Statute Law Revision Act

Statute Law Revision Act (with its variations) is a stock short title which has been used in Antigua, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Ghana, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom, for Acts with the purpose of statute law revision. Such Acts normally repealed legislation which was expired, spent, repealed in general terms, virtually repealed, superseded, obsolete or unnecessary. In the United Kingdom, Statute Law (Repeals) Acts are now passed instead. "Statute Law Revision Acts" may collectively refer to enactments with this short title.

The single largest Statute Law Revision Act in any jurisdiction was the Statute Law Revision Act 2007 enacted in Ireland which repealed 3,225 previous acts. The Statute Law Revision programme commenced in Ireland in 2003 which has resulted in six Statute Law Revision Acts to date (see below) and the express repeal of a total of around 8,000 acts is the largest statute law revision programme carried out internationally.See https://www.irishexaminerusa.com/mt/2008/05/07/taoiseach_announces_major_bill.html

Statute Law Revision Acts are sometimes referred to as expurgation Acts.Abbott, Austin. "Legal Reform in England" (1870) 1 Albany Law Journal 509

United Kingdom Halsbury's Laws says that Statute Law Revision Acts are law reform Acts.Halsbury's Laws of England. Fourth Edition. Reissue. Butterworths. London. 1995. Volume 44(1). Paragraph 1224 at page 722.

Under the standing orders of both Houses of Parliament, Statute Law Revision Bills must be referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation etc. Bills.HL Standing Orders (2010) (Public Business), No 51(2)HC Standing Orders (2011) (Public Business) No 140(1)(b) The Statute Law Committee prepared the bills for Statute Law Revision Acts up to, and including, the Statute Law Revision Act 1966.Halsbury's Statutes. Fourth Edition. 2008 Reissue. Volume 41. Page 691.

The scope of Statute Law Revision Bills is confined to the repeal of obsolete, spent, unnecessary or superseded enactments.Michael Bedford (editor). Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1998. 179th Edition. Vacher Dod Publishing Limited. 1998. . Page 484.

The bill for the Statute Law Revision Act 1892 contains the following note, which describes the classes of enactments repealed by that act. Certain other Statute Law Revision Bills contain similar notes as they repealed similar classes of enactments.

Enactments repealed by Statute Law Revision Acts include enactments which had become totally inoperative from having been impliedly repealed.(1870) 14 Solicitors' Journal & Reporter 922 (1 October 1870). See also Lely, Chitty's Collection of Statutes of Practical Utility, 4th Ed, 1880, vol 1, title "Act of Parliament", p 5, footnotes (b) and (c); and Westropp v Commrs of Works 2 Irish Reports 125.

The following list includes any act the short title of which includes the words "statute law revision", without prejudice to suggestions that some of these acts are not actually Statute Law Revision Acts.

The Statute Law Revision Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 101) The Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125) The Statute Law Revision Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 59) The Statute Law Revision Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 69) The Statute Law Revision Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 116) The Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 63) The Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (No. 2) (35 & 36 Vict. c. 97) The Statute Law Revision Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 91) The Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 35) The Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (No. 2) (37 & 38 Vict. c. 96) The Statute Law Revision Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 66) The Statute Law Revision (Substituted Enactments) Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 20) The Statute Law Revision Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 79) The Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 59) The Statute Law Revision Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 39) The Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 49) The Statute Law Revision Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 59) The Statute Law Revision Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 3) The Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 57) The Statute Law Revision Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 33) The Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 51) The Statute Law Revision Act 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. 67) The Statute Law Revision Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 19) The Statute Law Revision Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 14) The Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c 54) The Statute Law Revision Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 56) The Statute Law Revision Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 22) The Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 49) The Statute Law Revision Act 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5. c. 42) The Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 62) The Statute Law Revision Act 1950 (14 Geo. 6. c. 6) The Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 5) The Statute Law Revision Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 46) The Statute Law Revision Act 1959 (7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 68) The Statute Law Revision Act 1960 (8 & 9 Eliz. 2. c. 56) The Statute Law Revision Act 1963 (c. 30) The Statute Law Revision Act 1964 (c. 79) The Statute Law Revision (Consequential Repeals) Act 1965 (c. 55) The Statute Law Revision Act 1966 (c. 5)

Courtenay Ilbert said that the Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) was the first Statute Law Revision Act.

The Promissory Oaths Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 48), the Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 59), and the Master and Servant Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 24) were expressed by their preambles to be passed for the purpose of statute law revision.

Scotland The Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7. c. 38) The Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1964 (c. 80)

Ireland (before 1922)

The Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 98) The Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 57) The Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 24)

Northern Ireland The Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1952 (c. 1) (NI) The Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 (c. 1) (NI) The Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (c. 35) (NI) The Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1973 (c. 55) The Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 (c. 12) The Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 (c. 59)

The Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 and 1953 means the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1952 and the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.The Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1953, section 3(2)

The Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 to 1954 means the Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 and 1953, and the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.The Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1954, section 2(2)

The Short Titles Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 and the Repeal of Unnecessary Laws Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 also contribute to the revision of the statute book in Northern Ireland.(1953–1954) 19–20 Irish Jurist and Irish Jurist Reports 14 and 61

Isle of Man

The following act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom repealed enactments extending to the Isle of Man:

The Statute Law Revision (Isle of Man) Act 1991 (c. 61)Halsbury's Statutes. Fourth Edition. 2008 Reissue. Volume 41. Page 933.

The Westbury saving

The Westbury saving, named for its proponent Lord Westbury, was an increasingly complex saving provision that was included in all Statute Law Revision Acts from 1861 until 1953, and which reached its final standardised form in the Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888.Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission. (May 1998). "Statute Law Revision: Sixteenth Report, Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill". (Law Com No 252; Scot Law Com No 166; Cm 3939) app. 2 sch. 1 para. 9.2. The reason for its inclusion was as a precautionary measure, intended to prevent any substantive changes to the law arising out of any repeals and to confine the acts to the administrative function of clearing dead wood from the statute book.House of Lords. (13 July 1863). "Statute Law Revision. A Bill intituled An Act for promoting the Revision of the Statute Law by repealing certain Enactments which have ceased to be in force or have become unnecessary." (Bill 233) p. 6. As well as explicitly preventing any repeal from affecting the interpretation of any statute still in force, it also retained any right, benefit, claim, liability, principle of law and court jurisdiction that had previously arisen under a repealed act. This was much broader than the general saving provisions that had been introduced in 1850 that applied to all repeals.Interpretation Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 21) ss. 5-6.

Although the Interpretation Act 1889 greatly expanded the 1850 general saving provision,Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) s. 38. the Westbury saving continued to be inserted into Statute Law Revision Acts, as the 1889 act did not provide that any principle of law or court jurisdiction arising under an act would be retained on its repeal. However, the Westbury saving's complexity and wide reach gave it a reputation for making the law uncertainWinfield v Boothroyd and inaccessible (due to the fact that the repealed provisions would not be included in any revised edition of the statutes).House of Lords and House of Commons. (21 May 1958). "Seventh Report by the Joint Committee of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons appointed to consider all Consolidation Bills (including bills for consolidating private acts), Statute Law Revision Bills and bills presented under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act, 1949, in the Present Session being a report upon the Statute Law Revision Bill (H.L.) together with proceedings of the committee and minutes of evidence". (H.L. 5-VI; 108-I, H.C. 209-I) pp. 2-3. As a result, it was not included in any act after the Statute Law Revision Act 1953, as any extension beyond the provisions of the 1889 act was considered undesirable.

Although the 1889 act has now been repealed, its general saving provision has been incorporated into the Interpretation Act 1978.Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) s. 16.

Republic of Ireland

Pre-2005 The Fisheries (Statute Law Revision) Act 1949 (No 27) The Fisheries (Statute Law Revision) Act 1956 (No 28) The Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962 (No 29) The Statute Law Revision Act 1983 (No 11)

Enacted between 2005 and 2016 as part of the Statute Law Revision Programme

The following statutes have been enacted under the Statute Law Revision Programme:

The Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Act 2005 (No 32) The Statute Law Revision Act 2007 (No 28) The Statute Law Revision Act 2009 (No 46) The Statute Law Revision Act 2012 (No 19) The Statute Law Revision Act 2015 (No 23) The Statute Law Revision Act 2016 (No 20) The Statute Law Revision Act 2025 (No 10)

Antigua The Statute Law Revision Ordinance, 1919The New Edition of the Statutes of the Presidency of Antigua, New Ed, 1921, p lvii

Australia

Federal legislation

The Statute Law Revision Act 1934 (No. 45) The Statute Law Revision Act 1950 (No. 80)

The Statute Law Revision (Decimal Currency) Act 1966 (No. 93) The Statute Law Revision (Decimal Currency) Act 1967 (No. 3) The Statute Law Revision Act 1973 (No. 216) The Statute Law Revision Act 1974 (No. 20) ComLaw The Statute Law Revision Act 1981 (No. 61) The Statute Law Revision Act 1996 (No. 43) ComLaw The Statute Law Revision Act 2002 (No. 63) ComLaw The Statute Law Revision Act 2005 (No 100) The Statute Law Revision Act 2006 (No 9) ComLaw The Statute Law Revision Act 2007 (No. 8) ComLaw The Statute Law Revision Act 2008 (No. 73) The Statute Law Revision Act 2010 (No. 8) The Statute Law Revision Act 2011 (No. 5) The Statute Law Revision Act 2012 (No. 136) The Statute Law Revision Act 2013 (No. 103)