Consolidation bill
Template:Short description {{#invoke:Hatnote|hatnote}} Template:Use dmy dates A consolidation bill is a bill introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the intention of consolidating several acts of Parliament or statutory instruments into a single act. Such bills simplify the statute book without significantly changing the state of the law,<ref name="factsheet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="glossary">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and are subject to an expedited parliamentary procedure. Once enacted a consolidation bill becomes a consolidation act.
The parliamentary practice of legislating only for small portions of a subject at a time can create undue complexity in statute law. Acts relating to a particular subject often end up scattered over many years, and through the operation of clauses partially repealing or amending former acts, the specific meaning of the law regarding the subject becomes enveloped in intricate or contradictory expressions. For clarity, the law as expressed across many statutes is sometimes recast in a single statute, called a consolidation bill.Template:Sfn
By 1911, such bills had been passed dealing with subjects as diverse as customs, stamps and stamp duties, public health, weights and measures, sheriffs, coroners, county courts, housing, municipal corporations, libraries, trustees, copyhold, diseases of animals, merchant shipping, and friendly societies.Template:Sfn
These observations apply to the public general acts of the legislature. On the other hand, in settling local acts, such as those relating to railway and canal enterprise, the legislature always inserted certain clauses founded on reasons of public policy applicable to the business in question. To avoid the necessity of constantly re-enacting the same principles in local acts, their common clauses were embodied in separate statutes, and their provisions are ordered to be incorporated in any local act of the description mentioned therein. Such are the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 18),the Companies Clauses Act 1863 and the Railways Clauses Act 1863.Template:Sfn
ProcedureEdit
Consolidation bills are introduced in the House of Lords which, by convention, has primacy in these matters. The Lords has the only substantive discussion on the bill, at its second reading, before the bill is sent to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills, which may propose amendments to it. Subject to this, the Lords' third reading and all readings in the House of Commons are usually formalities and pass without debate.<ref name="factsheet" />
Most consolidation bills are proposed in the first instance by a law reform body<ref name="law comm" /><ref name="leeds">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>—either the Law Commission (in England and Wales), the Scottish Law Commission or the Northern Ireland Law Commission—and it is this prior consideration that gives rise to the expedited process afforded to these bills.<ref name="leeds" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Every consolidation bill proposed by the Law Commission has been passed by Parliament.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Once a consolidation bill receives royal assent it becomes a consolidation act. An example of a consolidation act is the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which consolidated into a single act parts of sentencing legislation previously spread across twelve separate acts.<ref name="law comm">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another example of a consolidation act in relation to sentencing is the Sentencing Act 2020, which significantly replaced many acts in relation to sentencing including the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000.
CategoriesEdit
There are five categories of bill that qualify as consolidation bills:<ref name="so">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Bills which only re-enact existing law.
- Bills which consolidate previous laws with amendments, proposed in response to recommendations from the Law Commission.
- Bills to repeal existing legislation, again prepared by the Law Commission.
- Bills to repeal various obsolete or unnecessary parts of existing legislation.
- Bills which make corrections and minor improvements to existing legislation, prepared under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949.
The first three categories now account for almost all consolidation bills.<ref name="so" />
List of consolidation actsEdit
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The following are consolidation acts<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> ('Tax Law Rewrite' acts are not included):<ref>"Tax Law Rewrite" Template:Webarchive. HMRC.</ref>
- 1990s onwards
- 1980s
- 1970s
- 1960s
No consolidation acts were passed in 2008,<ref name="tso-2008">The Public General Acts and General Synod Measures 2008. TSO. 2009. Template:ISBN. Part V (tables and index). Page 3211.</ref> 2004,<ref name="tso-2004">The Public General Acts and General Synod Measures 2004. TSO. Template:ISBN. Part IV (tables and index). Table V. Page i.</ref> or 1999.<ref name="tso-1999">The Public General Acts and General Synod Measures 1999. The Stationery Office Limited. 2000. Template:ISBN. Part III (tables and indexes). Page h.</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- The Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills
- The Law Commission for England and Wales
- The United Kingdom Parliament
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