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 c. 33) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed various United Kingdom enactments which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary.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 c. 3), except that it also repealed certain expressions made unnecessary by the passing of the Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict.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.
In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.
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.
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.
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 both 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).
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.
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.
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.
The act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010.
Section 1 of the act repealed 262 enactments, listed in the first schedule to the act, across six categories:
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.
Section 2 of the act provided that acts listed in the second schedule could be omitted from any revised edition of the statutes published by authority after the passing of the act, treating them as if they were local and personal acts.