In the early 19th-century, Jeremy Bentham was the first person to be an aggressive advocate for the codification of all of the common law into a coherent set of statutes, coining the verb "to codify".
[2] 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.
[3] 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."
[2] In 1828, Henry Brougham MP made a famous six-hour speech in the House of Commons, considered to be the longest in the history of Parliament, which paid tribute to Bentham and set in motion reform of the British legal system.
The great number is of itself a circumstance that affords an irresistible argument for the necessity of doing something, but independently of their enormous quantity, there are other reasons which suggest themselves.
[11] Following the death of King William IV and the accession of Queen Victoria, the Commission was re-appointed by letters patent dated 26 October 1837.
The Commission proposed in its first report of 1834 emphatically endorsed the codification goal to unify existing common and statute law into a single legislative enactment, leading to criticism from academics.
[17][2] This followed a letter from the Home Secretary, Lord Viscount Melbourne, dated 8 July 1834 directing the Commission to consider what "partial alterations may be necessary or expedient for more simply and completely defining Crimes and Punishments, and for the more effectual administration of Criminal Justice".
[11][2] This followed a Letter from the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell, dated 23 November 1836 directing the Commission to consider "whether it would be advisable to make any distinction in the Mode of Trial between Adult and Juvenile Offenders; and if not, whether any class of Offenders can be made subject to a more summary proceeding than trial by Jury; and to furnish an early and separate Report to be laid".
[11] The Commission recommended that it would not be advisable to make a distinction between the mode of trial between adult and juvenile offenders, except by increasing the summary jurisdiction of magistrates and that the extension of such summary jurisdiction, subject to certain limits, would be a safe and beneficial alteration of the law that would materially diminish juvenile crime.
[8][3] The Commission issued six reports, including a draft Bill of an "Entire Digest of the written and unwritten Law relating to the Definition of Crimes and Punishment" that was introduced by Lord Brougham on 6 June 1848 but was not proceeded with.
[3] 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.