On 23 March 2010 15:14, Adam McGreggor <[email protected]> wrote: > > And codes of practice issued persuant to Section X of Bill Y. >
Worse: (since most of those are online) standards referred to in Bills. If its a BS it might as well be on the moon for most people. > Yet compare the volume of Bills with the amount of scrutiny each > receives. > > (Would it be great for someone to calculate > "this Bill received X hours in the chambers, Y in Select Committee" > "it ping-ponged Z times (as did N other Bills in that Parliament)" > a total of 11seconds per clause!) Its salutary at this point to remind ourselves of Goodheart's Law (all too familiar to My Society types). What you don't want is to give any incentive to amalgamate sections/clauses in order to reduce the clause count in a bill or section count in an act, otherwise you will end up with things like section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824: "And be it further enacted, That every Person committing any of the Offences hereinbefore mentioned, after having been convicted as an idle and disorderly Person; every Person pretending or professing to tell Fortunes, or using any subtle Craft, Means or Device, by Palmistry or otherwise, to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty's Subjects; every Person wandering abroad and lodging in any Barn or Outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied Building, or in the open Air, or under a Tent, or in any Cart or Waggon, not having any visible Means of Subsistence, and not giving a Good Account of himself or herself; every Person wilfully exposing to view, in any Street, Road, Highway or public Place, any obscene Print, Picture or other indecent Exhibition; every Person wilfully, openly, lewdly and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female; every Person wandering abroad and endeavouring by the Exposure of Wounds or Deformities to obtain or gather Alms; every Person going about as a Gatherer or Collector of Alms, or endeavouring to procure Charitable Contributions of any Nature or Kind, under any false or fraudulent Pretence; every Person running away and leaving his Wife, or his or her Child or Children, chargeable, or whereby she or they or any of them shall become chargeable to any Parish, Township or Place; every Person playing or betting in any Street, Road, Highway or other open and public Place, at or with any Table or Instrument of gaming, at any Game or pretended Game of Chance; every Person having in his or her Custody or Possession any Picklock Key, Crow, Jack, Bit or other Implement, with Intent feloniously to break into any Dwelling House, Warehouse, Coach House, Stable or Outbuilding, or being armed with any Gun, Pistol, Hanger, Cutlass, Bludgeon or other offensive Weapon, or having upon him or her any Instrument, with Intent to commit any felonious Act; every Person being found in or upon any Dwelling House, Warehouse, Coach House, Stable or Outhouse, or in any inclosed Yard, Garden or Area, for any unlawful Purpose; every suspected Person or reputed Thief, frequenting any River, Canal or navigable Stream, Dock or Basin, or any Quay, Wharf or Warehouse near or adjoining thereto, or any Street, Highway or Avenue leading thereto, or any Place of public Resort, or any Avenue leading thereto, or any Street, Highway or Place adjacent, with Intent to commit Felony; and every Person apprehended as an idle and disorderly Person, and violently resisting any Constable or other Peace Officer so apprehending him or her, and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act; and it shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace to commit such Offender (being thereof convicted before him by the Confession of such Offender, or by the Evidence on Oath of One or more credible Witness or Witnesses) to the House of Correction, there to be kept to hard Labour for any Time not exceeding Three Calendar Months; and every such Picklock Key, Crow, Jack, Bit and other Implement, and every such Gun, Pistol, Hanger, Cutlass, Bludgeon or other offensive Weapon, and every such Instrument as aforesaid, shall, by the Conviction of the Offender, become forfeited to the King's Majesty." Not only long, but *involved*. Try parsing it and see. If you enacted this today using modern drafting styles this would be at least 20 sections long and might be a whole act. Its substantive content is high - there are numerous separate offences in there - which its length belies. About 50% still in force today as it happens. -- Francis Davey _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
