The Report of the Statute Law Commission, which has appeared
this week, does not bear the signature either of the Attorney or the Solicitor-General, and they appear to have withheld their names because the extensive scheme they recommended was not en- tered on. The course pursued by the Commission has been to direct the consolidation only of certain groups of statutes which are evidently best adapted to undergo that process. The work thus undertaken cannot fail, they say, to be of immediate uti- lity, and it may at any. future time be modified so as to find place in a comprehensive system. They have appended to their report some general instructions for the draftsmen employed in the work, which reflect with just severity upon the present careless system of framing statutes. " Brevity and perspicuity," say the Commissioners, " can only be attained by observing the rules of grammar and logic." True ; but the Legislature has long since ceased to study these qualities in its compositions, nor will it be very ready to employ others to do that which it cannot or Will- not do itself.
