Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

6.104 As explained above in relation to the 1694 Act, the City’s debts were cleared by
1832 when the City of London Orphans Fund was effectively wound up.
Accordingly the 1747 Act has long been obsolete.
St George’s Fields, Surrey: Right of Common Extinguished Act (1772)
6.105 This 1772 Act 178 was passed in order to extinguish a right of common over land in
St George’s Fields in Southwark. The preamble to the 1772 Act recorded the
need to move the existing house of correction 179 in Southwark to a new site. The
existing house of correction was said to be “too small, unhealthy, inconvenient,
and unsafe, and Persons committed to the [house of correction] for Felony
cannot be kept separate from those committed for small Misdemeanours, which
greatly tends to the Ruin and entire Corruption of the latter”. The preamble also
recorded that a suitable site for a new house of correction had been found. An
acre of open land in St George’s Fields called White Lyon (or Hangman’s Acre)
near the Kings Bench prison had been earmarked for the purpose. The only
problem was that this land was subject to a right of common. Since the land could
not be built on whilst this right of common remained in force, an Act of Parliament
was needed to extinguish that right.
6.106 Accordingly the 1772 Act provided that all rights of common and pasture over this
acre of land should be extinguished with immediate effect. This enabled building
work on the house of correction to start, the work being completed in early
1773. 180 The Act achieved its purpose upon taking effect at Royal Assent and
thereupon become spent.
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden Act (1776)
6.107 The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden is today better known as the Royal Opera
House. It opened in 1732 and was primarily a playhouse until 1847 when the
Theatre was re-named as the Royal Italian Opera, being finally re-named as the
Royal Opera House in 1892. 181 The 1776 Act 182 was passed to incorporate a
fund, to be known as The Society established for the Relief of indigent Persons
belonging to the Theatre Royal, Covent-garden. The fund amounted to £4300
and had been collected in or around 1765 “for the Support of such Performers
belonging to the said Theatre as, through Age, Infirmity, or Accident, should be
obliged to retire from the Stage; and to the occasional Relief of Performers in
case of Sickness”. 183 The Act appointed a committee to manage the fund.
178 12 Geo.3 c.65.
179 Houses of correction provided for the custody of persons convicted of comparatively minor
offences. By 1865 all distinctions between houses of correction and prisons had been
abolished: Prison Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c.126).
180 This house of correction remained in use until 1798 when its inmates were transferred to
Horsemonger Lane Gaol. The building was later used as a soap factory.
181 The Royal Opera House is quite separate from another ancient theatre in the same area
that still exists, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
182 16 Geo.3 c.31.
183
The 1776 Act, preamble. The fund was also intended to benefit the widows and children of
deceased performers.
200