STATUTE LAW REVISION: SIXTEENTH ... - Law Commission

which included sewerage, water supply and lighting. These functions have since
largely been transferred to other authorities and, so far as concerns sewerage
and water supply, the 1883 Act has been superseded by the modern law set out
in Schedule 14 to the Water Industry Act 1991 and Schedule 23 to the Water
Resources Act 1991. Nor do local authority lighting functions now require the
statutory protection afforded by the 1883 Act. The Act, which applies only to
England and Wales, may therefore be repealed as being unnecessary and spent.
Repeal of the 1883 Act would permit minor consequential repeals to the Water
Act 1989 and the Water Industry Act 1991. The Department of the Environment,
the Department of Trade and Industry, British Gas, the Electricity Association (as
representing electricity suppliers), the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, the
Association of District Councils and the City of London have all been consulted
on the proposed repeals. No objections have been raised.
165 Group 4 - Agricultural Research
166 Agricultural Research Act 1956
10.1 The Agricultural Research Act 1956 charged the Agricultural Research Council, a
body incorporated by Royal Charter in 1931, with the functions of the
organisation and development of agricultural research. The Council had power
to establish and develop institutions for investigation and research relating to the
advancement of agriculture. The Council was renamed as ‘The Agricultural and
Food Research Council’ by Royal Charter in 1983 but it was dissolved, and its
charter surrendered, in 1994. The 1956 Act is accordingly spent and may be
repealed together with a number of textual references to the Council in the
Agricultural Research etc (Pensions) Act 1961 and in the Science and
Technology Act 1965. A consequential amendment to the Science and
Technology Act 1965 appears in Schedule 2 to the draft Bill. The Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Scottish Office Agricultural, Environment
and Fisheries Department and the Treasury Solicitor have been consulted and
have no objection to the proposed repeals.
167 Group 5 - General Repeals
168 1533 Act of Attainder
10.1 Attainder was the extinction of civil and political rights which formerly took place
following a judgment of death or outlawry for treason or felony. The offender’s
land would be forfeited and his heirs disinherited. Such Acts were used
frequently during the Wars of the Roses and in suppressing Jacobite rebellions
in 1715 and 1745. The practice of passing these Acts ended in the eighteenth
century. As an alternative to an Act of Attainder, an Act for the infliction of Pains
and Penalties - which was less severe and did not involve the punishment of
death - was sometimes resorted to. This procedure was last used,
unsuccessfully, in 1820 when Queen Caroline was accused of adultery. Many
Acts of Attainder and Acts for the infliction of Pains and Penalties were repealed
by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977. Two of the enactments repealed by that
Act were a 1533 Act of Attainder relating to John Wolff and a 1722 Pains and
Penalties Act relating to the Bishop of Rochester. Since, however, both
enactments extended to the Isle of Man and the 1977 Act did not extend directly
to the Isle of Man, the enactments remain in force there. Accordingly these
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