Ever been drunk driving a steam engine?

An exhibition at the Law Society highlights unusual pieces of legislation which remain on the statute book. Why have they survived, when they appear so at odds with modern life?

Think Asbos are draconian? Consider the Victorian equivalent.

Hanging washing in the street, beating a carpet and flying a kite are set out in the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, (chapter 89, section 28) as punishable by a £1,000 fine.

But don’t be thankful time has moved on because, in legal terms, it hasn’t.

This law, created to harmonise life for the millions of new city-dwellers living cheek by jowl, is still on the statute book. Its fine has recently been converted into modern money and it is still applicable in those areas designated under the act.

DON’T DO THE FOLLOWING…
Wear armour to Parliament (Royal Prerogative 1279)
Fire a cannon close to a dwelling house (Met Police Act 1839)
Bet or gamble in the library reading room (Library Offences Act 1898)
Use any slide upon ice or snow (Town Police Clauses Act 1847)
Drive cattle through the streets of London (Metropolitan Streets Act 1867)
A new display at the Law Society library comprises this and seven other pieces of odd but existing legislation. It includes the Licensing Act 1872, which says being drunk in charge of a horse, cow or steam engine incurs a £200 fine and possibly jail for up to 51 weeks.

The library’s resources manager Catherine Pease, who organised the exhibition, says it shows how far the lawmaking process goes back, with acts from the 13th and 14th centuries included.

In total there are more than 4,000 Public and General Acts, 11,000 Local Acts and 13,000 Private Acts dated before 1801 which are still on the statute books.

AND CERTAINLY DON’T…
Shoot a Welshman with a crossbow within the city of Chester after sunset – this urban myth may be rooted in a local byelaw but it won’t afford you any legal protection
The eight on display have survived the ongoing cull of obsolete laws by the statute law revision team, which has abolished 2,000 since 1965. It consults interest groups before its proposals for repeal are put to the Lord Chancellor and eventually the House of Lords.

Among those abolished in the last round was the Small Holdings Colonies Act 1916, which gave ex-servicemen their own land but later fell into disuse because ex-servicemen no longer had the required agricultural skills. The Airports Act 1986, which privatised the airport industry, is also no more.

It’s our job to do the housekeeping, combing through the statute book for material which shouldn’t be there anymore

John Saunders
Statute law revision team
As well as shedding light on the UK’s economic, social and political life, this constant renewal of legislation saves time and money, says John Saunders, who heads the statute law revision team.

“Parliament passes a law to deal with a current situation and when that situation no longer applies, the law should cease to apply as well,” he says.

“But it often remains and it’s our job to do the housekeeping, combing through the statute book for material which shouldn’t be there anymore.

“Until we actually get rid of it, people see it there and think it must mean something, which can be misleading for lawyers.”

Fishy law

The ones that survive either serve some purpose or to repeal them would be too controversial, like the Easter Act 1928, which deems that Easter Sunday should be fixed as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. But to enforce it would require agreement with Christian churches around the world.

Like many acts passed by Parliament, it doesn’t come into force until a commencement act is made by a minister, so it sits on the statute book in a “ghost form”, he says.

The potential abuse of obsolete laws was highlighted by Shakespeare in Measure for Measure, when Vienna’s temporary leader Angelo ordered that men who seduce women before marriage be arrested.

More recently, in the UK, the government considered, but rejected, a plan that radical Muslim clerics be prosecuted under an ancient treason law, originally enshrined in 1351.

One sure way to get arrested (see fact box)
But others have been resurrected, like the Royal Prerogative passed in 1324 which states that whales and sturgeon caught or washed up on British coastline be offered to the Crown.

In 2004, fisherman Robert Davies was investigated by police in Plymouth after selling a sturgeon caught in Swansea Bay. He had faxed the Master of the Royal Household and was told to keep the fish but was unaware it was still illegal to sell. He was not prosecuted and Stan the sturgeon ended up in the Natural History Museum.

So could one neighbour report another for carpet-beating?

“You would need a brass neck to do it and probably could bring your own private prosecution,” says Mr Saunders. “But the reality is that laws against low-level criminal activity, like Asbos, there’s some common sense behind them.

“Like ringing doorbells at night – it’s not the kind of thing you want your neighbour to be doing. So although it’s in rather anachronistic language, it’s the kind of thing it’s difficult to make a case for repealing.”

Human rights

A malicious prosecution wouldn’t succeed anyway, says Joshua Rozenberg, legal editor of the Daily Telegraph.

“The main safeguard is the Human Rights Act and other legislation usually has to be read in light of it, unless there’s a conflict between the two and that’s resolved by Parliament.

“The other way is that a prosecution, including a private one, can be stopped by the DPP and if someone were using this law maliciously or vexatiously, or even if they got a summons issued, it could be blocked.

“Therefore in practice there’s little risk of it and the only reason these laws have survived the statute law revision team is that they’ve not been causing any harm.”

Anyway, it’s not the obsolete ones we should be worrying about, he says, it’s the ancient laws which are used every day but need reform, like the archaic language of the Offences Against a Persons Act 1861.

Although the Law Commission wants to modernise the act’s language, like “grievous bodily harm”, there isn’t parliamentary time, he says.

Ironically, some of that time is spent passing new acts, at a pace of about 40 to 50 every year. And for some of the laws of tomorrow, time on the statute books could be short.

Non-solicitors who want to visit the Law Society display should ring 020 7316 5724 or email [email protected] to book.