The 1861 Act has been in operation for over 150 years. The main three offences, namely assault occasioning actual bodily harm, malicious wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm and wounding/causing grievous bodily harm with intent, between them generate at least 26,000 prosecutions a year. In addition, the offences of assault and battery generate over 100,000 prosecutions a year. There are numerous other offences, for example those connected with poisons and explosives, which generate a few prosecutions a year as well as some which are seldom or never encountered in practice as impeding escape from a shipwreck. The 1861 Act has attracted a great deal of criticism, in particular because, the offences are not clearly classified in order of seriousness, some offences relate to narrowly specialized situations, or include complex lists of situations, rather than setting out a clear principle, the mental element of some offences is not clearly expressed and does not reflect the external elements of those offences, the language is often archaic and obscure.These offences are heavily used and the range and strength of these criticisms has led to various reform proposals advanced by the Law Commission and the Home Office.