HANDY STATUTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 57, 9 March 1931, Page 5

HANDY STATUTES.

XJP-X'O-DATE COMPILATION

A NEW ZEALAND INNOVATION.

(Fnum Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Every session Parliament adds a few more amendments to the Statutes, and it is always difficult to ascertain the real position of the law on most important questions, notably the land, unless the ftjnuircr is quite familiar with the amending method, and has the means ot tracing: the whole course of the changes through a library of annual volumes of the Statutes. Mfdters became so complicated main years ago that a commission of judges was pet up to consolidate the laws of New Zealand. The result was a monumontial compilation, which was enacted in 1308, so that the searcher aftei the correct law need go back only as ai as that year. The position has since become complicated by amendments, ancl under the direction of Sir Thomas Sidcy Attorney-General, another effoit ha* beeu started to clear it again A new pfcua has been adopted, that of bunging towather all the statutes on any particular subject, so that those interested will find, bound together, the original legislation and all subsequent amendments. The volumes arc to be of a handier size than the standard Statutes of New Zealand, and they will also contain notes regarding leading decisions, with references to important cases beaim,r on the interpretation of the law. Instead of bringing the whole compilation before Parliament to be enacted as a series of consolidations, it is the Government's intention to submit to thi, (House a measure legalising this new compilation procedure, enabling the Statutes appearing in the handj \ol I dimes to be accepted by the courts unless it can be proved in any particular *ay that they differ from the standaid Statutes. This work has the approval of 'the New Zealand Law Society, and it will certainly be welcomed by all who have to frequently consult the large masses of legislation passed by lariiament. It is hoped to complete the compilation early in 1932.