Note 202 — Chapter XIII

In justice to Barebone’s Parliament, its reforms should be compared with the course of subsequent legislation. (i.) Parliament passed Acts for the relief of debtors in 1813 and 1843: by the Act of 1861, fraudulent debt was dealt with as a criminal offence, and imprisonment of common debtors abolished for the rich, though practically retained for the poor: Acts were also passed for the reform of prisons in 1774, 1823, and 1835; (ii.) After the Restoration, criminal legislation was retrograde, and between that time and the death of George III., a period of 160 years, the punishment for 187 more offences was made capital: by successive Acts between 1824 and 1861, the punishment of death was limited to murder and treason; (iii.) Since 1828, several reforms have been introduced, which diminish the delays, and to some extent the costs, of the courts of common law and the Court of Chancery: the establishment of county courts for the recovery of small debts has rendered justice obtainable by the poor (1846); (iv.) An Act for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths was passed in 1836; (v.) By Acts passed under William IV. and Victoria tithes were commuted into a rent charge upon land, payable in money, varying with the price of corn.