The Select Committee on the Criminal Law in England was a select committee of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom appointed to consider consolidating and amending the criminal law of England and Wales.
In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.
On 16 March 1824, Dr Stephen Lushington proposed a motion in the House of Commons to appoint a select committee to consider consolidating and amending England's criminal law. The primary motivation for that criminal statutes had accumulated since Magna Carta without systematic organization, these laws were scattered and in "the greatest possible confusion", and had contributed to considerable increase in the bulk of the statute book. Dr Lushington proposed approach was to:
The Motion was seconded by John Smith and was approved, without objection.
The committee was appointed on 16 March 1824, consisting of 27 members with a quorum of five and the power to "send for persons and paper":
The committee had its first meeting on 7 March 1824. The committee reported on 2 April 1824, using the illustrative example of a Forgery Bill and resolving to consolidate the criminal law under several heads and to bring in bills to do so:
The committee further reported on 7 May 1824.
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, Peel's Acts were passed to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions of the criminal law, territorially limited to England and Wales and Scotland, including:
In 1828, parallel bills for Ireland to Peel's Acts were introduced, becoming:
In 1828, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for England and Wales almost 60 related statutes. In 1829, the Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for Ireland almost 60 enactments relating to the Criminal law.
In 1861, bills were introduced, drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves to mirror Peel's Acts, to consolidate and modernise the criminal law across:
In 1861, the Criminal Consolidation Acts were passed for that purpose:
In 1830, the Forgery Act 1830 (11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. 66) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to forgery and repealed for England and Wales over 25 enactments relating to the criminal law.
In 1832, the Coinage Offences Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to the counterfeiting and clipping of coins, repealed for the United Kingdom almost 50 enactments relating to the criminal law, and abolished the punishment of the death penalty for coinage offences.