 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2018) |
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to consolidate enactments relating to the Government of India. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 61 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 29 July 1915 |
| Commencement | 1 January 1916 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Government of India Act 1935 |
Status: Repealed | |
The Government of India Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 61) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which consolidated prior acts of Parliament concerning British India into a single act. It was passed in July 1915 and went into effect on 1 January 1916.[1]
The act repealed 47 prior acts of Parliament, starting with an act of 1770, and replaced them with a single act containing 135 sections and five schedules. It was introduced first to the House of Lords, where it was referred to a joint committee of Parliament chaired by Lord Loreburn. The committee removed several provisions which went beyond the simple consolidation of existing law.
| Government of India (Amendment) Act 1916 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to amend certain enactments relating to the government of India, and to remove doubts as to the validity of certain Orders in Council made for India. |
| Citation | 6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 37 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 23 August 1916 |
| Commencement | 1 September 1916 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1993 |
Status: Repealed | |
A supplemental act, mostly technical in nature and including several of the provisions struck out of the consolidation act, was introduced and passed in 1916, becoming the Government of India (Amendment) Act 1916 (6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 37).
The Government of India Act 1915 and its supplemental act the following year "made the English statute law relating to India easier to understand, and therefore easier to amend."[2] The Government of India Act 1919 made substantial changes to the law.
- ^ Ilbert, Courtenay Peregrine (1922), The Government of India (Third revised and updated ed.), Clarendon Press, p. 122
- ^ Ilbert (1922), p. 123.