This book explores the passing of more than 20,000 private Acts from 1797 to 1914, including information about the many other Bills that were unsuccessfully promoted, and the evidence that Parliament took about the processes and costs involved.

Its subject analysis is accompanied by explanation of the evolving procedures involved, with citation of evidence given—sometimes by well-known witnesses such as George and Robert Stephenson, and Brunel—to the repeated Select Committees that examined the often disproportionately expensive procedures required.

For each Parliamentary...