PART 1 | UNIVERSAL REVISION OF ACTS |
| 2. The long title to the Revised Edition of the Laws Act (Cap. 275) (called in this Part the principal Act) is amended by deleting the words “the annual revision” and substituting the words “subsequent revisions”. |
| 3. Section 3(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “an annual revision” and substituting the words “subsequent revisions”. |
4. Section 4(1) of the principal Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “shall have power in their discretion” and substituting the words “have power, without changing the meaning of any Act”; | | (b) | by deleting the words “supply or alter” in paragraph (d) and substituting the words “supply, alter or omit”; | | (c) | by deleting the words “rules, regulations or by‑laws” in paragraph (e)(iii) and substituting the words “subsidiary legislation”; | | (d) | by deleting paragraph (i) and substituting the following paragraphs:| “(i) | to change the order of sections or other provisions of an Act, and to number or renumber the sections or other provisions of an Act; | | (ia) | to make the following editorial changes to bring an Act in line, or more closely in line, with current legislative drafting practice:| (i) | changes to spelling, punctuation, grammar or syntax, or the use of conjunctives and disjunctives; | | (ii) | changes to the way of referring to or expressing a number, year, date, time, amount of money or of other things, penalty, quantity, measurement or other matter, idea or concept; | | (iii) | changes to language that indicates or could be taken to indicate gender;”; |
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| | (e) | by deleting the words “not affecting the meaning of any Act” in paragraph (l); and | | (f) | by inserting, immediately after the word “correct” in paragraph (n), the words “or update”. |
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5. Section 8 of the principal Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraph:| “(b) | all Acts wholly or substantially in force on 31 December 2020, and any other Acts coming wholly or substantially into force after that date that the Commissioners think fit to include;”; |
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| | (b) | by deleting the words “into so many Titles, Chapters and Parts” in subsection (2); | | (c) | by deleting subsection (3) and substituting the following subsection:| “(3) The Acts contained in the revised edition of Acts may be arranged alphabetically or in any other way the Commissioners think fit, regardless of their date of enactment.”; and |
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| | (d) | by inserting, immediately after the words “in the revised edition of Acts” in subsection (4), the words “the Chapter number (if any) and”. |
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6. Section 9(1) of the principal Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting sub‑paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a) and substituting the following sub‑paragraph:| “(ii) | “2020 Revised Edition”; and”; and |
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| | (b) | by deleting the words “1985 Ed.” in paragraph (b) and substituting the words “2020 Ed.”. |
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7. Section 10 of the principal Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “As soon as practicable after 1st January of the year in which the revised edition of Acts comes into force and thereafter after 1st January of each succeeding year, the Commissioners shall, subject to this section and with the intent that the revised edition of Acts shall be annually revised” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “The Commissioners may, from time to time after the revised edition of Acts comes into force”; | | (b) | by deleting the words “which has been amended during the period of 12 months ending on the preceding 31st December (referred to in this section as the relevant period)” in subsection (1)(a) and substituting the words “that they consider has been extensively amended”; | | (c) | by deleting the words “any new Act enacted during the relevant period, other than Acts” in subsection (1)(b) and substituting the words “a revised edition of any new Act enacted, other than an Act”; | | (d) | by deleting the words “which has been amended during the relevant period” in subsection (1)(c) and substituting the words “that they consider has been extensively amended”; | | (e) | by deleting the words “during the relevant period” in subsections (1)(d) and (2); | | (f) | by deleting subsections (3), (3A), (4), (5), (6) and (7) and substituting the following subsection:“(3) A publication under subsection (1) or (2) may —| (a) | be in the form of a booklet or in a loose‑leaf form; and | | (b) | include any notes, indexes, instructions or other information that the Commissioners consider useful.”; and |
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| | (g) | by deleting the word “Annual” in the section heading and substituting the word “Subsequent”. |
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| 8. Section 11(2) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “1985 Edition” and substituting the words “2020 Revised Edition”. |
| 9. Section 17(6) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “to (7)”. |
| 10. The principal Act is amended by deleting the word “annual” wherever it appears in sections 14, 20(1) and 24 and substituting in each case the word “subsequent”. |
| Related amendments to Interpretation Act |
11. The Interpretation Act (Cap. 1) is amended —| (a) | by repealing section 8 and substituting the following section:| “Mode of referring to written laws |
8.—(1) It is sufficient for all purposes to refer to a written law —| (a) | in the case of an Act —| (i) | by the year of its enactment and its number among the Acts enacted in that year; | | (ii) | where the Act, as enacted or revised, provides that it may be cited by a short title — by that short title; and | | (iii) | where the Act is a revised edition published before the date of commencement of section 5 of the Statute Law Reform Act 2021 under any law providing for a revised edition — by its chapter number and the year of the revised edition; and |
| | (b) | in the case of a piece of subsidiary legislation that, as made or revised, provides for the manner of its citation — by that citation. |
| (2) A reference for the purposes of subsection (1) may be made according to copies of written laws printed by the Government Printer. |
| (3) Unless the contrary intention appears, a reference to a written law in accordance with subsection (1) is to be read as a reference to the written law as amended from time to time by any other written law. |
(4) Where —| (a) | a written law is referred to by its short title or citation, whether in any other written law or in any document; and | | (b) | the short title or citation is subsequently changed, |
| the reference is to be read, unless the contrary intention appears, as a reference to the changed short title or citation.”; |
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| | (b) | by inserting, immediately after section 9A, the following section:| “Changes to style not to affect meaning |
9B. Where —| (a) | a provision of an Act has expressed an idea in a particular form of words; and | | (b) | a revised edition or a later provision of that Act, or a later Act, appears to have expressed the same idea in a different form of words for the purpose of using a clearer style, |
| the ideas are not to be taken to be different merely because different forms of words were used.”; |
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| | (c) | by inserting, immediately after the words “the Act or that part confers power” in section 22, the words “(or amends another Act to confer power)”; | | (d) | by inserting, immediately after the words “for the purposes of the Act or that part” in section 22, the words “(or the Act being amended)”; and | | (e) | by inserting, immediately after the words “the Act or that part” in section 22(b), the words “(or the other Act as amended)”. |
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