ABSTRACT
Victorians rightfully saw law reform as one of their great successes. Commencing already at the end of the eighteenth century, reformers began to rationalise the laws and courts which had been growing since the early Middle Ages, and their efforts trickled through the Parliamentary maze to the statute books. While Whigs and Liberals most often pushed reforms, even the Tories joined in occasionally and Robert Peel, a future Prime Minister, made his reputation in the 1820s with law reforms. That the absurdity of the three-step system of divorce (a mensa et thoro in a church court, crim. coil, in a common law court, and private Bill in Parliament) survived to 185 7 is striking testimony to the number of more serious problems that existed in English law before mid-century.
