A. -9

2

9. In the recent session of the Imperial Parliament the Bill was introduced again, and passed its second reading in the House of Commons, and it may be assumed that it has again been presented, with or without alterations, for the consideration of the new Parliament in its first session. 10. While the Bill was before the House of Commons in 1879, the Lord Chief Justice of England addressed a letter to the Attorney-General (which was published, by order of the House of Commons, on the 10th June, 1879) in which he minutely criticised it, pointing out a variety of matters in respect of which it was, in his opinion, imperfect and its provisions questionable ; and he promised further letters, of which, if yet published, we have not been able to procure copies. His Lordship expressed his approbation of the great amount of labour of the Commissioners, and the great learning and research displayed by them, and his astonishment that they should have done so much in so short a time. 11. He admitted in his letter that the Commissioners had collected abundant materials for a complete and perfect code; but he said he could not concur in thinking that they had as yet presented such a code, adding, " I am bound to say that, in my opinion, a great deal remains to be done to make the present code a complete and perfect exposition or a definite settlement of the criminal law." 12. Since the appearance of this letter, Sir James FitzJames Stephen, in an article in a magazine called the Nineteenth Century, for January of this year, replied to the Chief Justice's criticisms, vindicating the action and report of the Commissioners in many respects, but ingenuously admitting that the work was necessarily imperfect in some of the particulars to which the Chief Justice referred; and there seems to be a probability of no little controversy before the matter is finally settled, even as a tentative and partial codification and consolidation of the common and statute law relating to indictable offences only. 13. There is no pretence that we are aware of for any haste in the matter, as the few novelties introduced by the Bill of 1879 are, to say the least, of a questionable kind. The examination of the accused, for instance, is a matter on which the Commissioners themselves report, " As regards the policy of a change in the law so important we are divided in opinion." 14. It may be well to remark here that the English Criminal Consolidation Acts of 1862, from which the New Zealand Acts of 1867 are derived, have given rise to very few questions for the decision of the Court for Crown cases reserved. 15. Under these circumstances it has seemed to us that it would be premature and inexpedient, if not presumptuous, and probably useless, for us to do more at present than prepare ourselves for undertaking the task of the adaptation to the colony of the English code after it has been finally sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament. 16. Had we commenced our labours under the Act of 1879 by a report and adaptation of the Criminal Consolidation Bill, we should have been unable to finish that portion of them before the commencement of the approaching session of the Assembly, even if we had devoted our attention exclusively to it. The review of the whole of the New Zealand and Imperial statute law necessary for purposes of repeal alone must be minute and searching, and must occupy a very considerable space of time, even if we take upon trust from the English Bill those portions of the code which are supposed accurately to represent the common law relating to the various subjects comprised in it. Consolidation. 17. According to our understanding of the language of the Legislature in "The Revision of Statutes Act, 1879/ it is our duty to collect, arrange, and reproduce in a consolidated form the whole of the statute law enacted by the Legislature of the colony since its establishment, which still remains in force—that is, has not been repealed or superseded, or has expired or become obsolete. 18. But we understand that we are further empowered and bound to make alterations, amendments, omissions, and additions in matters of form, language, and arrangement (without altering the meaning or affecting the operation of the enactment), in order that the consolidated law may be as simple and intelligible to ordinary readers as possible. 19. Further powers are accorded to us, enabling us to indicate such Acts or parts of Acts as in our judgment ought to be repealed, and to recommend the passing of such new enactments as may in our judgment be necessary; but we have no power to consolidate with existing enactments such new enactments as we might deem desirable. 20. Before proceeding to the practical work of consolidation, we agreed upon general principles which ought to be ordinarily followed in making alterations, by omission, addition, or substitution, in the language of the Acts, so as to render their style as uniform as possible ; and in doing so we have been guided to a great extent by the rules and suggestions to be found in Bentham's " Treatise on Nomography " (or the expression of law). 21. The great object of all such rules is to make each particular enactment as easily intelligible as possible to every person who derives a benefit from it or is subjected to any charge by it. 22. To this end nothing is more conducive than that the provisions of every statute should be subdivided as much as possible, and arranged in such sequence as most easily to carry the mind of the reader from one enactment to another.