Edward Vaizey (Shadow Minister (Arts), Culture, Media & Sport; Wantage, Conservative)

I hope that Hansard is getting the noises off.

I take the Committee to the ancient city of Rome, where the roots of sunset provisions are laid in the Roman law of the mandate. At the time of the Roman republic, the empowerment of the Roman senate to collect special taxes and to activate troops was limited in time and extent. Those empowerments ended before the expiration of an electoral office, such as the proconsul. The rule was known as “ad tempus concessa post tempus censetur denegata”. Members of the Committee will not need any translation but for those listening to the debate who are not members of the Committee, it means what is admitted for a period will be refused after the period. The same rule applied to Roman emergency legislation; it was a fundamental part of Roman law until Julius Caesar became dictator for life.

One can see that a sunset clause is very common in a democracy. It appears in some of the greatest democracies the world has ever known. In America, the Sedition Act 1798 was subject to a sunset clause, as was the Alien Friends Act 1798. More recently, the Congressional Budget Act 1974 and the assault weapons ban provision were subject to a sunset clause, as was the USA Patriot Act 2001 and the Estate Tax and Other Tax Cuts Act 2001. [Interruption.] Does the hon. Member for Bath want to intervene on this learned exposition of a sunset clause?

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