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Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832
BackgroundIn the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the late 18th-century, raised questions about the system and structure of the common law and the poor drafting and disorder of the existing statute book.[1] In 1806, the Commission on Public Records passed a resolution requesting the production of a report on the best mode of reducing the volume of the statute book.[2] From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts.[2] In 1816, both Houses of Parliament, passed resolutions that an eminent lawyer with 20 clerks be commissioned to make a digest of the statutes, which was declared "very expedient to be done." However, this was never done.[3] In 1812, William Booth was the last person to be hanged for forgery in England. A public outcry at the harshness of his sentence resulted in the death penalty in England and Wales being reserved for capital crimes, making Booth the last person in England hanged for a non-capital crime.[4] In 1822, Sir Robert Peel entered the cabinet as home secretary and in 1826 introduced a number of reforms to the English criminal law, which became known as Peel's Acts. This included efforts to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions from a large number of earlier statutes, including:[5]
In 1827, several acts were passed for this purpose, territorially limited to England and Wales and Scotland, including:
In 1828, parallel Bills for Ireland to Peel's Acts were introduced, becoming:[6]
In 1828, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for England and Wales almost 60 statutes relating to the criminal law. In 1829, the Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to offences against the person and repealed for Ireland almost 60 statutes relating to the Criminal law. In 1828, the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 74) was passed, which repealed for India offences repealed by the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827 (7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 27) the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31). In 1830, the Forgery Act 1830 (11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. 66) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to forgery and repealed for England and Wales over 25 statutes relating to the criminal law. In 1832, the Coinage Offences Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 34) was passed, which consolidated provisions in the law relating to the counterfeiting and clipping of coins, repealed for the United Kingdom almost 50 statutes relating to the criminal law, and abolished the punishment of the death penalty for coinage offences. PassageIn 1832, several petitions were made to Parliament of the United Kingdom to abolish the death penalty in relation to offences of forgery:[7]
Leave to bring in the Forgery Punishments Bill was granted to the attorney general, Thomas Denman MP, and the solicitor general, Sir William Horne MP,[7] and the Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 22 June 1832, introduced by Thomas Denman MP.[16] The Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 30 June 1832, and was committed to a Committee of the Whole House,[17] which met on 24 July 1832 and reported on 25 July 1832, with amendments.[7] The amended Bill was considered on 26 July 1832 and had its third reading in the House of Commons on 31 July 1832.[18] Notable opposition came from Sir Charles Wetherell MP. The Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 1 August 1832.[19] The Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 10 August 1832, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux,[20] and was committed to a Committee of the Whole House, which met on 13 August 1832, and reported on 14 August 1832, with amendments,[19] adding exceptions at the request of Lord Wynford, allowing the death penalty in cases of forgery of wills and power of attorney.[21] The amended Bill had its third reading in the House of Lords on 15 August 1832, with amendments.[19] The amended Bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Commons on 15 August 1832.[7] The Bill was granted royal assent on 16 August 1832.[19] ProvisionsSection 1 of the act abolished the death penalty for all offences of forgery.[22] Section 2 of the act provided that this abolition did not extent to punishments for forging or altering wills and certain powers of attorney.[22] Section 3 of the act provided that it is sufficient to describe a forgery in an indictment and that indictments did not need to include a copy of the forged document.[22] LegacySubsequent developmentsAt the start of the parliamentary session in 1853, Lord Cranworth announced his intention to the improvement of the statute law and in March 1853, appointed the Board for the Revision of the Statute Law to repeal expired statutes and continue consolidation, with a wider remit that included civil law.[23] The Board issued three reports, recommending the creation of a permanent body for statute law reform. In 1854, Lord Cranworth appointed the Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law.[23] The Commission made four reports. Recommendations made by the Commission were implemented by the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64). On 17 February 1860, the Attorney General, Sir Richard Bethell told the House of Commons that he had engaged Sir Francis Reilly and A. J. Wood to expurgate the statute book of all acts which, though not expressly repealed, were not in force, working backwards from the present time.[23] In 1861, Bills were introduced to consolidate and modernise the criminal law, drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves across:[24]
In 1861, the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts were passed:
RepealsSection 1 of the Forgery Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 84) abolished the exception, providing that any person convicted of any of those offences was liable to be transported for life, or for a term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding four years and not less than two years. The act was wholly repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 95). See alsoReferences
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