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Revised edition of the statutes

A revised edition of the statutes is an edition of the Revised Statutes in the United Kingdom[1][2][3] (there being more than one edition). These editions are published by authority.[4]

In 1861 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the first of a long series of Statute Law Revision Acts. The most important action was the nomination of a Statute Law Committee by Lord Chancellor Cairns in 1868, the practical result of which was the issuing of the first edition of the Revised Statutes in eighteen volumes, bringing the revision of statute law down to 1886.[5][6][a]

The third edition of The Statutes Revised was published by HMSO in 1950.[7] The fourth revised edition of the statutes was called Statutes in Force.[8]

The Statute Law Committee was appointed for the purpose of superintending the publication of the first revised edition of the statutes.[5][9]

For the purpose of citation "Statutes Revised" may be abbreviated to "Rev Stat".[10]

Section 3 of the Statute Law Revision Act 1948 now provides:

(1) From any revised edition of the statutes published by authority there may be omitted-

(a) words of enactment, whether in the form "Be it enacted by the King's (or Queen's) most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows" or in any other form or to the like effect, and words such as "item," "also" and "that" referring to or consequential on words of enactment;
(b) clauses of attestation added to ancient statutes;
...

(2) An omission made under the authority of this Act shall not affect the construction or interpretation of any statute.

Section 3(1) of the Statute Law Revision Act 1950 now provides:

From any revised edition of the statutes published by authority there may be omitted enactments or words in respect of matters exclusively relating to territory within the jurisdiction of any one or more of the following, that is to say, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, . . . the Republic of Ireland, . . . and, so far as relates to matters within the powers of the Parliament thereof, Northern Ireland.

Without prejudice to any other saving contained in the Statute Law Revision Act 1950, an omission made under the authority of section 3 of that Act does not affect the construction or interpretation of any statute.[11]

Where any Act cites or refers to another Act otherwise than by its short title, the short title may, in any revised edition of the statutes printed by authority, be printed in substitution for such citation or reference.[12]

Where an Act cites another Act by year, statute, session or chapter, or a section or other portion of another Act by number or letter, the reference must, unless the contrary intention appears, be read as referring, in the case of Acts included in any revised edition of the statutes printed by authority, to that edition.[13]

  1. ^ Lely, The Statutes of Practical Utility, (Chitty's Statutes), 5th Ed, London, 1894, vol 1, title "Act of Parliament", p 32.
  2. ^ Winfield, The Chief Sources of English Legal History, Harvard University Press, 1925, reprinted 2000 by Beard Books, pp 94 & 95.
  3. ^ Cf the description of Purple's Edition of 1856 in Illinois: Edition.
  4. ^ As to the meaning of "published by authority" in this context, see, for example, Niblett (November 1981) Computers and the Law, No 30, p 2.
  5. ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Williams, James (1911). "Statute". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 813.
  6. ^ Halsbury's Statutes. Vol. 41 (Fourth, Reissue ed.). 2008. p. 691.
  7. ^ The Statutes, Third Revised Edition. HMSO. 1950
  8. ^ Halsbury's Laws of England. Fourth Edition. Reissue. Butterworths. London. 1995. Volume 44(1). Note 5 to paragraph 1251 at page 741.
  9. ^ Halsbury's Statutes. Fourth Edition. 2008 Reissue. Volume 41. Page 691.
  10. ^ Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice. 1999. p xix.
  11. ^ The Statute Law Revision Act 1950, section 3(3)
  12. ^ The Statute Law Revision Act 1893, section 3
  13. ^ The Interpretation Act 1978, section 19(1)(a)


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