In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.

[1] 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.

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

Recommendations made by the Commission were implemented by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict.

Wood to expurgate the statute book of all acts which, though not expressly repealed, were not in force, working backwards from the present time.

No order was made under the act which would have repealed the schedule part III statutes; instead they were all repealed in the UK by sections 12 and 20(3) and (5) of, and schedule 4 to, the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1938, which abolished all outlawry proceedings.

Section 1 of the act also ensured that repealed enactments that have been incorporated into other laws would continue to have legal effect in those contexts.