TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter 1|1 pages
THE FORMALITIES
THE TITLES An Act of Parliament usually has a ‘long title’ and a ‘short title’. In some Commonwealth jurisdictions it is a matter of choice whether the short title comes at the end of the Act or as the first section of the Act. The long title is usually placed at the beginning of the Act and before the ‘enacting formula’.
chapter |1 pages
NUMBERS AND DATES
It is a matter of preference whether one uses numerals or words. ‘1990’ shows out clearer than ‘one thousand nine hundred and ninety’. Yet a typographical error of ‘1990’ for ‘1996’ may not be easy to discover until, perhaps, it is too late. But it has never been a problem stating the calendar year in numerals rather than in words.
chapter |1 pages
AMENDING PROVISIONS
In Cabell v Markham Justice Learned Hand stated that it is ‘… well to remember that statutes always have some purpose or object to accomplish, whose sympathetic and imaginative discovery is the surest guide to their meaning’. Thus difficulties of interpretation may lead to an amendment of an Act of
chapter |2 pages
Examples
In a repealing provision, does not the expression ‘is hereby repealed’ contain
chapter |1 pages
Fixed or predetermined day Examples
Example 1 is definite. There can be no argument about the date. It is thus
chapter |1 pages
Conditional Examples
An Act of Parliament applies to all parts of a country. But due to the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, for example, an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament may be enacted to extend to Northern Ireland or to apply to Scotland. In a federal state, an Act of the federal parliament would apply to all the states or provinces of the federation. However,
chapter |1 pages
Notice
An Act of Parliament occasionally provides that a person or an authority should give notice. There is a constitutional requirement in a number of written constitutions that an Act of Parliament shall not come into force unless it is published in the Gazette. That is a constitutional requirement that notice of the Act should be given for the benefit of those to whom the Act is to apply. If
chapter |3 pages
Examples
As has so far been demonstrated, an Act of Parliament may not be complete in itself. Further legislative provisions would be required in order to make the law work. Parliament would thus confer power on a person or an authority to clothe, as it were, the dry bones of the Act with flesh by means the issuance of, say, Regulations. The enabling enactment takes many forms.
chapter |1 pages
Subjects Examples
An enabling enactment may provide for the amendment of an Act of Parliament by virtue of the delegated power. This is not normally advisable. The Act, when so amended, becomes wholly incomplete, for the amendments would primarily be in subsidiary legislation and not in the statute book as such. An amending Act is preferable. However, there would be no objection
chapter 3|1 pages
STATUTORY CORPORATIONS
GENERAL We all owe a duty to obey an Act of Parliament. An Act is almost invariably addressed to a person or a group of persons. A person to whom an Act is addressed is under a legal duty to obey the Act. That person may be a private individual or a corporation or other public body. Sanctions are often imposed
chapter 4|4 pages
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
Under the criminal law, offences were either felonies or misdemeanours. Misdemeanours were lower offences, punishable by a fine, forfeiture or imprisonment otherwise than in a penitentiary. A felony was a serious offence. A simple assault was a misdemeanour. An aggravated assault was a
chapter 5|11 pages
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS
All governments operate under a Consolidated Fund. It is a fund into which all government moneys are paid. All revenues go into the Consolidated Fund, unless Parliament otherwise directs. All government expenditures are paid out of the Consolidated Fund. Moneys in the Consolidated Fund cannot be