[2] The commission was appointed by letters patent dated 22 February 1845 by the Lord Chancellor, John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst.
On 27 April 1849, permission was granted by the Home Secretary, Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet, for the commission to complete their work.
3d.,[4] which was subject to criticism legal academics and commentators,[10] and by politicians, including Peter King MP and George Hadfield MP as part of an 1869 resolution criticising the expensive process of legal revision that had taken place over 36 years, costing the country over £80,000 without yielding substantial results.
[11] On 6 June 1846, Lord Brougham introduced a draft Bill of an "Entire Digest of the written and unwritten Law relating to the Definition of Crimes and Punishment" but was not proceeded with.
[2] Two major Bills based on the work of the Commission covering offences against the person and larceny were introduced in 1853 and continued under Lord Cranworth.
The bills made no progress, principally because of the unanimously unfavourable judicial reaction to the prospect of the common law being embodied in statutory form.