The problem with some of these laws is that by being kept on the statute books, they can be resurrected at any time, if people get a bit uppity. Some of the British laws don't just go back to the 19th century, they go back a lot further than that to I understand the 13th century. Try the Guardian site www.guardianunlimited.co.uk for a more detailed report on the whole thing. The reason the Guardian raised the matter was a I think a wish to see if the thing could stand up to modern day thinking. It seems that you can talk about abolition (of course I could be wrong there) but if you write a letter suggesting it, bingo! life in the tower.