ABSTRACT
Considering how largely private legislation has contributed to social and material progress within the United Kingdom, but little attention has been given to its origin and development. One reason is, that it has rarely been prominent in debate, or the subject of exciting agitation outside Parliament. Most people are aware that, from the earliest times, by private or quasi-public measures, Parliament has made laws affecting personal and local interests as well as the interests of the whole community. But private bills have ever been the humble companions of public measures, largely ignored at one period in the statute book,1 hardly noticed by contemporaries, almost wholly neglected in history.
Importance attached to private bills by Parliament.
