In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.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.
[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.
[1] From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts.
[1] 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."
[4] The Select Committee reported on 2 April 1824, resolving to consolidate the criminal law under several heads and to bring in Bills to do so.
By 1848, the institution of Justice of the Peace in England and Wales had fallen into disrepute in some legal circles and was dealing with a rapidly increasing case load,[7] its statutory basis dating back to the sixteenth century.
[11] The amended Bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 29 July 1884.
[9] Section 3 of the act abolished corporal punishment, specifically whipping, as a penalty for non-payment of financial obligations ordered by courts of summary jurisdiction in England.
The provision explicitly maintained imprisonment (with or without hard labor) as a permissible punishment, while removing all other forms of physical punishment that were previously available to the courts for enforcing monetary judgments.
Section 4 of the act included several safeguards to ensure that the repeal does not negatively affect existing rights or ongoing legal matters.
[9] Section 4(2) of the act provided that the expression in the said “ schedule conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction” shall mean a conviction or order made in pursuance of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
The expression "conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction" referred to in section 4(2) appears in the entries in the Schedule relating to section 17 of the Parish Apprentices Act 1816 (56 Geo.
c. 55) which were repealed so far as they related to an appeal against a conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction.
The section preserved justices' authority to act summarily in matters referenced in repealed enactments and established that Summary Jurisdiction Acts would apply to proceedings where previous procedures had been repealed.
), would govern the recovery of penalties and fines in cases where statutes authorized imprisonment as a sole or alternative punishment.
to appeal from a conviction, order, or refusal of a court of summary jurisdiction, they would now be required to appeal to a court of general or quarter sessions subject to the conditions and regulations established in the 1879 Act.
[12] Section 8 of the act addressed two key matters regarding petty sessional court-houses.
), justices or councils had the authority to establish multiple petty sessional court-houses if deemed necessary or expedient, resolving previous doubts about this power.
When justices acted in such court-houses, they would be considered to be operating within their own county and petty sessional division, ensuring their jurisdictional authority remained intact regardless of the physical location of the court.
[12] Section 10 provided that nothing in the act was to alter the procedure for the recovery of or any remedy for the non-payment of any poor rate.
[12] Section 11 of the act provided that nothing in the act shall alter the procedure for the recovery of or any remedy for the non-payment of any poor rate, or of any rate or sum of payment not adjudged by the conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction.
Section fifty-six, the words "for any time not exceeding two calendar months".
Section one hundred and fifty-five, so far as relates to any matter to which the Summary Jurisdiction Acts apply.