, which came into force on 8 May 2007.
The act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010.The Chronological Table of the Statutes, 1235 - 2010. The Stationery Office. 2011. . Part 1. Page 549, read with pages viii and x.
Repealed enactments Section 1 of the act repealed 262 enactments, listed in the first schedule to the act, across six categories:
Expired Spent Repealed in general terms Virtually repealed Superseded Obsolete
Section 1 of the act also provided that parts of titles, preambles, or recitals specified after the words "In part, namely" in connection with acts mentioned in the first schedule to the act could be omitted from any revised edition of the statutes published by authority, with brief statements about the acts, officers, persons, and things mentioned in those titles/preambles/recitals being added as necessary.
Section 3 of the act provided that repeals were subject to the standard Westbury Saving.
Section 4 of the act provided that if any repealed enactment had been applied to the Court of the County Palatine of Lancaster or other inferior civil courts, such enactment would be construed as if it were contained in a local and personal act specifically relating to that court, and would have effect accordingly.
Section 5 of the act provided that the Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 57) was to be read and construed as if, in the entry in the schedule to that act relating to the Assizes (Ireland) Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 26), the reference to sections 1 and 2 and 3 were replaced by reference to sections 2 and 3 and 4.