For those readers who rail at the gobbledegook that often seems to inhabit modern legislation and yearn for the golden age of law, when statutes were brief and drawn with clarity and care, here is an extract from a 1935 case (Wickhambrook PCC v Croxford) grappling with section 2.3 of the Chancel Repairs Act 1932:

‘It is obvious that the legislature in this section adopted the precedent of obscurity set many years back by a statesman who, when confronted with a question as to what are the duties of an archdeacon, contented himself by explaining that he was an officer required to perform the archidiaconal functions.’

George Bowser, QualitySolicitors Dunn & Baker, Exeter