Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which are the oldest three Acts on the statute book; and what is the reason for their retention in each case.

Legislation.gov.uk lists all of the known Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors.

The three oldest enactments are contained in the 1267 Statute of Marlborough which contains four chapters from that session. The age of an Act does not always indicate its utility; legislation is only repealed where a clear case has been made to do so. The Law Commissions regularly produce reports identifying obsolete and unnecessary legislation.

The Law Commission for England and Wales have recently published a consultation paper proposing the repeal of chapters 4 and 15 of the Statute of Marlborough. The consultation can be found at the following web address:

http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/consultations/general-slr-repeal-proposals.htm