Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

1.48 Management of the Hospital was placed in the hands of a board of governors.
These governors were incorporated as “the Governors of the London Hospital” by
a Charter granted by George II in 1758. Although the hospital became part of the
National Health Service in 1948, 65 it retained much of its independence until the
NHS re-organisation in 1974. The hospital was granted its Royal title in 1990 (on
the hospital’s 250 th anniversary) and in 1994 the hospital became part of The
Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, renamed in 1999 as the Barts and the London NHS
Trust. Today the hospital provides general hospital services for the City of
London and for Tower Hamlets, and specialist care services for patients across
London and elsewhere.
1.49 Two late Victorian Acts relating to the hospital are now obsolete. The London
Hospital Act 1884 66 provided the hospital governors with additional powers
including the power to grant leases and to accept paying patients. That Act
became unnecessary in 1948 when the hospital became part of the National
Health Service and the governors’ powers ceased. The sole purpose of the
London Hospital Act 1899 67 was to enable the governors to build out-patient
accommodation. This purpose was achieved when the new out-patients
department was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1903. The
1899 Act thereupon became spent.
GROUP 13 – IRELAND
1.50 This group comprises several Acts relating to benevolent institutions operating
solely in areas that now form part of the Republic of Ireland. The Acts were
passed by the United Kingdom Parliament at a time when the whole of Ireland
formed part of the United Kingdom. The establishment of the Irish Free State in
1922 has meant that these Acts, whilst remaining on the statute book of the
United Kingdom, no longer have any effect within the United Kingdom.
Accordingly they may be repealed as unnecessary so far as the United Kingdom
is concerned. 68
1.51 Although these Acts no longer have any effect within the United Kingdom, the
following paragraphs do provide some information about the subsequent history
of the various institutions that the Acts supported. In some instances it is
apparent that the legislation has become unnecessary not only because it relates
to an institution that was established in an area that is now within Ireland.
Sometimes the legislation has become unnecessary because of changes in
social and economic circumstances since the particular Act was passed resulting
in the closure of the institution itself.
65 By virtue of the National Health Service Act 1946, s 6 and the National Health Service Act
(Appointed Day) Order 1948 (SI 1948 No 112) all voluntary hospitals (like the Royal
London Hospital) and all hospitals belonging to local authorities were (with certain
exceptions) transferred to and vested in the Minister of Health on 5 July 1948.
66 47 & 48 Vict. c.xviii.
67 62 & 63 Vict. c.l.
68 Nevertheless each Act has been researched carefully to ensure that it has no residual
effect in any part of the United Kingdom.
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