[5] The Parliament of the United Kingdom, formed in 1800, following the Acts of Union 1800 devoted much attention to the consolidation of public records.

[6] In 1800, the Select Committee on the State of Public Records was appointed to inquire into the state of public records in England, Scotland and Ireland, resolving that it was "highly expedient for the honour of the nation and the benefit of all His Majesty's subjects that a complete and authoritative edition of all the statutes should be published".

[7] 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.

[8] 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."

[8] The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform.

Wood to expurgate the statute book of all acts which, though not expressly repealed, were not in force, working backwards from the present time.

The first edition of the Chronological Table of, and Index to the Statutes (Chronological Table of the Statutes) to the end of the session of 1869 was published in 1870, covering the period from the earliest period of the Parliament of England (1235) to the end of the fifth session of the Twenty-Sixth Parliament of the United Kingdom (62 & 63 Vict., 1899).