Law Commissions announce latest statute clearout

More than 200 obsolete laws that are cluttering up the statute book are recommended for repeal in a new report by the Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission for England & Wales.

A draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill attached to the report covers a range of topics from agriculture and churches to trade and industry and taxation. Among the proposed repeals are the 1997 Act passed to allow referendums on whether to establish a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly.

The earliest repeal is from the Statute of Marlborough 1267, controlling the seizing of debtors' goods, one of the oldest surviving pieces of legislation, passed during the reign of Henry III. The most recent repeal is part of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

Other examples are 36 tax Acts from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Acts to tax excess profits made by businesses during the Second World War, a 1938 Act to maintain stocks of food and fuel in the event of war, a 1939 Act to protect the public against the mis-selling of insurance for war damage to their homes, and a 1964 Act to clear away slums and promote house building.

Sir David Lloyd Jones, chairman of the Law Commission for England & Wales, and Lord Pentland, chairman of the Scottish Law Commission, said:

“The Law Commissions of England & Wales, and of Scotland, are committed to cleaning up and modernising our legislation. The statute book is littered with dead law from down the centuries. Obsolete provisions from as far back as the 13th century continue to survive long after they have ceased to serve any useful purpose.

“This Statute Law Repeals Bill is the result of rigorous research and thorough consultation. If implemented, its provisions will help to make the law easier to understand and simpler to use.”

Click here to view the report.