FORGOTTEN LAWS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 24

FORGOTTEN LAWS

BUT STILL ALIVE

ANCIENT ENACTMENTS

The imprisonment of a certain Mr. Stevens for the offence of contempt of the Ely Consistory Court is a reminder of those bad old days when the ecclesiastic Courts were paramount in this realm and laymen went warily before their clerical masters. Little now remains of that former power (remarks George Godwin, in the "Daily News"). The Eeformation, the Acts of Toleration, and other measures took from these Courts the bulk of their jurisdiction. It is a long time since a Church Court sentenced a layman to imprisonment; we may be very sure it has happened for the last time. But this case is a needed reminder of the fact that there are in force a great number of statutes that have never been repealed, are the law of the land, and could bo enforced at any time. That this great body of obsolete legislation is a meiraee is proved by the occasional invocation of it by hard-i pressed lawyers anxious to press home a weak case. .PREPOSTEROUS DECISIONS. Not long ago, for example, an old man was hailed before a board of guardians for failing to support his -grandchildren.: That there exists any such obligation is surely surprising; that the Act invoked in this case was one dated 1601 is even more so. The law which regulates our conduct on Sundays dates from the times of Charles 11. It might be said' that it is a dead letter. In England, yes; but in Wales, no. Under this obsolete Act not long ago a miner in the Principality was prosecuted for eating sweets on tho Sabbath—and was convicted. But, of course, a higher Court would reverse that prepbsterous decision? Not a bit of it. The man appealed—and lost. When, a Tipton, Staffs, man informed a_ Court that his wife had been bewitched a year or two ago, he was told not to be ( adsurd. But the law was on his side,; for the law still recognises witch-craft.-There was onco a big body of law upon this thorny subject. It was incorporated in an Act of George 11. That Act, prescribing the penalties for practising witchcraft, is, still good law. How many people are' aware that in hiring a boat on Sunday they are aiding, and abetting its owner in breaking the law? Yet such is the case. It is illegal, to eat a meal of more than two courses, to go out of; your parish for the purpose of meeting, to play football if you are a seaman, servant, fisherman, and so forth. Every session sees more statutes go on the Statute Book. Now and then Statute Law Revision Acts are passed to repeal these ancient enactments, yet many still remain. So, too, with tho little-known power of obscure Courts. They are overlooked, as the Ely Consistory Court case demonstrates. There are tribunals as ancient and as obsolete as tho above-cited statutes. Once useful, they became the instruments ,of unscrupulous moneylonders. The Derby Court of Eccord, for instance, fell on evil days and became the oppressive instrument of tho unscrupulous moneylenders. It had practically no othor business. Most judgments went by default, since, the poor debtor could not. afford to come from some other part ofthe country to defend. Tho Bristol Court of Pie- Poudre is another instance. In this quaintly-nam-ed'^tribunal, in one recent year, 1899 plaints were heard, tho majority being moneylenders' actions. So, too, with the Salford Hundred Court, no fewor than 15,765 writs were issued in a single year. Nearly all moneylenders' actions. How many such Courts are there? »No fewer than 115. Tho functions of most of these havo been transferred to the county Courts by an Act of 1846, but in any case, like tho ancient laws referred to above, they have long outlived their usefulness and should be scrapped. While they exist they are a menace—just as many will regard the wide powers of the Ely Consistory Court as a menace to the liberty of tho subject.