The Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 34), also known as the Offences Against the Person Act (Ireland) 1829, is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for Ireland enactments related to offences against the person (an expression which, in particular, includes offences of violence) from a number of earlier piecemeal statutes into a single act.
The act included repeals mirroring for Ireland the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4 c. 31), including repealing acts of the Parliament of England extended to Ireland by Poynings' Act 1495.
Similar provision was made for India by the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 74).
In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.
In 1822, Sir Robert Peel entered the cabinet as home secretary and in 1826 introduced a number of reforms to the English criminal law, which became known as Peel's Acts. This included efforts to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions from a large number of earlier statutes, including:
In 1827, several acts were passed for this purpose, territorially limited to England and Wales and Scotland, including:
In 1828, parallel bills for Ireland to Peel's Acts were introduced, becoming:
Leave to bring in the Offences against the Person Bill to the House of Commons was granted on 4 May 1829 to the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Francis Leveson Gower and Sir George Hill . The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 7 May 1829. The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 11 May 1829 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 18 May 1829, with amendments. The amended bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 23 May 1829. The amended bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 25 May 1829 and passed, without amendments.
The bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 30 May 1829. The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 June 1829, introduced by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met and reported on 2 June 1829, without amendments. The bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 3 June 1829 and passed, without amendments.
The bill was granted royal assent on 4 June 1829.
The territorial extent of the act was limited to Ireland. All enactments listed in the act were repealed for India by section 125 of the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 74).
The territorial terms of the act led to several acts being for the avoidance of doubt for Scotland repealed by later Statute Law Revision Acts, including the Statute Law Revision Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 101).
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. Recommendations made by the commission were implemented by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64).
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.
In 1861, bills were introduced to consolidate and modernise the criminal law, drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves across:
In 1861, the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts were passed:
The act was repealed by the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 95) as it was wholly replaced by the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).
Section 1 of the act repealed 50 enactments listed in that section. The territorial extent of the repeal, to take effect on 2 September 1829, was limited to Ireland and the Ireland of the Admiralty of England. Section 1 of the act also stated that for offenses and other matters committed or done on or before 1 September 1829, the repealed acts will still apply as if the act had not been passed.
Section 2 of the act repealed all provisions in other laws that were designed to continue or perpetuate the acts being repealed by this legislation, to take effect on 1 September 1828.