In 1861 the British Parliament passed the first of a long series of Statute Law Revision Acts. The most important action, was the nomination of Statute Law Committee by Lord Chancellor Cairns in 1868, the practical result of which was the issuing of the first edition of the Revised Statutes in eighteen volumes, bringing the revision of statute law down to 1886. The third edition of The Statutes Revised was published by HMSO in 1950. The fourth revised edition of the statutes was called Statutes in Force. For the purpose of citation "Statutes Revised" may be abbreviated to "Rev Stat".