Signification
of orders of
185
Provided always that where any Ordinance is to come New. into force on a day to be fixed by proclamation, the power to issue such proclamation shall not include the power of amending, revoking or suspending the same.
44. Where power is given to the Governor to make any New. M. 36. order or give any direction, it shall be sufficient for such the Governor, order or direction to be signified under the hand of the
Colonial Secretary or of the Assistant Colonial Secretary.
This section shail not apply to the issue of any warrant by the Governor.
Citation of Imperial
Acts.
Repeal.
PART VII,
Miscellaneous Provisions.
45.-(1.) In any Ordinance, instrument, or document, § 39 (1). any Act of the Imperial Parliament may be cited by reference to its "short title", if any, either with or without a reference to the chapter, or by reference to the regnal year in which it was passed, and, where there are more statutes or sessions than one in the same regnal year, by reference to the statute or the session, as the case may require, and where there are more chapters than one, by reference to the chapter, and any enactment may be cited by reference to the section or sub-section of the Act in which the enactment is contained.
(2.) Where any Ordinance passed after the 18th day of § 39 (2). November, 1897, contains such reference as aforesaid, the reforence shall, unless the contrary intention appear, be read as referring, in the ease of statutes included in any revised edition of the statutes purporting to be printed by authority, to that edition; and in case of statutes not so included and passed before the reign of King Goorge the First, to the edition prepared under the direction of the Record Commission; and in other cases to the copies of the statutes purporting to be printed by the King's Printer or under the superintendencc or authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office.
(3.) In any Ordinance a description or citation of a § 39 (3). portion of an Act of Parliament shall, unless the contrary intention appear, be construed as including the word, section, or other part mentioned or referred to as forming the beginning and as forming the end of the portion com- prised in the description or citation.
46. The following Ordinances are repealed
Ordinance No. 8 of 1897. Ordinance No. 20 of 1908.
New.
Objects and Reasons,
A revision of the laws in order to be satisfactory must be accompanied by a complete Interpretation and Common Form Ordinance, which should not only lay down certain guiding principles governing the language used in legisla- tion and the forms of certain sections which are recurrent, but must also apply them to existing Ordinances.
The main criticism which I have to make on the existing Interpretation Ordinance, No. 8 of 1897, is that it divides legislation into two classes, that passed prior to the date of its coming into force, and that passed afterwards. This follows the English Interpretation Act of 1889; but there was a definite reason for doing this at home. That Act is a piece of legislation simply, and acts as a guide to the Courts in interpreting existing legislation, aud a guide to the Parliamentary draftsman in his future work. The greatest care was required in dealing with the enormous bulk of the English statutes; but the reasons which guided the draftsman of our Ordinance and induced him to split up into "Existing Interpretations ", "Existing Rules of Construction "New luterpretations", and "New Rules of Construction" is not always very apparent, and has in one case cansed serious difficulty, leading to No. 20 of 1908 being passed. It is most bewildering, and diminishes the practi- cal utility of the Ordinance. But directly Revision is taken in hand these sub-divisions become worse than useless, and unmanageable. It must be borne in mind that the English statutes have never been systematically "revised". A good deal has been done by means of "Statute Law Revi-
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