Statutes in Force/Guide to the Edition/1 August 1981

Statutes in Force

Official Revised Edition

Guide to the Edition

1 August 1981

LONDON

HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE ABCD

£1.15 net

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STATUTES IN FORCE

Official Revised Edition

1. CONTENTS

This Edition contains the Public General Acts (including Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland and certain Acts of the Parliament of Ireland) and Measures of the National Assembly or General Synod of the Church of England, together with twelve$✻$ local and personal Acts which have been included as being of general interest.

The edition does not (with a few exceptions) include-
 * (a) Acts passed before 3rd May 1921 which extend only to Northern Ireland;
 * (b) Consolidated Fund, Appropriation, Expiring Laws, Statute Law Revision and Statute Law (Repeals) Acts;
 * (c) Acts relating to certain taxes no longer exigible;
 * (d) Acts extending only to territory outside | override_author = Her Majesty's Stationery Office;
 * (e) Acts of a local and personal nature;
 * (f) Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and other Northern Ireland legislation within the meaning of s. 24(5) of the Interpretation Act 1978.

2. ARRANGEMENT

Acts are arranged in groups and subgroups according to their subject matter; within groups and subgroups they are arranged in chronological order. Titles of the groups and subgroups, and the allocation of individual Acts and Measures, are set out in the lists of Groups, Acts and Measures published separately from time to time.

Split Acts

Some sixty$✻$ or so Acts which deal with a number of distinct subjects have been split and their provisions allocated to the groups to which they respectively belong, together with all relevant provisions of general application (such as citation, commencement and interpretation).

Duplicated Acts

Nine$✻$ Acts which deal with subject matter allocated as regards England and Wales to one group and as regards Scotland to another have been printed complete in both groups.

3. REVISION OF THE TEXT$✻✻$

Each Act is printed in the form in which it is in force (or as the case may be prospectively in force) on the date printed on the title page.

Effect is given to amendments and repeals made by subordinate as well as primary legislation, but not to amendments of a personal or local nature, however made.

$✻$ At the date of this Guide. The number is of course liable to vary.

$✻✻$ In the case of enactments extending to Northern Ireland this paragraph should be read subject to paragraph 4 below.

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 * (a) Sources of the text

The sources of the text are as follows:-

Acts of the Parliaments of England and Great Britain
 * 1267-1713: The Statutes of the Realm, printed by the command of His Majesty King George the Third in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain, from Original Records and Authentic Manuscripts.
 * 1714-1800: The Statutes at Large by Owen Ruffhead.

Acts of the Parliament of | override_author = Her Majesty's Stationery Office and Measures
 * 1801-1869: The Statutes of | override_author = Her Majesty's Stationery Office of Great Britain and Ireland.
 * 1870-1925: The Public General Statutes. The Public General Acts.
 * 1926- : The Public General Acts and Measures.

Acts of the Parliament of Scotland (marked [S] on title page)
 * The Acts of the Parliament of Scotland 1424-1707, 2nd Revised Edition 1966

Acts of the Parliament of Ireland (marked [I] on title page)
 * The Irish Statutes, Revised Edition (1885) by Wm. F. Cullinan


 * (b) Omissions

Provisions are omitted which:-
 * (i) have been repealed;
 * (ii) are spent;
 * (iii) repeal or amend the text of other enactments;
 * (iv) comprise formal enacting provisions for schedules of amendments or repeals which are omitted in pursuance of (iii) above;
 * (v) may be omitted from any edition of statutes revised in pursuance of express statutory authority to that effect (e.g., words of enactment, obsolete expressions specified by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (c. 62), s. 3).

The omission of the provisions specified in subparagraphs (i)-(iv) above is indicated by stops and accounted for in the list of omissions at the end of the Act (where the provision is self-contained) or in a footnote to the page where the omission occurs (if it is not self contained).

Where all the substantive provisions of an Act are omitted it is printed in a skeleton form including the Long Title and any general provisions still in force.


 * (c) Amendments

The text has been amended in pursuance of-
 * (i) express provision to that effect; and
 * (ii) provisions (whether general or specific) authorising one expression to be construed, or read, as another (see e.g. s. 17(2)(a) of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30), provisions in Transfer of Functions Orders for the construction of references to Ministers of the Crown and similar "blanket" references).

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Additions, insertions and substitutions are indicated by square brackets and accounted for in footnotes, those falling within (i) above being described as authorised "by" the amending enactment and those falling within (ii) as authorised "by virtue of" it.

Where an amendment is prospective or of only limited territorial application both the words originally enacted and the words to be added etc. are enclosed in square brackets.

Savings: a substantive saving to a repeal or amendment is, if practicable, printed in full in the footnote or list of omissions citing the repealing or amending enactment (and not in that enactment). If that is not practicable, the footnote or list indicates that the repeal, etc. is subject to a saving and the saving itself is printed as part of the repealing etc. enactment.

A provision enacting a common form saving is printed as part of the enactment in which it was enacted and cited (without specific indication of its effect) in the footnote accounting for the repeal, etc. which it qualifies.


 * (d) Annotations

Provisions making amendments which do not operate directly on the text and other explanatory material are noted in crossnotes printed in italic script placed, according to the scope of the amendment or other material, under-
 * (i) the Long Title;
 * (ii) a heading or crossheading;
 * (iii) a particular section of an Act or paragraph of a schedule.

Provisions noted in the Chronological Table of the Statutes as "saving" or "applying" an Act are not noted unless they affect the construction of the Act to which they relate.

Commencement provisions: crossnotes state whether or not a power to appoint a day for the commencement of an Act has been fully exercised (and if a single day has been appointed specify and cite the instrument appointing it).

4. ENACTMENTS EXTENDING TO NORTHERN IRELAND

In the initial revision of the text no account was taken of amendments (including repeals) extending only to Northern Ireland made by Northern Ireland legislation to Acts passed before 3rd May 1921 relating to matters within the competence of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. The practice now followed, i.e. in the revision of the text for re-issues (see paragraph 5 below) and the preparation of cumulative supplements, is to take no account of the effect of Northern Ireland legislation on Acts passed before 3rd May 1921 irrespective of the powers of that Parliament. For the revised text such Acts as applying in Northern Ireland reference should be made to the second edition of the Statutes Revised Northern Ireland publication of which is due to commence in 1982.

5. SERVICING THE EDITION

The Edition is kept up to-date by-
 * (a) the issue as required of a current list of contents for each group which includes particulars of any repeals which have taken effect since the issue of the previous list;
 * (b) the publication of new legislation in the same style and format;

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 * (c) the regular production of a cumulative supplement for each group giving particulars of amendments, repeals, etc. in the Acts specified in the current list of contents; and
 * (d) the re-issue as required of extensively amended Acts and Measures.

6. ERRORS AND OMISSIONS

Particulars of any errors or omissions should be sent to the Editor, Statutory Publications Office, 12 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LJ.

1st August 1981

© Crown Copyright 1981

ISBN 0 11 8041444 4

Printed in England for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol

T2936 Dd 10585977 CO 9/81