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The Railway and Canal Commission was a British
court of record
A court of record is a trial court or appellate court in which a record of the proceedings is captured and preserved, for the possibility of appeal. A court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of oral proceedings. That written recor ...
, established by the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1888 and abolished by the Railway and Canal Commission (Abolition) Act 1949.
The Regulation of Railways Act 1873 established the Railway Commissioners, created to carry into effect the provisions of the
Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854
The Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854, also known as Cardwell's Act, was an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament regulating the operation of railways. The railways were already considered to be common carriers and thus subject to the Carriers A ...
. When the 1873 Act expired, Parliament established the Railway and Canal Commission in 1888. It originally consisted of five commissioners.
The jurisdiction of the Commission having been progressively whittled down, it was abolished in 1949. Its last member, Sir Francis Taylor, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Maenan shortly before its abolition.