Archaic laws targeted by freedom bill

09 July 2010 16:04:48

Clegg wants to get rid of Britain's obsolete laws.

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has called upon members of the public to name unnecessary laws they would like to see repealed. The move is aimed at removing pointless regulation, some of which dates back to medieval times and is irrelevant to modern life. Ideas submitted by the public will be taken into consideration when the government drafts its freedom bill later this year. Here, CompareandSave.com looks at Mr Clegg's idea and highlights some outdated money-related laws that could be addressed.

Clearing out dormant laws
The government's new 'Your Freedom' website invites people to propose ways to remove pointless regulation and reduce government intrusion into their lives. The statute book has become riddled with dormant laws, which have simply been added to over time. In 2008, climate change secretary Chris Huhne, who was then the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, revealed that the Labour government had created more than 3,600 new criminal offences in the space of 11 years, a scenario he described as 'legislative diarrhoea'.

Mr Clegg wants to get rid of unnecessary laws, whether they were passed recently or have been in existence for hundreds of years. He pointed out that many of Britain's laws are "completely obsolete" and said: "We need to work through legislation to identify laws we don't need. Whether seemingly harmless or not, laws that serve no purpose obscure what legislation is for in the first place."

Unusual laws
Britain's statute book is riddled with laws that at first glance may appear eccentric, but that once made perfect sense. One example is the law stating it is illegal to impersonate a Chelsea pensioner. The reasoning behind the law becomes clear when one considers that former soldiers received their pension from the Royal Hospital Chelsea until 1955. Any impersonation of a Chelsea pensioner before that time was therefore likely to have been an attempt at fraud.

A number of strange tax laws are still in existence. For example, every ship travelling upstream into the City of London is supposedly required to give the Constable of the Tower of London a share of its cargo in exchange for protection by the tower's guns. The law is no longer enforced, but is still marked by a ceremony each year, in which the Constable is given a barrel of rum by the Royal Navy. Meanwhile, according to the more recent Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you do not want him to know, but you do not have to tell him anything you do not mind him knowing.

Another oddity relates to the legality of bank notes. Bank of England notes are the only ones with legal tender in England and Wales. They are not legal tender in Scotland or Northern Ireland, despite the fact that they are generally accepted throughout the UK. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own bank notes, which are not legal tender in England and Wales. Nor are they legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, which means that no bank notes are legal tender in those countries. But just because a note is not legal tender does not mean it is not legal currency, and shops may accept them if they choose to do so.

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