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Explain The Arguments In Favour Of The Offences Against The Person Act 1861

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There has been much debate on the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861 since The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is widely recognised as being outdated. Several arguments find the Act as outdated, its wording are vague and difficult to explain. Both the Law Commission and the Government have observed at possible reforms for the act in order to improve its position in English Law.
The current law, examined the problems with it and suggested some options for future reform. As a result of this highly positive response the Law Commission recommends the adoption of a changed version of Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
The arguments in favour of reform are remarkable. The 1861 Act is brought together existing law on injury to persons into one piece of legislation. As a method of keeping the law up to date this can be very effective; as the common law develops and becomes fairly stable and old pieces of legislation are being replaced in a disorganised way with separate legislation, it helps to put everything in one place to make it easier for citizens to understand and lawyers to work with. The Offences Against the Person Act is brought together the 1828 Act of the same name and later statutes all …show more content…

The fact that the UK can do this so explicitly. The fact that it can drag a statute written in 1861 more or less into the 21st century without too many major alterations is a testament to the flexibility in the English legal system. This complex collaboration of statute and common law is something which some one find in almost every field of English law, and it makes legal study all the more interesting. It is expected that after the change have been made that the statute will be able to be used more effectively and efficiently hence the current law on non-fatal offences against the person is not that much

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