in interpreting the English Statute Law arises out of our method of legislation. An Act is no sooner passed than it is found to be not sufficiently comprehensive, and a Bill is introduced to repeal, amend, or add to one or more sections of the principal Act. This process of repealing, amending, or enlarging particular sections of the original Act goes on from year to year, until at last the particular branch of law becomes very complex. This difficulty of interpretation would be reduced to a minimum if Parliament, when repealing or amending any particular sections of an Act, were to repeal the previous Act and re-enact it in its amended form. By this means both lawyers and laymen would be able to obtain in one Act the whole of the legislation on that particular subject. True, there are published from time to time, under authority, what are termed Revised Statutes; but they are many years in arrears with the statutes published, and they do not codify, but merely publish the statutes with the repealed sections omitted. Certain branches of the law have been codified, such as the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and the Factory Act, 1901; but there have been several amendments of the former statute, and when the Factory Act requires amending, the Act of 1901 will be termed the principal Act, and numerous other statutes will be added to interpret or enlarge the principal Act, and this process will go on for a number of years, until it is codified again. My best thanks are due to my friend Mr. E. A. Dunn, B.A. of Trinity College, Dublin, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, who has given me most valuable help in assisting to make the Table of Cases, and doing other work connected with the book. I beg also to tender my sincere thanks to the Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, Law Times Reports, and Weekly Reporter, and to the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for their courtesy in permitting me to make use of the head-notes in their Reports for this Digest where I have required them. I should be grateful to anyone using this book if he would inform me of any inaccuracies he may come across, or for any suggestion for improvement in a subsequent edition. 2, ESSEX COURT, TEMPLE, E.C. April, 1903. J. E. R. STEPHENS. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. DIGEST OF PUBLIC HEALTH CASES, COMPRISING All the Cases from the earliest Reports down to Easter, 1902. Price 21s. nett. SANITARY PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD., CONTENTS. PAGE SALE OF EXHAUSTED PARISH LANDS ACT, 1876 (39 & 40 VICT. c. 62) HIGHWAYS AND LOCOMOTIVES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1878 (41 & 42 VICT. |