The Statutes of the Realm

Title page of the first volume
Editor	Record Commission
Author	Record Commission
Language	English
Genre	Law book
Published	1810 (First Volume) — 1828 (Eleventh Volume)
Publication place	United Kingdom
Text	The Statutes of the Realm atWikisource

The Statutes of the Realm is an authoritative collection ofacts of theParliament of England from the earliest times to theUnion of the Parliaments in 1707, andacts of theParliament of Great Britain passed up to the death ofQueen Anne in 1714.

For the purpose of citation,Statutes of the Realm may be abbreviated toStat Realm.^[1]

The collection was published between 1810 and 1825 by theRecord Commission as a series of nine volumes, with volume IV split into two separately bound parts, together with volumes containing an alphabetical index and a chronological index.^[1]

The collection contains all acts included in all earlier printed collections, together with a number of acts and translations which had not previously been printed. Also, in contrast with previous collections, the full text of each act is printed regardless of whether it was still in force at the time of publication. However, only the titles ofprivate acts are printed from 1539 onwards. The text of each act is generally taken from theStatute Rolls, or later from its enrollment inChancery, with missing text supplied from the original acts preserved in theRecords of Parliament and other sources.

The first volume is prefaced with a comprehensive introduction explaining how and whyThe Statutes of the Realm was prepared. It also contains the text of various charters of liberties, from the reign ofHenry I to that ofEdward I of England.

The collection does not contain any acts passed by the oldParliament of Scotland or the oldParliament of Ireland, nor does it contain theordinances and acts passed without royal authority in the mid-seventeenth century.

In theUnited Kingdom,acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed.Blackstone'sCommentaries on the Laws of England, published in the late18th-century, raised questions about the system and structure of thecommon law and the poor drafting and disorder of the existingstatute book.^[2]

On 12 April 1796, theSelect Committee on Temporary Laws, Expired or Expiring was appointed to inspect and considertemporary laws, expired or expiring.^[3] The committee reported on 12 May 1796, found that there was no authentic and entire publication of the statutes, a problem compounded by the fact that many statutes had never been printed as well as the increased volume of thestatute book.^[4] The committee recommended the "extreme importance" of obtaining a "complete and authentic publication of the statutes".^[4]

TheParliament of the United Kingdom, formed in 1800, following theActs of Union 1800 devoted much attention to the consolidation of public records.^[3] On 18 February 1800, theSelect Committee on the State of Public Records was appointed to inquire into the state of public records inEngland,Scotland andIreland.^[5] The committee reported on 4 July 1800, 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".^[3][6]

Following the publication of the select committee's report, recommendations were made in an address to the crown on 11 July 1800,^[5] leading to the creation of theFirst Record Commission on 19 July 1800^[3][7] At their first sitting on 19 December 1800, the commissioners resolved "That a complete, and authentic collection of the Statutes of the Realm be prepared; including every Law, as well those repealed or expired as those now in force; with a Chronological List of them, and Tables of their principal Matters",^[3] and appointed barristers Alexander Luders,Thomas Edlyne Tomlins and John France as sub-commissioners to prepare the work.^[7]

On 24 May 1802, the sub-commissioners laid their plans before the Board, specifying the sources of materials, the selection to be made, the arrangement and distribution of the work, and were authorised to proceed.^[7] On 21 May 1806,William Elias Taunton was appointed as sub-commissioner, following the resignation of Alexander Luders.^[7] On 23 May 1806, the search for records byWilliam Illingworth andSir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins was expanded to universities, cathedrals and other public repositories inEngland andIreland, who reported back on 23 March 1807.^[7]

On 23 May 1806, theSecond Record Commission was appointed.^[7] The work of the sub-commissioners of theFirst Record Commission was authorised to continue on 22 July 1806,^[7] and the commission passed a resolution requesting the production of a report on the best mode of reducing the volume of the statute book.^[3]

On 25 March 1808, the sub-commissioners laid down their first volume, covering statutes made in the reigns ofKing Henry III,King Edward I,King Edward II andKing Edward III and 500 copies were ordered to be printed.^[7] On 25 March 1811, a copy of the first volume was laid beforeKing George IV detailing plans for the creation of subsequent volumes.^[7]

The first edition was in nine folio volumes, edited byJohn Raithby, the first published in 1810 and the last in 1822, containing the statutes fromKing Henry III'sProvisions of Merton (1235—36) to the last year of the reign ofQueen Anne (1713).

The editors much difficultly in determining what ought to be considered as statutes, leading to the definition "all such instruments as have been inserted in any general collection of statutes printed previously to the edition by Hawkins^[a] with the addition only of such matters of a public nature, purporting to be statutes, as were first introduced by him or by subsequent editors, and of such other new matters of the like nature as could be taken from sources of authority not to be controverted — namely, Statute Rolls, Inrollments of Acts, Exemplifications, Transcripts by Writ, and original Acts".^[3] Accordingly, the first volume contains royal enactments and various documents of which the authenticity and the claim to be considered could be challenged.^[3]

On 29 June 1816, theRecord Commissioners ordered that a General Index to theStatutes of the Realm, one alphabetical and one chronological, be framed. The tenth volume, containing an alphabetical index to the statutes, was published in 1824, pursuant to an order of the Record Commissioners dated 27 April 1822.^[8] The eleventh volume, containing a chronological index to the statutes, was published in 1828, followingJohn Raithby's death in August that year.^[9]

In 1807, pursuant to a resolution of theRecord Commission passed a resolution to prepare a folio edition of the Scottish Statutes to resembleThe Statutes of the Realm.^[3] Volumes 2 to 11, containing the statutes from 1224 to 1707 were published between 1814 and 1824, and volume 1, containing the statutes from earlier dates, was published in 1844.^[3] No edition of was published forIreland.^[3]

In 1828, the first edition ofChitty'sStatutes of Practical Utility was published in two volumes, edited byJoseph Chitty, which printed all statutes relevant to practicing lawyers with short notes, grouped under subject and arranged alphabetically.^[10] The second edition of the work was published in four volumes from 1851–4, edited byWilliam Newland Welsby andEdward Beavan.^[11] The third edition of the work in four volumes was published in 1865, after Welsby's death during editing.^[12] The fourth edition of the work was published in six volumes in 1880, edited byJohn Mountney Lely.^[13] The fifth edition of the work was published in 13 volumes from 1894–5, edited byJohn Mountney Lely.^[14] Supplemental volumes were published annually until 1948.^[3]

TheChronological Table of the Statutes, first published in 1870, was based onThe Statutes of the Realm as far as the end of the reign ofQueen Anne (13 Ann.)^[15] Thenceforth,Ruffhead's Edition 1786, edited bySerjeant Charles Runnington, also known as theStatutes at Large, was followed until the end of the 25th year of the reign of KingGeorge III (25 Geo. 3).^[15]

From 1861, enactments which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary were repealed by theStatute Law Revision Acts. In 1868, theLord Chancellor,Hugh Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns, appointed theStatute Law Committee to superintend the preparation of therevised edition of the statutes. The 18 volume first edition was published between 1870 and 1878, replacing the 118 volumes that included repealed and expired statutes.^[3] A 16 volume second edition was published in 1886, which included a chronological list of acts passed with extent of repeals and a full index for each volume.^[3] In 1888, a single volume revised edition of the Ante-Union Irish Statutes from 1710 to 1800 was published by the Irish^{[dubious –discuss]} Government.^{[3][failed verification][citation needed]}

From 1887, an authoritative edition of the Annual Statutes was published annually, containing an index to thepublic general acts of the session, tables of the titles ofpublic general acts,public acts of a local character,local acts andprivate acts, a table of showing the effect of the year's legislation onpublic general acts and a table of local and private acts arranged in classes.^[3]

Section 19(1)(b) of theInterpretation Act 1978 refers toThe Statutes of the Realm.^[16]

• 19. Citation of other Acts.
• (1) Where an Act cites another Act by year, statute, session or chapter, or a section or other portion of another Act by number or letter, the reference shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be read as referring—
  • (a) in the case of Acts included in any revised edition of the statutes printed by authority, to that edition;
  • (b) in the case of Acts not so included but included in the edition prepared under the direction of the Record Commission, to that edition;
  • (c) in any other case, to the Acts printed by the Queen’s Printer, or under the superintendence or authority of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

The differences betweenThe Statutes of the Realm and other editions, includingRuffhead's Edition (The Statutes at Large) were considerable.^[15] TheChronological Table of the Statutes published variances betweenThe Statutes of the Realm and Ruffhead's Edition,^[b] with respect to years, statutes and chapters.^[c]

• The Statutes at Large
• List of acts of the Parliament of England
• List of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain

• John Raithby, ed.The Statutes of the Realm.Complete set at Hathi Trust. This is the best and clearest digital set currently available of the original volumes, as reprinted in 1963 by Dawsons of Pall Mall, London.
• John Raithby, ed.The Statutes of the Realm. Volumes5 (1628–80),6 (1685–94) and7 (1695-1701) fromBritish History Online. This provides the most accurate text for vols 5–7, having been re-keyed manually from the originals, rather than relying on Optical Character Recognition of scanned pages.
• John Raithby, ed.The Statutes of the Realm.Volume 3 andvolume 4 part 1 andvolume 5 fromGoogle Books.
• John Raithby, ed.The Statutes of the Realm.Volume 4 part 1,Volume 4 part 2,Volume 6,Volume 7,Volume 8,Volume 9,Volume 10 andVolume 11 from theInternet Archive.

• Legal literature
• Acts of the Parliament of England (pre-1707)
• Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain

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