As I am walking through the Aye lobby just a few moments ago, I spy two black tomes sitting on one of the creaking bookshelves.

The Chronological Tables of the Acts of the Parliaments of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

I pick up the first weighty volume. Part 1 runs from 1235 to 1975 and comes in at 1397 pages. Its fatter companion covers the period from 1976 to 2008 and runs to 1407 pages.

I dip into the former to check out which Statutes are still in force, in whole or in part. They are shown in bold and in square brackets. The earliest one is, I think, from 1267.

There is one from 1313 on "Coming Armed to Parliament". I shall make a point of looking that one up when I have nothing better to do to amuse myself.

And another from 1350 on the status of children born abroad.

I fast forward to 1688. The Bill of Rights.

Still there. And still very familiar.