ONEY 
 
 AND 
 
 AGE 
 
 LAW BOOKS 
 
 NEWARK /V. i/. 
 

 
 > -*>w^
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION

 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 THE COMPOSITION AND LANGUAGE 
 
 OF ACTS OF PARLIAMENT AND 
 
 BUSINESS DOCUMENTS 
 
 By LORD THRING, K.C.B. 
 
 LATE PAKLIAMEN'TARY COUNSEL 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1902
 
 u 
 
 .-J 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ........ 1 
 
 Preface to First Edition 13 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 2 1. Mode in which a draftsman should prepare himself 
 
 to draw Acts 21 
 
 2. Explanation of certain terms used in work . . 26 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT. 
 
 3. Difficulty of arrangement ..... 28 
 
 4. Selection and statement of principles ... 28 
 
 5. Illustrations of selection and statement of prin- 
 
 ciples in simple Acts 30 
 
 6. Illustrations of selection and statement of prin- 
 
 ciples in complex Acts ...... 33 
 
 7. Observations as to mode of framing principal and 
 
 v\ subordinate enactments . . . . .35 
 
 ^4 8. General rules of arrangement of Act, Rule 1 . 38 
 
 Nv* 9. General rules of arrangement of Act, Rule 2 . 41 
 
 10. General rules of arrangement of Act, Rule 3 . 42 
 
 11. General rules of arrangement of Act, Rule 4 . 4;3 
 
 12. General rules of arrangement of Act, Rule 5 . 44 
 
 v 
 
 
 352688
 
 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 13. Summary op general rules of arrangement and 
 
 observations 45 
 
 14. Observations on referential provisions where refer- 
 
 ence made to another part of the same Act . . 48 
 
 15. Observations on referential provisions when refer- 
 
 ence MADE TO OTHER ACTS ..... 53 
 
 16. Observations on referential words .... 57 
 
 17. Observations on division of Acts into parts and 
 
 headings ........ 58 
 
 18. Observations on marginal notes .... 60 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES. 
 
 1 9. Clearness ; object of parliamentary drafting 
 
 20. Enactment in its simplest form consists of legal 
 
 subject and legal predicate . 
 
 21. Mode of grouping legal subjects 
 
 22. Mode of grouping legal predicates 
 
 23. Mode of grouping independent enactments of a 
 
 simple character . 
 
 24. Mode of stating case 
 
 25. Mode of stating conditions 
 
 26. Mode of stating exceptions 
 27- Use of provisoes 
 28. Summary of rules 
 
 29- Selection of words and other matters 
 
 30- Recommendation of use of generic terms 
 31. Enumeration of particulars 
 
 61 
 
 61 
 63 
 64 
 
 64 
 68 
 73 
 
 76 
 80 
 80 
 81 
 84 
 80
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 vn 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 32. Preamble 02 
 
 33. Short title of Act -93 
 
 34. Extent of Act 93 
 
 35. Commencement of Act 94 
 
 36. Construction of terms 95 
 
 37. As to place in Act of definitions and certain 
 
 other preliminary matters 9g 
 
 38. Adjustment of existing and new law ... 97 
 
 39. Exemptions and savings 98 
 
 40. Schedules 100 
 
 41. Alterations during passage of Act . . . 101 
 
 Interpretation Act, 1889 109 
 
 Index to contents of chapters 
 
 135
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following treatise was written many years ago for the 
 instruction of the assistant draftsmen in the office of the 
 Parliamentary Counsel. It was published by her Majesty's 
 Stationery Office, and being now out of print, is repub- 
 lished, with the consent of the Government, with an intro- 
 duction and with certain alterations required by recent 
 legislation. 
 
 Mr. Austin, no mean authority, writes in his work on 
 Jurisprudence, " I will venture to affirm that what is 
 commonly called the technical part of legislation is in- 
 comparably more difficult than what may be called the 
 ethical. In other words it is far easier to conceive justly 
 what would be useful law, than so to construct that same 
 law that it may accomplish the design of the law giver." 
 Mr. Gladstone expressed his opinion to me that a Bill was 
 the very soul of legislation, and one of the most learned 
 men perhaps in modern times, Bishop Westcott, the late 
 Bishop of Durham, points out the essential requisite in 
 drawing Acts of Parliament, and indeed in all other sorts of 
 serious composition when he says, speaking of the benefits 
 that he had derived from the tuition of Dr. Prince Lee, 
 the famous master of King Edward's school at Birmingham : 
 " If I were to select one endowment which I have found 
 most precious to me in the whole work of life, I should 
 select the absolute belief in the force of words which I 
 gained through the strictest verbal criticism/* 
 
 For myself, I learnt from the instruction of those two 
 great scholars, Dr. Kennedy and his brother George 
 
 A
 
 2 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Kennedy, that Greek particles even can be made instinct 
 with life and that words, though not " built up in lofty 
 rhyme and not expressing thoughts that burn," can be 
 made to breathe. 
 
 From Cambridge I passed to the study of conveyancing, 
 the driest of all earthly studies, and there I found that 
 the apparent object of legal expression was to conceal the 
 meaning from ordinary readers, and that the forms which 
 a law student of that period was incessantly employed in 
 copying were wordy cairns, on to which each conveyancer 
 of eminence had from time to time thrown a new word till 
 the whole became a huge heap of unintelligibility. 
 
 Briefless, and therefore with much leisure, I devoted a great 
 deal of time to the study of the contents of the statute 
 book, and here I found a great contrast between its earlier 
 and its later pages. The prince of all draftsmen, Stephen 
 Langton, the Papal Legate, expressed Magna Charta in 
 short and precise language ; for example, no one can com- 
 plain of ambiguity or verbosity in the most famous of all 
 written enactments which declares, when translated, " To 
 no man will we sell, to no man will we deny or delay, right 
 or justice."" The draftsman also, of the twenty -second 
 year of Henry VIII. (c. 9), left no room for doubt as to 
 his meaning when he says, after reciting that the cook of the 
 Bishop of Rochester had put poison into a dish of broth 
 that he had prepared, " Our said Sovereign Lord the King 
 of his blessed disposition inwardly abhorring all such 
 abominable offences . . . hath ordained and enacted by 
 authority of this present Parliament that the said poisoning 
 be adjudged and deemed high treason and that the said 
 Richard for the said murder and poisoning of the said two 
 persons . . . shall stand and be attainted of high treason 
 and because that detestable offence now newly practised 
 and committed requireth condign punishment for the 
 same, it is ordained and enacted . . . that the said 
 Richard Rose shall be therefore boiled to death without 
 having any advantage of his clergy."
 
 INTRODUCTION S 
 
 On the other hand when I came to modern times I 
 found (again to quote Mr. Austin) " statutes, made with 
 great deliberation and by learned and judicious lawyers, 
 have been expressed so obscurely or have been constructed 
 so inaptly that decisions interpretating the sense of these 
 provisions, or supplying and correcting the provisions ex 
 ratione legis, have been of necessity heaped upon them by 
 the courts of justice. Such, for example, is the case with 
 the Statute of Frauds which was made by three of the 
 wisest lawyers in the reign of Charles II., Sir M. Hale (if 
 I remember right) being one of them." 
 
 Ludicrous instances of confused expression occasionally 
 enliven the pages of the statute book. Thus among the 
 things which might have been expressed differently, an 
 instance is to be found in the fifty-second of Geo. III. 
 c. 146 — penalties under this Act were to be given half to 
 the informer and half to the poor of the parish ; but the 
 only penalty imposed by the statute was transportation 
 for fourteen years. 
 
 In a later instance the art of the draftsman cannot be 
 commended who gave the following as a definition in the 
 Darlington Improvement Act of 1872 : " The term new 
 building means any building pulled or burnt down to or 
 within ten feet from the surface of the adjoining ground.'" 
 
 Amendments proposed to Bills have not infrequently 
 erred in vagueness ; here is an amendment proposed by 
 a Queen's Counsel in 1865 : " Every dog found trespassing 
 on inclosed land unaccompanied by the registered owner 
 of such dog or other person who shall on being asked 
 give his true name and address, may be then and there 
 destroyed by such occupier or by his orders. 11 
 
 During the committee stage in the House of Lords of 
 an Agricultural Holdings Bill, the following notice was 
 put down by a noble Lord : " To ask the Government 
 whether they will consider the practicability of introducing 
 into the Bill some provision for alleviating the great 
 hardship now suffered by the family of any clergyman if
 
 4 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 he dies while occupying his glebe as many clergymen have 
 latterly found themselves reluctantly compelled to do. r> 
 
 To qualify myself for avoiding, if possible, such pitfalls 
 as these, I studied Coode's valuable book on legal expres- 
 sion, and the American codes, especially those of Mr. Field, 
 and also the code of procedure of the State of New York ; 
 and I found that the subjects of Acts of Parliament, as well 
 as the provisions by which the law is enforced, would admit 
 of being reduced to a certain degree of uniformity ; that the 
 proper mode of sifting the materials and of arranging the 
 clauses can be explained ; and that the form of expressing 
 the enactments might also be made the subject of regula- 
 tion. I found also that the suggestions made as to the 
 course to be taken to ensure clearness are not solely ap- 
 plicable to Acts of Parliament, but with a little adaptation 
 may be applied to every sort of composition employed in 
 business. 
 
 Having this in my mind but not having then reduced 
 my conclusions to a complete system, I tried my prentice 
 hand as an amateur in 1850 in framing a Colonial Bill for 
 Sir William Molesworth in which I endeavoured to simplify 
 and shorten the expression of legal enactments. The Bill 
 attracted some attention from the novelty of its mode of 
 expression, but being opposed by the Government did not 
 of course become law. 
 
 In the year 1854 I had at last an opportunity of putting 
 my new system in practice. Mr. Card well, afterwards 
 Lord Cardwell, at that time President of the Board of 
 Trade, was anxious to make a great reform in the merchant 
 shipping law. Following in some degree the example of 
 the American codes, I divided the Bill into parts and then 
 divided the parts under separate titles, arranging the 
 clauses of the Bill in a logical order so that a glance at the 
 table of contents would convey to the reader a correct idea 
 of the effect of the Bill. The clauses were drawn on a 
 regular principle that divided the case, the legal action, 
 the conditions, the provisoes, and so forth according to the
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 plan which I afterwards fully developed and which is given 
 in the following pages. Mr. Farrer, afterwards Lord 
 Farrer, greatly assisted me in the preparation of the Bill, 
 and as, being an officer of the Board of Trade, he was 
 particularly conversant with the details of the subject, he 
 entirely drew the most technical part of the measure — that 
 relating; to seamen and wages. 
 
 I continued to be employed in drafting xVcts of Parlia- 
 ment during my private practice at the Bar till 1861, 
 when I was appointed counsel to the Home Office, an 
 office which was afterwards converted into the office of 
 Parliamentary Counsel, and for the remainder of my 
 official life I was occupied almost entirely in preparing 
 legislation. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that whatever deficiencies may 
 exist in the following treatise they are, at all events, not 
 due to ignorance or want of experience. 
 
 It may be interesting to the reader to learn something 
 of the mode in which a Government Bill is constructed. 
 The best course will be to take the example of an im- 
 portant Bill such as the Irish Land Act of 1870. 
 
 The instructions given me were as usual, to a great 
 extent, verbal ones, conveyed during a series of conferences 
 with Mr. Gladstone. I used to attend him at his house 
 generally by myself. I never hesitated to tell him my 
 mind, " This will not do ; "" he would then stand up with 
 his back to the fire and make me a little speech urging his 
 view of the case ; I then replied shortly till the point was 
 settled. I recollect on one occasion his manner was so 
 vehement that I thought I must have gone beyond bounds 
 in contradiction and began to apologise. His reply was, 
 " Go on as you always have done and make no apologies ; 
 if my manner has led you to think that I am offended, I 
 am sorry for it." 
 
 One limit, however, I imposed on myself; I observed 
 that he objected strongly to what sportsmen call hunting 
 heel. When a question had been fully argued and decided
 
 6 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 he, above all things, disliked to have it reopened, and I 
 never ventured to do so unless I could bring forward some 
 fresh evidence on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was as economical of his time as he was of 
 the public finances. I used to sit on one side of the table 
 whilst he sat on the other side with a letter before him. When 
 a difficult point occurred I would say, " Wait a moment 
 and I will look at my papers." Whilst I was searching for the 
 solution Mr. Gladstone would go on with his letter, and 
 when he saw me look up he would again give his attention 
 to the Bill. This would occur in a Bill involving the most 
 intricate problems, as, for instance, in the Irish Land Act 
 of 1881, and he seemed to be able to turn his mind from 
 one subject to another without the slightest difficulty or 
 confusion. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's was the most constructive intellect with 
 which I ever was brought in contact and also was the most 
 untiring in devotion to its object. He understood and 
 revised every word of a Bill and even settled the marginal 
 notes. Once only had we any discussion as to the arrange- 
 ment of a Bill, and this arose on the Irish Disestablishment 
 Bill. I wished to put in one short clause at the very 
 commencement, a sentence disestablishing the Irish Church. 
 Mr. Gladstone disapproved and I was about to accept his 
 instructions to postpone the provision when Lord Gran- 
 ville interfered, saying, " Had you not better pay attention 
 to the draftsman's suggestions ?" Whereupon Mr. Glad- 
 stone gave way and the proposed clause appeared at the 
 beginning of the Bill. 
 
 A strange contrast to Mr. Gladstone's management of 
 Bills was that of Mr. Disraeli. He seemed to have an 
 intuitive perception of what would pass the House of 
 Commons, but he cared nothing for the details of a Bill, and 
 once satisfied with the principle of a Bill, he troubled 
 comparatively little about its arrangement or its construc- 
 tion. It was in course of preparing the Reform Bill of 
 1867 and watching every night its passage through Parlia-
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 ment that I had ample means for the first and last time of 
 judging of Mr. Disraeli's characteristics. 
 
 I was constantly struck by his great skill in overcoming 
 difficulties as they arose in Parliament, and his tact in 
 meeting by judicious compromises the objections of his 
 opponents. His courtesy to me never failed even under 
 the most trying circumstances. My first introduction to 
 him was so curious that it may be worth telling. I think 
 it was on Wednesday, November 13, 1867, that Mr. 
 Walpole, then Home Secretary, gave me to read a copy of 
 the Reform Bill which had been prepared by a parlia- 
 mentary agent. I expressed to him an opinion unfavour- 
 able to the Bill as drawn. This opinion was repeated to 
 Lord Derby who sent for me to the House of Lords on 
 Thursday 14th. I told him in substance what I had told 
 Mr. Walpole. Lord Derby said it was too late to take any 
 steps to alter the Bill to the extent which I wished, and 
 I undertook at his request to communicate with the drafts- 
 man and to tell him to proceed with his work. I returned 
 to my office and was actually engaged in writing the letter 
 when Mr. Disraeli's secretary now Lord Rowton came in 
 and told me as an instruction from Mr. Disraeli to entirely 
 redraft the Bill, and added that the Bill must be ready on 
 Saturday, 16th. Accordingly next day I took the Bill in 
 hand, and working with two shorthand-writers from ten till 
 six, I completed it. The Bill was printed during the night 
 and was laid before the Cabinet on Saturday. It was 
 considered on Monday by Mr. Disraeli ; he personally 
 instructed me in the matter and the Bill was circulated to 
 the House of Commons on Tuesday. This tour de force 
 in draftsmanship could not have been accomplished, had I 
 not been saturated, so to speak, with reform from my pre- 
 paration of the Franchise Bill of 1866, when I prepared for 
 the Government a complete series of memoranda and notes 
 relating to the franchise, including a comparison between 
 the municipal and Parliamentary franchises with a view to 
 showing the advantage which wouid result from assimilating
 
 8 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 the Parliamentary franchise to the municipal franchise. The 
 work at the time had seemed to be useless, for, as is well 
 known, the Franchise Bill of 1866 never became law. 
 
 The sum of the whole matter is this, that to prepare a 
 good Bill the draftsman must receive sufficient instruc- 
 tions, but they will necessarily be short, and he must 
 exercise a very large discretion in filling up the gaps. He 
 ought to draw a memorandum and to supply notes furnish- 
 ing the minister with information on all technical points. 
 
 The Bill should be clear and should state at the very 
 commencement the important principle of the measure 
 and the greatest pains should be taken to separate the 
 material from the comparatively immaterial provisions. 
 
 Before commencing to draw the Bill the draftsman 
 should ask the minister on what questions he wishes to 
 take divisions, and these points should be placed at the 
 beginning of the Bill in the clearest and most concise form 
 so that it should not be possible that a division should 
 take place on a complicated issue. Above all, referential 
 legislation must, as far as possible, be avoided. It is 
 not fair to a legislative assembly that they should, as a 
 general rule, have to look beyond the four corners of the 
 Bill in order to comprehend its meaning. 
 
 It is in my judgment an unwise plan to bring forward 
 a Bill containing clauses which it is intended to abandon. 
 The best way is, I consider, to make the Bill as complete 
 as possible at first, but to be ready to make compromises 
 on certain points which the Government do not regard as 
 essential. 
 
 As a detail it may be well to warn the inexperienced 
 draftsman against an intellectual danger incident to the 
 employment of shorthand writers. The essence of business 
 composition is to think before you write, whilst the effect 
 of employing shorthand writers too soon is to induce the 
 novice to write before he thinks. 
 
 It may be well to warn the draftsman that in his case 
 virtue will, for the most part, be its own reward, and that
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 after all the pains that have been bestowed on the pre- 
 paration of a Bill, every Lycurgus and Solon sitting on 
 the back benches will denounce it as a crude and un- 
 digested measure, a monument of ignorance and stupidity. 
 Moreover, when the Bill has become law, it will have to 
 run the gauntlet of the judicial bench, whose ermined 
 dignitaries delight in pointing out the shortcomings 
 of the legislature in approving such an imperfect per- 
 formance. 
 
 Some judges, however, and these not the least eminent, 
 have taken a different view of the position of the drafts- 
 man. Mr. Justice Stephen said, speaking from his own 
 experience : " I think that my late friend, Mr. Mill, made 
 a mistake upon the subject, probably because he was not 
 accustomed to use language with that degree of precision 
 which is essential to every one who has ever had, as I have 
 had on many occasions, to draft Acts of Parliament, which, 
 although they may be easy to understand, people con- 
 tinually try to misunderstand, and in which, therefore, it 
 is not enough to attain to a degree of precision which a 
 person reading in good faith can understand ; but it is 
 necessary to attain, if possible, to a degree of precision which 
 a person reading in bad faith cannot misunderstand. It is 
 all the better if he cannot pretend to misunderstand it. 11 
 
 Now the real facts of the case probably are that the 
 crude and undigested measure has occupied for months the 
 time and thoughts of some of the ablest men in England 
 assisted by their subordinate, the draftsman, and often- 
 times every possible objection to the Bill has been, as Mr. 
 Gladstone said in respect of the Land Law Ireland Act, 
 1881, considered by the minister before the Bill was 
 brought into the House of Commons. 
 
 Moreover, a Bill not involving any great constitutional 
 change may meet most determined opposition. Take the 
 Army Bill as an illustration. The Army Act of 1881, like 
 the siege of Troy, took ten years before it was brought to 
 a conclusion. Instructions were given to me by Mr. Card-
 
 10 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 well in 1867 ; a Bill was prepared, but was not proceeded 
 with ; in 1872 the subject was revived and a complete 
 scheme was prepared for consolidating the Mutiny Act 
 and the Articles of War. This scheme was partially con- 
 sidered by the War Office in 1873. It was then again laid 
 aside till 1877 when a short interval of discussion occurred, 
 after which it was once more shelved until 1878, when a 
 select committee was appointed by the Secretary of War 
 to consider the Bill. This committee gave a general 
 approval to the Bill, and in 1879 an almost identical 
 measure was at last introduced into Parliament and passed. 
 
 Some idea of the labour involved in preparing this 
 measure may be formed from the fact that the papers 
 written to explain the law alone fill a folio volume of 1067 
 printed pages. The Act was afterwards slightly amended, 
 and consolidated, and under the title of the Army Act 
 is annually brought into operation by a short special Act. 
 
 A short statement may be added as to the progress that 
 has been made during the last thirty years in consolidation 
 and codification and in the reform of the statute book. 
 
 With respect to codification it may be stated at once 
 that nothing has been done or perhaps can be done 
 towards any systematic codification of English law. 
 
 With respect to consolidation and the reform of the 
 statute law more can be said. 
 
 In 1868 Lord Cairns appointed a statute law committee 
 of which I am the only original member still surviving. 
 The duties of the committee are to make arrangements 
 for, and to superintend the publication of, a revised edition 
 of the statutes. The first step was to free the statute 
 book from obsolete and repealed statutes. This has been 
 done under the superintendence of the committee down to 
 the present time. Two revised editions have been pub- 
 lished, the second is a cheaper edition than the first, and 
 is contained in sixteen volumes brought down to the year 
 1886, the last volume of which was published in 1894. 
 
 The committee also superintend the preparation of an
 
 INTRODUCTION 1 1 
 
 index of the whole statute law, digested on a system laid 
 down in instructions of great particularity issued by the 
 committee for the use of the compilers. This index is 
 published periodically ; the last edition was issued in 1901 
 and contains a complete analysis of the substance of the 
 existing statutes. 
 
 With respect to consolidation the committee have 
 superintended the preparation of numerous Bills, some few 
 of which have become law, but so great an opposition has 
 recently been shown by certain members of the House of 
 Commons to the passing of such measures, that the attempt 
 to carry further Bills of the kind has been abandoned for 
 the present. 
 
 The recommendations given in these pages, though they 
 are specially adapted to Acts of Parliament, apply with 
 equal force to every description of business composition. 
 Whatever the subject, the writer should first get the whole 
 matter into his head, separating the important points and 
 trusting to his memory to retain them. He should then 
 group his facts according to their importance, and when 
 he has thus arranged the outline of his composition, he 
 may fill in the details by reference to his papers. It is 
 very important for a man engaged in business transactions 
 to acquire the habit of trusting to memory till he is 
 master of the whole subject. Making numerous notes 
 weakens the thinking power, on the exercise of which 
 depends the whole art of clear and concise composition. 
 Notes should be confined to references to passages which 
 it is important particularly to notice. If a record is to 
 be preserved for future use a memorandum should be 
 written.
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST 
 EDITION. 
 
 This work has been written as a practical guide object of 
 for persons engaged in preparing Acts of Parlia- 
 ment. It is based on Instructions to Draftsmen, 
 which have for some years been in use in the 
 office of the Parliamentary Counsel. Hence its 
 didactic tone and its mention of various topics 
 which would, if it were addressed to adepts and 
 not to learners, be excluded as trivial and well 
 known, but which are frequently neglected in 
 practice. It is divided into four parts. The first Summary of 
 part instructs the draftsman as to the mode of work, 
 getting up his subject. The second part deals 
 with the arrangement of the subject-matter of an 
 Act of Parliament, pointing out the expediency 
 of presenting the law to Parliament in a clear 
 and concise form, and insisting on the advantage 
 of separating principle from detail, and material 
 from comparatively immaterial provisions. The 
 third part is occupied with the subject of the 
 composition of sentences. The fourth part makes 
 observations and suggestions with respect to
 
 14 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Absence of 
 special in- 
 structions as 
 to codifica- 
 tion and 
 consolidation. 
 
 Meaning of 
 codification. 
 
 Summary of 
 processes 
 essential to 
 codification. 
 
 preambles, the commencement of Acts, the con- 
 struction of Acts, and other formal matters. # 
 
 As no special reference is made to Consolidation 
 or Codification, it may be well to say in the 
 preface a word on those subjects, and to point out 
 the applicability to them of the rules laid down in 
 this work. 
 
 Codification is the reduction into a syste- 
 matic form of the whole of the law relating to 
 a given subject, that is to say, of the Common 
 Law, the Case Law, and the Statute Law ; while 
 consolidation differs from codification in this alone, 
 that it omits the Common Law and comprises 
 only the Statute Law relating to a subject as 
 illustrated or explained by judicial decisions. 
 
 Codification or systematic consolidation must be 
 a gradual work. 1st. The Common Law must be 
 extracted from the authoritative text-books in 
 which it is embedded, and so much as is not 
 capable of being absorbed into the Statute Law 
 must be digested into an Institute or Book of 
 Maxims. 2nd. The Case Law must be reduced 
 into a manageable bulk by publishing leading 
 cases (or cases which are in reality legislative 
 decisions given by the judges) and by setting 
 aside in a Digest the effect of such cases as are 
 merely illustrative of Statute Law or Common 
 Law, and are not readily incorporated therein, or 
 by issuing an expurgated edition of the older 
 
 • The Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63), has been 
 printed at the end of the work, as it is the duty of every drafts- 
 man to know it by heart and to bear its definitions in mind in 
 every bill which he draws.
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 15 
 
 Reports. 3rd. The Statute Law must first be 
 indexed, # and then be consolidated in classified 
 gioups. When the above-mentioned processes 
 have been completed, a code will be readily made 
 by absorbing into the text of the classified groups 
 of Statute Law any portion of the Common Law 
 or Case Law left outside the Institute of 
 Maxims. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into further details Result of 
 to show that the codification or consolidation of a ser i es f 
 a particular branch of law is merely another mode n^ e n f t Par " 
 of expressing the composition of an Act or series 
 of Acts, embodying in the case of codification the 
 whole of that law, and in the case of consolidation 
 a portion only. 
 
 The extent of the subject matter, however, Rules 
 cannot affect the applicability of the rules of ordinary lets 
 composition. Indeed, codification or consolidation appTkaMe^o * 
 is in many respects an easier task than the code - 
 preparation of the amending Acts required for 
 current legislation. Just as it is easier for an 
 architect to build a house from its foundations 
 than to convert an old inconvenient house into a 
 modern convenient one, so a draftsman can more 
 readily construct an Act dealing with the whole 
 of the subject-matter, than an Act in which the 
 new law must be adjusted and made to harmonise 
 with the old and often conflicting provisions of 
 former Acts. 
 
 The only qualification to be made in the applica- slight 
 tion of the rules laid down in this work to a code o^ruiesYsTo 
 
 arrangement 
 * This has been done. A chronological table, with an index to in case of 
 the Statutes, is published periodically by the Stationery Office. code.
 
 16 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 or a consolidating Act, relates to the arrangement 
 of groups of sections, and is this, that in making 
 the plan for the arrangement of the sections 
 of a code or consolidating Act, Parliamentary 
 considerations may usually be disregarded, and 
 logical considerations, as they are called, be 
 exclusively adhered to. This difference, how- 
 ever, is very slight, as in the great majority 
 of cases the most scientific and logical arrange- 
 ment is the one which is best for Parliamentary 
 purposes. 
 Arrangement It must be admitted that no rules are found in 
 treated of° this treatise for the arrangement amongst them- 
 selves of groups of statutes, whether such statutes 
 are codes or merely consolidating Acts ; in other 
 words, no general outline of a code embracing the 
 whole or a great part of the English law is laid 
 down, or attempted to be laid down. This omis- 
 sion is designed, as any considerations a priori of 
 the mutual relations of laws to each other, apart 
 from convenience of administration, are too ab- 
 stract to find a place in an elementary treatise, 
 and may well wait for solution till the component 
 parts of the code have been to a great extent 
 completed. 
 Arrangement To say the truth, promoters of codification 
 compared * would seem to be too much given to theoretical 
 sltionT^Acts m preference to practical considerations. They 
 comprising spend much labour in determining the proper 
 arrangement of a code before they have attempted 
 to draw an Act or series of Acts embodying even 
 partially any one branch of the law intended to 
 be included in such code. Yet if the statute
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION l? 
 
 book were once divided into a number of well- 
 drawn Acts embodying both Statute and Common 
 Law, all that would be required to make a code 
 would be to group those Acts according to some 
 convenient arrangement, probably according to 
 the exigencies of the judicial or administrative 
 departments of the Government. A good code is 
 a collection of good Acts, in the same way as a 
 good library is a collection of good books, or a 
 good picture-gallery a collection of good pictures. 
 The exact arrangement of the several Acts in the 
 code is of very little importance as compared with 
 the excellence of the Acts themselves ; in the 
 same way, to continue the comparison, as in the 
 case of a library or picture-gallery the character 
 of the books or pictures, far more than their 
 relative arrangement, determines the value of the 
 whole collection. Moreover a good Index is in 
 practice a not ineffectual cure for any defects in 
 the arrangement of a code, a library, or a picture- 
 gallery. 
 
 Having thus deviated into questions of general Excellence of 
 legislation, it may be well to remark that the in^bstance 
 writer does not concur in the views of those critics U u° ouUl in 
 who underrate English law, as compared with form - 
 foreign codes, and object altogether to Parlia- 
 mentary supervision of English legislation. Un- 
 couth although it may be in form, English law is 
 just and specific in its directions to an extent 
 never yet attained by a foreign code ; and leaves 
 (and this is the practical perfection of law) less to 
 the discretion of the judge than any other system 
 of jurisprudence.
 
 1! 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Observations 
 on Parlia- 
 mentary 
 supervision. 
 
 Possibility of The real problem is to attain the advantages of 
 form°without a systematic code without destroying the fulness 
 substance. 0I " expression and copiousness of illustration which 
 characterise English law ; that such an attain- 
 ment is possible by gradual steps the writer has 
 endeavoured elsewhere to show, and he need not 
 here repeat his views. 
 
 With respect to Parliamentary supervision, it 
 is difficult to conceive a more searching scrutiny 
 than an opposed Bill when in Committee receives 
 at the hands of Parliament ; to dispense with such 
 a scrutiny in the case of new legislation would 
 be most unadvisable. On the other hand, the 
 evils of Parliamentary interference are no doubt 
 seriously felt with respect to laws, the principles 
 of which have been finally settled by the Legis- 
 lature, and which it is desirable to codify or con- 
 solidate with a view to give symmetry to their 
 form without alteration of their substance. To 
 such a codification or consolidation the House of 
 Commons too often creates insuperable obstacles 
 by reviving old subjects of controversy, and by 
 insisting on discussing settled principles. The 
 duty of Parliament in such cases would seem to 
 be to ascertain only that the new Bill correctly 
 represents the old law. To effect this, all that is 
 required would be to appoint in each House of 
 Parliament a committee charged with the con- 
 sideration of such Bills, and to have it understood 
 that Bills once approved by such committees 
 should pass without dismission. 
 
 It remains only to add that the writer was 
 assisted in the work by Mr. Jenkyns, the
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 19 
 
 Assistant Parliamentary Counsel,* Mr. C. P. 
 Ilbert,t Mr. G. A. R. FitzGerald, and other 
 friends have also afforded great aid by sugges- 
 tions and criticisms made during the progress 
 of the work through the press. 
 
 Henry Thring. 
 
 November 10, 1877. 
 
 ° Afterwards Sir Henry Jenkyns, K.C.B. 
 f Now Sir Courtenay Ilbert, K. C.S.I.
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In the following pages the term " Act " will be 
 used in place of " Bill," and " section " in place of 
 " clause," though an Act while in the draftsman's 
 hands is more correctly termed a Bill, and its 
 sections "clauses." 
 
 The reader must bear in mind that many of the 
 Acts, notably the Merchant Shipping and Bank- 
 ruptcy Acts, quoted as examples in the following 
 pages, have been repealed or altered since this 
 treatise was first written. 
 
 When instructions for an Act are given to a ]. mode en 
 
 • • WHICH A 
 
 draftsman, his first step should be to acquaint draftsman 
 
 SHOULD PRE- 
 
 himself with the ivhole of the existing; law relating pare him- 
 
 ° m . SELF TO 
 
 to the subject-matter of the Act which he is draw acts. 
 directed to prepare. 
 
 This completeness of knowledge is essential, for Complete 
 
 . „ . knowledge of 
 
 so complex are the relations of the various parts law essential. 
 of English law that however limited the scope of
 
 22 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 an Act apparently may be, yet the law with 
 which it deals may chance to be an offshoot of 
 some larger branch of jurisprudence, and the 
 draftsman, by the alteration of a definition or the 
 introduction of a superfluous provision, may un- 
 intentionally subvert a settled principle of common 
 law or disturb a series of legislative enactments. 
 Every Act in which a fine is imposed affords 
 an example of what has been said. Various 
 Acts define the mode in which fines are to be 
 enforced, and award a scale of imprisonment to 
 be inflicted in default of their being paid. A 
 draftsman ignorant of these Acts will almost 
 certainly contravene their provisions by altering 
 the process for enforcing the fines or the scale 
 of imprisonment. The draftsman must also as 
 before mentioned be careful to bear in mind the 
 Interpretation Act. 
 Method of If the draftsman approaches a subject for the 
 
 getting up 
 
 law. first time, he will do well, as a first step, to 
 
 endeavour to obtain a general view of its whole 
 extent. This may be done by reading any modern 
 treatise containing the law. The sooner, how- 
 ever, that he discards such a treatise, and has 
 recourse to the original authorities, the more 
 readily will his task be accomplished of arriving 
 at an accurate knowledge of his subject. 
 
 In getting up the statute law it is a convenient 
 plan to obtain King's Printer's copies of the Acts
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 23 
 
 required, and, tying them together, to read them 
 through, beginning with the last Act, and so on 
 up to the earliest, striking out the repealed 
 provisions. 
 
 In studying the case law, the best method is 
 to discover the leading case on a given point, and 
 having thoroughly mastered its principles, to 
 pursue the law through all subsequent cases to 
 the date of the last decision. A little practice, 
 aided by an index of cases, will enable the 
 student to complete his investigation very 
 rapidly. 
 
 Cases readily range themselves into two classes, 
 namely, those that lay down new principles, and 
 those that merely illustrate the application of 
 known rules. A reference to the headnotes 
 will generally suffice to give a sufficient know- 
 ledge of an illustrative case, while a case laying 
 down a new principle of law is, to the extent to 
 which the principle is new, a leading case, and 
 must be thoroughly mastered in detail. 
 
 This distinction between leading cases and 
 illustrative cases is most important in reference 
 to legislation. Leading cases constitute in effect 
 judicial legislation, and admit of being codified 
 by having their principles expressed in a legisla- 
 tive form. Illustrative cases are merely ex- 
 planations or illustrations of the law, and may 
 either be dismissed altogether by the draftsman,
 
 24 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 or have their influence on legislation expressed 
 by the insertion of a few words in a section to 
 remove a doubt or explain a difficulty. 
 
 Take, as examples of the difference between 
 cases laying down new principles of law or 
 judicial enactments and merely illustrative cases, 
 two decisions in relation to bills of exchange. 
 
 The negotiability of a bill of exchange was 
 determined by a judicial decision. This decision, 
 being followed, soon passed into the domain of 
 settled law, and, when thus established, amounted 
 to an enactment that bills of exchange are 
 negotiable. 
 
 The decision in the case of Rees v. Warwick, 
 2 B. & Aid. 113, on the question whether a letter 
 from the drawee to the drawer, stating " your 
 bill £100 shall have attention" amounts to an 
 acceptance, involves no principle or general pro- 
 position of law, but is merely an illustration of 
 the law in a particular case. 
 
 If the subject-matter of a proposed Act be very 
 extensive, the general case law must be studied 
 in a text -book, and the method recommended of 
 going back to a leading case and tracing the law 
 downwards must be reserved for such points as 
 from their difficulty or importance deserve to be 
 set aside for special investigation. 
 
 In studying the common law, the earlier 
 authorities, as for example, Coke upon Littleton
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 25 
 
 and Hawkins' Pleas of the Crown, should be con- 
 sulted in preference to more modern books. The 
 common law having thus been traced to its origin, 
 the later treatises may be looked at for the pur- 
 pose of ascertaining, in a compendious manner, 
 the numerous changes introduced by statute or 
 by judicial decisions in almost every department 
 of that law. 
 
 Whatever method of studying the law be 
 adopted, the draftsman should as far as possible 
 trust to his memory for collecting the results, 
 making notes very seldom, and those extremely 
 concise, in the nature of an index indicating where 
 important propositions of law are to be found 
 rather than in the form of extracts from or a state- 
 ment of the law itself. By adopting this plan he 
 will acquire a habit of carrying in his mind a long 
 and complicated set of provisions for a time suffi- 
 cient to pass the whole in review, and thus to 
 ascertain the true relation which the various parts 
 bear to each other, a process essential to the com- 
 pletion of a clear and well-arranged scheme of 
 legislation. 
 
 Where any considerable alteration of the law is 
 to be effected, the draftsman will do well to keep 
 a record of the law which he has acquired, and of 
 the changes introduced by the Act which he is 
 preparing, by writing a memorandum containing 
 in concise terms the history of the law which he has 
 
 D
 
 26 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 been studying, and pointing out the principal points 
 in which his Act proposes to alter the existing law, 
 adducing, shortly, the reasons for the alterations 
 made. 
 2. Explana- Before concluding this chapter, it will be con- 
 
 TION OF , m 
 
 certain venient to explain the sense in which the expres- 
 
 TERMS USED 
 
 in work. sions " Act of Parliament " and " enactment " are 
 ment. used in this work, and to point out the meaning of 
 
 a division which has been made of Acts of Parlia- 
 ment into simple and complex Acts. 
 
 An Act of Parliament may for the purpose of 
 this work be considered as a series of declarations 
 of the Legislature enforcing certain rules of con- 
 duct, or conferring certain rights upon or with- 
 holding them from certain persons or classes 
 of persons. 
 
 This desertion of an Act of Parliament includes 
 a principal Act with its various amending Acts, 
 and this is intentional ; for a series of Acts relating 
 to the same subject is in fact, and ought for all 
 purposes of arrangement to be treated as, a single 
 Act of Parliament. 
 Enactments. The separate declarations of the Legislature 
 contained in an Act of Parliament will be called 
 Enactments. 
 
 It is possible, of course, that an Act may con- 
 tain only one enactment, and in that case there is 
 no distinction between "Act of Parliament" and 
 " enactment."
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 27 
 
 Acts are referred to as simple and complex Acts. Simple and 
 An Act is simple when its principle can be declared 
 in one enactment and the whole of the Act is em- 
 ployed in working out that principle. 
 
 For example, the Stock Certificate Act, 1863 
 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 28), is a simple Act, as the prin- 
 ciple that a person may obtain a stock certificate 
 is declared in a single enactment, while the re- 
 mainder of the Act is occupied with showing how 
 the principles declared in such enactment are to be 
 worked out in detail. 
 
 On the other hand, the Land Drainage Act, 2\ & 25 Vict. 
 1861, is a complex Act, as it deals in three parts 
 with the following different legal heads : Part I. 
 The issue of Commissions of Sewers for new areas 
 on recommendation of Inclosure Commissioners ; 
 Part II. The constitution of elective drainage 
 districts on the application of certain proprietors ; 
 and Part III. The power of private owners to 
 procure outfalls. Again : The Irish Church Act, 32 & 33 Vict. 
 
 C. i'2. 
 
 1869, is a complex Act, as it consists (l) of the 
 disestablishment, and (2) of the disendowment of 
 the Church. 
 
 The above terms make no pretensions to logical 
 accuracy, but will be found convenient for describ- 
 ing certain species of enactments and certain de- 
 scriptions of Acts which practically must be dealt 
 with by the draftsman as requiring different 
 modes of treatment.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT. 
 
 3. Dif- 
 ficulty of 
 
 ARRANGE- 
 MENT. 
 
 4. Selec- 
 tion and 
 statement 
 
 OF PRIN- 
 CIPLES. 
 
 Possessed of a full knowledge of his subject the 
 draftsman will, if the Act be a long one, for 
 example, an Irish Church Act (see the Irish Church 
 Act, 1869, 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42); an Irish Land 
 Act (see the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 
 1870, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 46) ; a Land Transfer Act 
 (see The Land Transfer Act, 1875, 38 & 39 Vict, 
 c. 87) ; an Explosive Substances Act (see The Ex- 
 plosive Substances Act, 1875, 38 & 19 Vict. c. 37), 
 feel himself bewildered by the multiplicity of the 
 enactments and the extent of his task. 
 
 His first step must be, in the case of a simple 
 Act, to settle the principle or leading motive, and 
 in the case of a complex Act the several principles 
 or leading motives of the Act on which he is 
 engaged. 
 
 With respect to the mode in which the principle 
 is to be selected, and where there is more than 
 one principle in the Act the arrangement of the 
 principles, the draftsman will, where an Act is of 
 political consequence, be guided by the express
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 29 
 
 instructions of the minister. Before an Act of 
 political importance is introduced, an able minister 
 settles in his own mind the questions on which 
 divisions are to be taken, and forms a general idea 
 of the mode in which those questions should be 
 presented to Parliament. He then instructs the 
 draftsman to follow his directions in these respects, 
 and to frame his Act in accordance with the lead- 
 ing questions to be submitted to Parliament. 
 
 In framing his instructions the minister will be 
 greatly assisted by the draftsman laying before 
 him a memorandum describing accurately the 
 existing law. Such a document will clear the 
 ideas of both the minister and his subordinate. 
 
 In a simple Act, the principle when selected 
 must be enunciated in its most concise form at 
 the very outset of the Act either in one section or 
 in two or more consecutive sections, as the subject 
 may require. In a complex Act, the principles 
 should be arranged in different parts of the Act, 
 and each part of the Act should be treated as a 
 simple Act, and contain its principle enunciated 
 in the most concise form at the outset of the part. 
 In short, the test of the arrangement of an Act 
 or part as respects the principle, is this : If the 
 reader, after mastering the first two or three 
 sections, comprehends the whole drift of the Act 
 or of the part, the Act or part is in that respect 
 well arranged. The Act or part is as regards
 
 30 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 principle ill-arranged in proportion as the prin- 
 ciple is distributed throughout a number of 
 sections, and broken up by conditions and pro- 
 visions from which the reader has to extract it 
 bit by bit. 
 
 This arrangement is to be recommended both 
 for Parliamentary and for practical reasons. It 
 enables Parliament to decide at once on the prin- 
 ciple of an Act unembarrassed by the consideration 
 of details, and it places before the reader at the 
 outset a clear view of the law intended to be 
 enacted, without the confusing intermixture of 
 the conditions under which and the mode in which 
 that law is to be administered. The principle 
 thus being settled, the conditions can be con- 
 sidered separately, and no confusion arises between 
 objections of principle and objections of detail. 
 5. Illustra- The importance of selecting the principles and 
 
 TIONS OP L o x i 
 
 selection statins: them in a concise form at the outset of an 
 
 AND STATE- ° 
 
 mbkt of A c t or division of an Act is so great that it will 
 be illustrated by numerous examples, beginning 
 with simple Acts and proceeding to complex 
 Acts. 
 
 The simplest form of enactment is contained in 
 si & 32 Vict, one short clause. For example, the Compulsory 
 Church Rate Abolition Act, 1868, provides in its 
 first section as follows : 
 
 " From and after the passing of this 
 " Act, no suit shall be instituted or pro- 
 
 TIONS OF 
 SELECTIO 
 AND STATE- 
 MENT OF 
 
 principles 
 in simple 
 Acts. 
 
 <•. lu:t.
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AX ACT SI 
 
 " ceeding taken in any ecclesiastical or 
 
 " other court, or before any justice or 
 
 " magistrate, to enforce or compel the 
 
 " payment of any church rate made in 
 
 " any parish or place in England or 
 
 "Wales." 
 
 The passing of that clause abolishes compulsory 
 
 church rates, and the remainder of the Act is 
 
 taken up with providing for voluntary church 
 
 rates, and making the proper reservations for 
 
 cases in which money had been lent on the 
 
 security of rates. 
 
 The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, relating to 39&40Vict. 
 
 ... . . c. 77. 
 
 vivisection, expresses its intention by declar- 
 ing— 
 
 " That a person shall not perforin on a living 
 " animal any experiment calculated to give pain, 
 " except subject to the restrictions imposed by the 
 " Act," and imposes a penalty on any person per- 
 forming any experiment calculated to give pain, 
 in contravention of the Act. Under that section, 
 all experiments on living animals calculated to 
 give pain are prima facie prohibited, and, as might 
 be expected, the remainder of the Act is employed 
 in declaring the conditions under which, in certain 
 cases and for certain purposes, experiments may 
 be performed on living animals. 
 
 Perhaps the best illustration of the concen- 
 tration of the principle of a whole Act into one
 
 32 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 16 & 17 Vict, clause is found in the Succession Duty Act, 1853, 
 s. 2, which is as follows : 
 
 " Every past or future disposition of 
 " property, by reason whereof any person 
 " has or shall become beneficially entitled 
 " to any property, or the income thereof, 
 " upon the death of any person dying 
 " after the time appointed for the com- 
 " mencement of this Act, either imme- 
 " diately or after any interval, either 
 "certainly or contingently, and either 
 "originally or by way of substitutive 
 " limitation, and every devolution by law 
 " of any beneficial interest in property, 
 " or the income thereof, upon the death 
 " of any person dying after the time 
 " appointed for the commencement of 
 " this Act, to any other person, in 
 "possession or expectancy, shall be 
 1 ' deemed to have conferred or to confer 
 "on the person entitled by reason of 
 " any such disposition or devolution a 
 " ' succession ' ; and the term ' successor ' 
 " shall denote the person so entitled ; and 
 "the term 'predecessor' shall denote 
 " the settlor, disponer, testator, obligor, 
 "ancestor, or other person from whom 
 " the interest of the successor is or shall 
 " be derived."
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 33 
 
 This section embraces not only the whole subject 
 matter of succession duty, but that of the Legacy 
 Duty Acts also, and the remainder of the Act is 
 occupied in excepting successions subject to the 
 Legacy Duty Acts and in illustrating particular 
 examples of sect. 2, or in making rules for carrying 
 sect. 2 into eifect. 
 
 A similar mode of arrangement is exemplified 6. Illustba- 
 
 .. TIONS OF 
 
 by complex Acts. selection 
 
 . AND STATE- 
 
 The Irish Church Act, 18G9, provides for (1) the ment op 
 
 l V /\ ti r> 1 PRINCIPLES 
 
 disestablishment, (2) the disendowment of the in complex 
 
 Acts. 
 
 Church. The disestablishment is enunciated in 32 & 33 Vict. 
 
 '■• '-■ 
 sect. 2, which is as follows : 
 
 " On and after the first day of 
 " January One thousand eight hundred 
 " and seventy-one the said union created 
 " by Act of Parliament between the 
 "Churches of England and Ireland shall 
 " be dissolved, and the said Church of 
 " Ireland, herein-after referred to as 
 "'the said Church' shall cease to be 
 " established by law." 
 Nothing further was required to complete that 
 enactment. The disendowment and formation of 
 a new Church body occupy the whole of the re- 
 mainder of the Act. 
 
 The Land Drainage Act, 1861, consists of the 24&25Vict. 
 
 ... . c. 133. 
 
 following heads, divided in the Act into separate 
 parts : Part I. The issue of Commissions of 
 
 E
 
 c. 33. 
 
 34 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Sewers for new areas on recommendation of In- 
 closure Commissioners. Part II. The constitu- 
 tion of elective drainage districts on the applica- 
 tion of certain proprietors. Part III. The 
 power of private owners to procure outfalls. 
 
 A reference to Part I. (s. 4), to Part II. (ss. 63 
 & 64), and Part III. (s. 72) Avill illustrate the 
 rule of enunciating in one section the principle of 
 a part of an Act. 
 35&36 Vict. The Ballot Act, 1872, had two objects in view, 
 the alteration of the law relating to the nomina- 
 tion of candidates at Parliamentary elections and 
 the alteration of the law relating to the mode of 
 voting. It was necessary to separate the essen- 
 tial conditions of the law from the detailed pro- 
 visions intended to carry it into effect. Accord- 
 ingly sect. 1 lays down the rules for nomination, and 
 sect. 2 creates a secret ballot with all its necessary 
 conditions ; while the detailed provisions required 
 to give effect to a secret ballot are contained in a 
 schedule of sixty-three articles. 
 
 In the Home Rule Bill of 1886, entitled Irish 
 Government Act, 1886, a good example will be 
 found of the compression into a few sentences, at 
 the beginning of the Bill, of the whole principle of 
 the measure. Section 1 declared, On and after the 
 appointed day there should be established in Ire- 
 land a legislature consisting of her Majesty the 
 Queen and an Irish legislative body. The second
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 35 
 
 section declared that, with the exceptions and 
 subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, 
 it shall be lawful for her Majesty the Queen by 
 and with the advice of the Irish legislative body 
 to make laws for the peace, order and good 
 government of Ireland, and by any such law to 
 repeal and alter any law in Ireland. 
 
 Then followed, in the 3rd and 4th sections, the 
 restrictions on the power of the legislative body, 
 divided into two classes, first, the subjects on 
 which they must not legislate ; 2nd, the principles 
 which they were prohibited from adopting in 
 legislation. 
 
 The prerogatives of the Queen with regard 
 to summoning, proroguing and dissolving the 
 Irish legislative body, were defined in the fifth 
 and sixth sections. It is obvious that if these 
 six sections had been passed the Bill would have 
 been in effect carried, as the remainder consisted 
 of provisions necessary to give effect to so great a 
 change in the constitution. 
 
 Before concluding these illustrations it may be 7. obser- 
 
 11 n 1 .• t ir> • ,i i VAT IONS AS 
 
 well to call attention to a dinerence in the mode to mode of 
 
 • n A FRAMING 
 
 of expressing the principle of an Act m cases principal 
 
 ... . AND SUB- 
 
 where the principle cannot be enunciated m one ordinate 
 
 / 1 ENACT- 
 
 enactment (as in the example of section one of the ments. 
 Compulsory Church Bates Abolition Act), but 
 must range over several enactments. Where 
 several enactments are required, there are two
 
 36 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 modes of dealing with the matter. Either the 
 principle may be enunciated by itself in an 
 independent enactment, without any words con- 
 necting it with its subsequent subordinate enact- 
 ments, or the principle may at the outset be 
 linked on by connecting words to the whole or to 
 any part of its subordinate enactments. Simi- 
 larly, the subordinate enactments may be expressed 
 in words wholly unconnected with each other, or 
 may be partially connected by words referring 
 from one enactment to the other. 
 
 As an illustration of the first mode of dealing, 
 
 39 & 40 Vict, take the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876. That 
 Act declares, in four separate and unconnected 
 sections (1) the cases in which an appeal lies to 
 the House of Lords ; (2) the form of appeal to 
 the House of Lords ; (3) the attendance of a cer- 
 tain number of lords of appeal required at hearing 
 and determination of appeals ; and (4) the 
 appointment of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary by 
 her Majesty. 
 
 The second mode is shown in the principal and 
 
 24 & 25 Vict, subordinate enactments found in the Land Drain- 
 
 c. 133. 
 
 age Act, 1861, in which the section enunciating 
 the principle provides, by reference to the subse- 
 quent clauses, that it must be made on the re- 
 commendation of the commissioners, and on such 
 application and subject to such conditions as are 
 therein-after mentioned. Parliament, therefore,
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 37 
 
 in passing the first section, pledged itself* to re- 
 quire the recommendation of the Commissioners, 
 and in a less degree pledged itself to the require- 
 ment of an application by the proprietors and to 
 the other conditions of the Act, On the other 
 hand, in the case of the Appellate Jurisdiction 
 Act, Parliament, in passing the first section, did 
 not pledge itself to require a particular form of 
 appeal or to require the attendance of the Lords 
 of Appeal in Ordinary. 
 
 The selection of the one or the other of the 
 above methods of dealing with a principal enact- 
 ment accompanied with a series of subordinate 
 enactments, depends on Parliamentary considera- 
 tions of the same character as those on which the 
 arrangement of principles of law depends. Some- 
 times it is expedient to fetter the principal enact- 
 ment with a direct reference to subordinate 
 enactments, in order to show that Parliament is 
 not asked to carry the law beyond a certain limit. 
 On the other hand, in many cases it is desirable 
 to take the opinion of Parliament on the principal 
 proposition in its barest form, and stripped of 
 every possible detail that can distract attention, 
 or lead to votes being given on a side issue, in- 
 stead of on the principle involved. Such questions 
 must be determined by the minister, rather than 
 by the draftsman, but it is impossible to overrate 
 their importance, as an Act not unfrequently is 
 
 352688
 
 38 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 lost or won according as a division is taken on the 
 right point and at the right time, on a simple or 
 on a complicated issue. 
 
 Where political and Parliamentary considera- 
 tions are not concerned, it is perhaps, on the 
 whole, most convenient to introduce into the 
 principal enactment references to the succeeding 
 enactments, as the reader recollects a series of 
 enactments when connected by referential words 
 more readily than a chain of unconnected pro- 
 visions. 
 8. General Proceeding from the principle to the arrange- 
 arrange- ment of the remainder of the Act the draftsman 
 
 MFNT OP 1 
 
 act, eule i. will find himself assisted by the following rules, 
 first, in sifting his materials in such a manner as 
 to enable him to form a clear conception of the 
 subject-matter with which he is dealing, and of 
 the relations of its several parts to each other ; 
 and, secondly, in the practical task of arranging 
 the sections of his Act and grouping them under 
 appropriate headings. 
 
 Rule I. — Provisions declaring the law should he 
 separated from and take precedence of provisions 
 relating to the administration of the law. 
 38 k 39 Vict. Take as an example the Land Transfer Act, 
 1875, it will be found that the provisions re- 
 lating to registration of title are contained 
 in the first four parts of the Act, whilst the 
 
 c. 87
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 39 
 
 administration of the law stands by itself in the 
 fifth part. 
 
 The first part of the above rule is founded on 
 the consideration that it is convenient for the 
 purpose of clearness to separate the law from the 
 authority to administer the law, and the reason 
 for giving precedence to the law over administra- 
 tion is that until the law to be administered is 
 determined the proper authority to administer 
 that law cannot be judged of. Any verbal difficulty 
 created by referring to the administrative autho- 
 rity before its constitution is stated may be 
 avoided by the use on the occasion of the first 
 mention of the authority of the phrases " the 
 court by this Act constituted," " the commissioners 
 in this Act referred to," or other referential 
 phrases. The latter part of the rule, however, 
 giving precedence to the law over the authority 
 which administers the law is only applicable to a 
 limited number of cases. Frequently the subject- 
 matter is of such a character as to require the 
 authority to precede the law. Take, for example, 
 the law as to coroners ; the better mode would seem 
 to be to create the coroner before laying down 
 the law of inquest, on the ground that the law 
 would seem to be an emanation from the autho- 
 rity, rather than the authority an institution 
 established for administering an antecedent law. 
 A similar observation would apply to an Act
 
 c. 12(5. 
 
 40 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 relating to sheriffs. In short, the rule is subject 
 to so many exceptions that it is stated principally 
 on the ground that any rule in so complicated a 
 matter as legislation affords assistance to the 
 draftsman, although it admits only of partial 
 application. 
 
 A notable example of a case in which the above- 
 mentioned rule of putting the law before the ad- 
 ministration has not been followed is found in the 
 28 & 29 Vict. Prison Act, 1865. That Act begins by declaring 
 the local bodies on whom is imposed by common 
 law or by statute the obligation to maintain 
 prisons. It then proceeds to lay down the rules 
 with respect to the appointment of officers, the 
 discipline of prisoners, and other matters relating 
 to the prison, whilst it relegates to Part II. the 
 law of prisons. 
 
 The reason for this disregard of the general rule 
 was that in the particular case of prisons the law 
 was altogether subordinate in importance to the 
 provisions relating to the establishment of prisons, 
 and it was thought advisable to submit to Parlia- 
 ment the important questions relating to the 
 maintenance and administration of prisons, in 
 preference to beginning with the comparatively 
 insignificant and little known provisions relating 
 to the law.
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AX ACT 41 
 
 Rule II — The simpler proposition should pre- 9. general 
 
 RULES OF 
 
 cede the more complex and in an ascending scale of arrange- 
 ment OP 
 propositions the less should come before the greater, act, rule 2. 
 
 For example, in an Act relating to offences 
 
 against property, theft should precede theft with 
 
 violence, or robbery, and so forth ; similarly, in 
 
 dealing with the authority to administer the law, 
 
 the less should precede the greater, the local 
 
 the central, e.g., in the Public Health Act, 1875, 38 & soviet. 
 
 C. 55. 
 
 the local sanitary authority is dealt with before 
 the Local Government Board. 
 
 This rule also is in a great measure arbitrary, 
 and suggested with a view of enabling the drafts- 
 man to form a clear conception of the relative 
 bearing of sections, rather than to make it im- 
 perative on him to adopt it on all occasions. Such 
 a rule must constantly yield to political pressure, 
 and the draftsman is frequently required by his 
 instructions, or by the special circumstances of the 
 case, to put the more complex proposition before 
 the less complex, or the higher authority before 
 the lower. 
 
 On the whole, however, experience would seem 
 to suggest that the observance of the rule leads 
 to clearness and brevity in drawing ; and uni- 
 formity in Acts of Parliament is of so much con- 
 sequence that it is most desirable that some 
 general rule of arrangement should wherever 
 practicable be adopted.
 
 C. 00. 
 
 42 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 10. general Rule III — Principal provisions should be sepa- 
 ariiange- rated from subordinate jwovisions. The latter 
 
 MENT OP 
 
 act, rule 3. should be placed towards the end of the Act, while 
 the former should occupy their proper position in 
 the narrative of the occurrence to which they refer. 
 
 Principal provisions are such as declare the 
 material objects of the Act. 
 
 Subordinate provisions are such enactments as 
 are required to give effect to the principal provisions 
 by declaring in detail the manner in which they 
 are to be worked out or by adding enactments to 
 complete the operation of the principal provisions. 
 38 & 39 Vict. Taking as an illustration the Public Health Act, 
 1875, the sections in Part II. constituting sanitary 
 districts and sanitary authorities are principal 
 provisions ; the sections in Part VIII. altering the 
 areas of districts and referring to the formation of 
 united districts are supplemental provisions. 
 
 In the Representation of the People Act, 1884, 
 48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, the law as to the extension of 
 the franchise is set forth in the first five sections of 
 the Act ; then follows, under the heading Supple- 
 mentary Clauses, the definition of the franchise, 
 the saving provisions, the construction of the Act, 
 and the Repeal of Acts. 
 
 This mode of arrangement will doubtless be 
 objected to by persons who are desirous of 
 acquiring a partial knowledge of an Act without 
 reading the whole, as being defective by reason of
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 43 
 
 its not grouping under one head all the provisions 
 relating tothe same subject-matter. 
 
 It has, however, a twofold advantage — first, as 
 respects Parliament, of submitting to the Legis- 
 lature material provisions on which they may 
 decide without beino- embarrassed with subordinate 
 
 o 
 
 consequential regulations ; secondly, as respects 
 readers of the Act, by enabling them to obtain 
 readily an intelligible view of the material pro- 
 visions of the laAv before entering upon details 
 involving no question of principle and interest- 
 ing only to persons actually engaged in legal 
 business. 
 
 Rule IV. — (a) Local or exceptional provisions, n. General 
 
 RULES OP 
 
 (b) temporary provisions, and (c) provisions re- arrange- 
 lating to repeal of Acts should be separated from act, rule 4. 
 the other enactments, and placed by themselves 
 under separate headings. 
 
 A good illustration of local or exceptional pro- 
 visions is found in the Land Transfer Act, 1875. 38&39Vict. 
 
 c. 87. 
 
 In that Act, the local registries for the counties of 
 Middlesex and Yorkshire are dealt with at the end 
 as separate subject-matters. By thus treating 
 them as exceptions to the remainder of the Act 
 confusion is avoided, and the provisions are found 
 without difficulty, being arranged under a separate 
 heading. 
 
 Examples of Repeal clauses are found at the
 
 44 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 end of almost every Act which disturbs existing 
 statute law. 
 
 12. General Rule V. — Procedure and matters of detail 
 
 RULES OP 
 
 arrange- should be set apart by themselves, and should not, 
 
 MENT OF . 
 
 act, eule 5. except under very special circumstances, find any 
 place in the body of the Act. 
 
 The above-mentioned matters should either be 
 enacted in a schedule, or what is far better (where 
 possible) be left to be prescribed by a court or 
 department of the Government. For example, in 
 
 25 & 26 Vict, the Companies Act. 1862, the model regulations 
 
 c. 89. . 
 
 for a company are prescribed in the schedule ; the 
 rules for winding up companies are directed to be 
 framed by the court. 
 25 & 26 Vict. By the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment 
 
 c. 63. 
 
 Act, 1862, section 25, the Queen can by Order in 
 Council make regulations as to lights, fog signals, 
 and sailing rules, while in other Merchant Ship- 
 ping Acts, the Board of Trade take large powers 
 of making orders for regulating the mercantile 
 
 38 & 39 Vict, marine. In the Trade Marks Registration Act, 
 c 91. . . . 
 
 1875, the principles only of the registration are 
 
 laid down in the Act, whilst the general rules 
 pointing out the mode of registry and the classi- 
 fication of trade marks are directed to be made by 
 the Lord Chancellor. 
 
 The adoption of the system of confining the 
 attention of Parliament to material provisions
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 45 
 
 only, and leaving details to be settled depart - 
 mentally, is probably the only mode in which 
 parliamentary government can, as respects its 
 legislative functions, be satisfactorily carried on. 
 The province of Parliament is to decide material 
 questions affecting the public interest, and the 
 more procedure and subordinate matters can be 
 withdrawn from their cognisance, the greater will 
 be the time afforded for the consideration of the 
 more serious questions involved in legislation. 
 Any attempt to evade the vigilance of Parliament 
 by relegating to departments important matters 
 can always be prevented by requiring the rules 
 made to be laid before Parliament before they 
 come into force. 
 
 Bearing in mind the above rules it may be 13. Summary 
 
 # OF GENERAL 
 
 useful to state as the result of the examination of rules op 
 
 ARRANGE- 
 
 a great number of Acts of Parliament, that MENT ^^ 
 
 ° OBSERVA- 
 
 although the subject-matter of the law is different, tions. 
 the subsidiary provisions for carrying that law 
 into effect admit of being classified under a few 
 heads, and the draftsman will find the following 
 enumeration useful as a guide in sifting the 
 complicated materials often presented to him for 
 framing an Act and also in arranging the Act 
 itself. 
 
 The arrangement, then, of an Act should be as 
 follows : 
 
 (1) The law or leading principle of the Act.
 
 46 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 (2) Administration of the law. 
 
 (a) Authority to administer. 
 
 (b) Procedure. 
 
 (3) Penalties to enforce the law. 
 
 (4) Expenses of enforcing Act. 
 
 (5) Power to make by-laws. 
 
 (6) Exceptional provisions. 
 
 (7) Transitory or temporary provisions. 
 
 (8) Saving clauses. 
 
 (9) Definitions. 
 
 (10) Extent of Act if limited. 
 
 (11) Duration of Act if limited. 
 
 (12) Repeal of Acts. 
 
 (13) Short title of Act. 
 
 (14) Application of Act to Scotland. 
 
 (15) Application of Act to Ireland. 
 
 These rules necessarily not only admit of 
 considerable variation but sometimes require it : 
 they will, however, serve as a guide to the 
 draftsman in ordinary cases. 
 
 One maxim he must steadily bear in mind, 
 that whatever deviation may be allowed in the 
 arrangement of principles and heads of law as 
 between themselves, the essential conditions of a 
 well-drawn Act of Parliament are that every 
 principle of law and every head of law should be 
 separated from every other principle and head of 
 law, and should form the subject of a separate 
 enactment or series of enactments, and that in
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 47 
 
 framing any enactment or series of enactments, 
 the principle or head of law contained in such 
 enactment or enactments should be stated at the 
 outset, and the mode of giving effect to that 
 principle or head of law should be dealt with by 
 subordinate enactments, or otherwise according to 
 circumstances. 
 
 Frequently, when the draftsman has sifted the 
 materials of his Act according to the foregoing 
 rules, and is about to turn his attention to the 
 enactments, he will find a difficulty in ascertaining 
 their mutual relations to each other ; in other 
 words, the subject, although reduced in bulk, is 
 still too large for him to classify throughout. His 
 course here is to work out separately and in 
 complete detail each head of the law as if it con- 
 stituted the whole subject-matter of the Act. 
 Such a course necessarily involves a great deal of 
 labour, but when the process is completed he will 
 see the mutual relations of the several parts of 
 the Act, and will frequently be able to generalise 
 his Act to a degree he could not have anticipated 
 until he had completed the separate groups. 
 Divide et impera is the motto of a draftsman as 
 well as of a conqueror. The one thing needful is 
 to make each distinct subject the matter of a 
 separate section, or, if necessary, a separate series 
 of sections, and not at the commencement to aim 
 at conciseness when conciseness is placed in
 
 48 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 competition with or in antagonism to clearness of 
 expression, or fulness in working out the details 
 of the law. 
 
 Having completed his arrangement of an Act 
 with the whole subject in his mind, the draftsman 
 should scarcely ever alter it materially of his own 
 accord. The consequence of such an alteration is 
 to leave a confused outline of the law, which 
 shows itself in the repetition or omission of neces- 
 sary provisions, and in a hazy arrangement of the 
 whole Act. 
 14. Obsee- Before quitting the subject of arrangement it 
 
 VATIONS ON . . 
 
 referen- may be well to notice a constantly recurring 
 
 TIAL PROVI- 
 
 sions where difficulty m planning Acts and constructing sec- 
 
 REFERENCE . . . 
 
 made to tions, namely, the determination of the best mode 
 
 ANOTHER _ 
 
 part of the of dealing with legal subjects which require similar 
 
 same Act. ° 
 
 but not identical provisions. 
 
 No general rule can be laid down for all cases, 
 but the following suggestions may be useful. 
 Where the provisions of the principal subject are 
 applicable to the subordinate, with few and well- 
 defined exceptions, the best mode would seem to be 
 to pursue the principal subject to its end without 
 regard to the subordinate subject, and then to 
 introduce a clause applying the provisions of the 
 principal to the subordinate subject with certain 
 exceptions. 
 32 & 33 Vict. For example, the provisions of the Bishops 
 
 c. 111. 
 
 Resignation Act, 1869, were drawn as if they
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 49 
 
 related only to English bishoprics, although it was 
 intended from the first to extend them to the 
 bishopric of Sodor and Man and to archbishoprics. 
 This application to the two subordinate subjects 
 of the provisions relating to the principal subject 
 is made by sect. 1 1 in the case of Sodor and Man 
 as follows : 
 
 " This Act shall apply to the bishopric 
 " of Sodor and Man in the same manner 
 " in all respects as if it were a bishopric 
 " in England, with the following excep- 
 " tions : 
 
 "(1) If," &c. 
 "(2) If,"&c. 
 
 " (3) The Bishop of Sodor and Man 
 " shall not," &c. 
 And in the case of the archbishoprics by sect. 12 
 as follows : 
 
 11 A bishop coadjutor may be appointed 
 " in the case of an archbishop being 
 " incapacitated by reason of permanent 
 " mental infirmity from the due per- 
 formance of his duties, in the same 
 " manner in all respects as if such arch- 
 " bishop were a bishop and his arch- 
 " bishopric a bishopric, and all the 
 "provisions of this Act shall apply 
 " accordingly, with the following addi- 
 " tions and exceptions : 
 
 G
 
 50 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " (1) That," &c. 
 "(2) That," &c. 
 " (3) That," &c. 
 On a similar principle, the sixth and seventh 
 25 & 26 Vict, parts of the Companies Act, 1862, apply the 
 Act to companies existing at the passing of the 
 Act. 
 
 Where English Acts are intended to be applied 
 to Scotland and Ireland, confusion is avoided by 
 omitting all special Scotch or Irish terms in the 
 body of the Act, and adding at the end — 
 
 " The provisions of this Act shall apply to 
 " Scotland (or Ireland, as the case may require), 
 " with the following modifications ; that is to say," 
 and then setting out the modifications. 
 
 The use of a generic term with a defining clause 
 
 will not unfrequently prevent the necessity of 
 
 overloading an Act with the enumeration of special 
 
 provisions relating to particular local authorities. 
 
 32 & 33 Vict. For an example of this " The Contagious Diseases 
 
 c. 70. 
 
 (Animals) Act, 1869," sect. 9, may be referred to, 
 
 which is as follows : 
 
 " For the purposes of this Act, the 
 "respective districts, authorities, rates, 
 " or funds, and officers described in the 
 "second schedule to this Act, shall be 
 " the district, the local authority, the 
 " local rate, and the clerk of the local 
 "authority."
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 51 
 
 Take the Act without this section, and 
 endeavour to insert the various authorities in the 
 text, and it will be at once found that almost 
 every section requires a long list of names with 
 special provisions interspersed. 
 
 Where a certain portion of the provisions of 
 the principal subject are applicable to the 
 subordinate subject without alteration, and some 
 are totally inapplicable, while others require 
 alteration, the principal subject may be continued 
 to its close, with the exception of the provisions 
 which are applicable, with slight alterations, to 
 both subjects. The subordinate subject may then 
 be introduced, and the former provisions, which 
 are wholly applicable, to the principal subject, be 
 incorporated by reference. Lastly will follow the 
 provisions applicable with slight alteration to the 
 principal and subordinate subjects. 
 
 The 4th part of the Companies Act, 1862, illus- 25 & 26 Vict, 
 trates the foregoing observations. The winding- 
 up by the court is the principal subject. This is 
 worked out to its close, with the exception of the 
 provisions incorrectly called " supplemental pro- 
 visions," being in effect provisions applicable, with 
 slight alterations, to the subordinate subject, as 
 well as to the principal subject, which are post- 
 poned. 
 
 Then follows the main subordinate subject, 
 " voluntary winding-up," incorporating the powers 
 
 C 89.
 
 52 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 of the liquidators (sections 133-137), which are 
 specially drawn with a view to incorporation. 
 
 Winding-up subject to supervision, comes next 
 to voluntary winding-up, and the differences, or 
 rather the resemblances, between that process of 
 winding-up and the preceding processes are stated 
 in sections 1 48-152. Lastly come the "supple- 
 mental provisions," making general regulations 
 applicable to all three systems. 
 
 In whatever manner referential sections are 
 arranged, great care and skill are required in 
 making the referential words take up the principal 
 enactments at the proper points, and the maxim 
 that repetition is better than ambiguity should 
 be constantly borne in mind. 
 
 In any event the draftsman should not be 
 satisfied that he has properly accomplished his 
 task until he has read through the principal 
 enactments with the modifications proposed by 
 the referential expressions, and finds that when 
 so read they effect the object proposed. 
 
 However great his difficulty, the draftsman 
 must exclude any necessity for the adoption of 
 the rule of " reddendo singula singulis," or read- 
 ing the sentences distributively ; a rule which, 
 like other rules of construction, has arisen from 
 the obligation imposed on the courts of attaching 
 an intelligible meaning to confused and unin- 
 telligible sentences.
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 53 
 
 Referential provisions will naturally find a 
 
 place at the close of the enactments to which 
 
 they are referential. 
 
 The referential legislation mentioned above, in 15. Obser- 
 vations ON 
 which enactments in one part of an Act refer to referen- 
 tial, PRO VI- 
 
 or incorporate wholly or partially enactments bions when 
 
 1 j i. j REFERENCE 
 
 contained in another part of the same Act must lMADE T0 
 
 1 other Acts. 
 
 be distinguished from referential legislation in 
 which enactments in one Act refer to or in- 
 corporate wholly or partially another Act or Acts. 
 The last-mentioned mode of legislation is proper 
 or improper according to circumstances. It is 
 proper where the object of the reference is to 
 incorporate certain general Acts, or parts of 
 general Acts made for and adapted to incorpora- 
 tion. For example, when powers of acquiring 
 land are proposed to be taken, the Lands Clauses s&ovkt. 
 Consolidation Act, 1845, must be incorporated 
 with the proper modifications adapted to the 
 cases of voluntary or compulsory powers of pur- 
 chase. Again, in all Acts imposing small penal- 
 ties the Summary Jurisdiction Acts must be n& 12 Vict. 
 
 J c. !.">. 
 
 attracted. 
 
 It must be recollected that the Interpretation 
 Act, 1889, if not expressly excluded, so far as it 
 is applicable necessarily affects every Act. 
 
 Other instances may be cited, and it is the 
 duty of a draftsman to make himself thoroughly 
 acquainted with all general Acts required to be
 
 54 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 incorporated, and with the best form of incorpo- 
 rating them, and he ought not, without express 
 instructions, to deviate from or modify the pro- 
 visions of the incorporated Acts, which are wel 
 understood, and are capable of being incorporated 
 without creating any difficulty or raising any 
 question of construction. 
 
 The advantages and disadvantages of incorpo- 
 rating a large number of Consolidation Acts will 
 be best learnt by comparing a number of local 
 Acts to which the series of Acts called the Con- 
 solidation Acts of 1845 and 1847 are applicable. 
 The advantages are that it secures uniformity of 
 legislation and saves the time of Parliament. 
 The disadvantages are that it reduces an Act to 
 a mere outline, presenting to the reader no clear 
 view of the law, and obliging him to fill in the 
 details either from recollection or by a tedious 
 examination of a number of distinct Acts. No 
 doubt the system as adopted in private legisla- 
 tion is inadmissible in public Acts in its full 
 extent, but it must not on that account be wholly 
 set aside ; for when the reference is to a distinct 
 operation which is only subsidiary to the main 
 objects of the Act, e.g., the purchase of lands in 
 a sanitary Act, or the borrowing of money in a 
 municipal Act, the possibility of referring to a 
 distinct Act regulating such an operation con- 
 duces to clearness, and prevents the time of
 
 SUBJECT- xMATTER OF AN ACT 55 
 
 Parliament being wasted in considering un- 
 necessary details. It is the application of the 
 principle of incorporation to cases to which it is 
 unsuited, not its adoption in a great number of 
 cases where it is useful, which is to be con- 
 demned. 
 
 The referential legislation to be always avoided 
 consists in referring in one Act to provisions of 
 another Act, which do not readily lend them- 
 selves to incorporation, and require to be re- 
 ferentially modified before they can be made to 
 harmonise with the incorporating Act. An 
 example of this description to be noticed for 
 the purpose of being avoided may be found in 
 the Nitro-glycerine Act, 1869, sect. 6, which 32&33Vir,t, 
 
 c 113. 
 
 applies to searching for nitro-glycerine all the 
 Gunpowder Acts relating to searching for gun- 
 powder. 
 
 The subject of referential legislation ought not 
 to be passed over without the addition of a few 
 words condemning the practice of passing an Act 
 which cannot be understood without referring to 
 the enactments contained in some other Act. 
 This is done with a view of facilitating the passing 
 of an Act through Parliament by partially with- 
 drawing from the consideration of the legislature 
 the subject-matter with which it has to deal. 
 Such a system is calculated to make Acts of 
 Parliament unintelligible to the ordinary reader,
 
 56 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 who is, nevertheless, called upon to obey the 
 law. 
 
 The observations of Lord Justice Mathew in 
 the case of Knill v. Towse * explain fully the in- 
 conveniences that have occurred from this kind 
 of legislation as adopted in the Local Government 
 Act, 1888. "The difficulty has arisen not from 
 anything inherent in the subject itself, which is 
 simple enough, and might be quite simply treated, 
 but from the mode of legislation now usual in 
 these matters. Sometimes whole Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, sometimes groups of clauses of Acts of 
 Parliament, entirely or partially, sometimes por- 
 tions of clauses are incorporated into later Acts, 
 so that the interpreter has to keep under his eye, 
 or if he can, bear in his mind, huge masses of 
 bygone and not always consistent legislation in 
 order to gather the meaning of recent legislation. 
 There is very often the further provision that 
 these earlier statutes are incorporated only so far 
 as they are not inconsistent with the statute into 
 which they are incorporated, so that you have 
 first to ascertain the meaning of a statute by 
 reference to other statutes, and then to ascertain 
 whether the earlier Acts qualify only or absolutely 
 contradict the later ones, a task sometimes of 
 great difficulty, always of great labour — a diffi- 
 culty and labour, generally speaking, wholly un- 
 * Law Reports, 24 Q.B.D. 195.
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT ',1 
 
 necessary. It has, indeed, been suggested that 
 to legislate in this fashion, keeping Parliament in 
 truth in ignorance of what it is about, is the only 
 way in which at the present day legislation is 
 possible. We know not whether the suggestion 
 is correct ; what we do know is that this pro- 
 cedure makes the interpretation of modern Acts 
 of Parliament a very difficult and sometimes 
 doubtful matter. We, the judges, have perhaps 
 the least cause to complain. We sit here for the 
 purpose, among other things, of interpreting 
 Acts of Parliament, and we bring, or ought to 
 bring, to our tasks trained and experienced in- 
 tellects. But in practical matters of everyday 
 concern, sucli as the possession and exercise of 
 the franchise, it is of the last importance that the 
 law conferring it, and the rules which govern its 
 exercise, should be easily comprehensible by the 
 mass of ordinary voters. We are well aware that 
 protest as to past legislation is unavailing, but 
 for the future to draw attention to a plain evil 
 may perhaps be the first step towards its remedy." 
 The only remedy would seem to be that Parlia- 
 ment should persistently refuse to pass incorporat- 
 ing clauses unless they comply with the conditions 
 above mentioned. 
 
 As to Referential Words. — The expressions 16. obsee- 
 
 u L VAT IONS OX 
 
 " herein-before " and " herein-after," and re- referen- 
 tial WOKDS.
 
 58 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 ferences to particular sections by their numbers, 
 should be carefully avoided wherever practicable, 
 for the position of sections is so frequently 
 changed in the passage of an Act through the 
 House of Commons that the expressions become 
 inaccurate. Moreover the word " herein-before " 
 is frequently ambiguous, as sometimes it refers to 
 the section alone in which it is found, and some- 
 times to the Act itself 
 
 The above observation does not, of course, 
 apply to referring in a subsequent Act to sections 
 of an Act which has already become law, inas- 
 much as no alteration can take place in their 
 arrangement. 
 17. Obser- A few remarks may be made, in conclusion, on 
 
 VATIONS ON . ,. . . pa- l l 
 
 division op the division of Acts into parts, and the grouping 
 
 Acts into 
 
 parts and of clauses under separate headings. 
 
 HEADINGS. ....... i-i 
 
 lire nrst step in this direction was taken m the 
 Consolidation Acts of 1845, which were most ably 
 drawn by Mr. Booth, late Secretary of the Board 
 of Trade, whilst holding the office of Counsel to 
 the Speaker. 
 
 In these Acts separate groups of sections are 
 prefaced with a statement — 
 
 " With respect to {the subject-matter of the 
 group of sections), "be it enacted as follows : 
 (The sections forming the group being inserted 
 without the introductory words " And be it 
 enacted that," which, at that time, it was the
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF AN ACT 59 
 
 practice to insert at the beginning of every 
 section in the Act.) 
 
 The above plan of grouping sections may still 
 be adopted with advantage where it is intended 
 to enable provisions to be incorporated with other 
 Acts (as was the case in the Consolidation Acts), 
 or where in the same Acts certain provisions are 
 to be applied to a different subject matter. 
 
 The division into parts, and the grouping under 
 headings or titles, was adopted in the Merchant i7&i8Vict. 
 Shipping Act of 1854 on the model, in some de- 
 gree, of the Code of New York, and, if used 
 judiciously, it facilitates considerably the under- 
 standing of an Act. It is, however, a mistake to 
 imagine that a mere mechanical subdivision into 
 parts insures clearness, and in many recent Acts 
 subdivision has been carried to excess. 
 
 As a general rule the division into parts should 
 only be used where the subject matter of the Act 
 involves different heads of law, each of which 
 might without impropriety form the subject 
 matter of a separate Act, or contain classes of 
 enactments such as " Supplemental Provisions," 
 or " Temporary Provisions " distinct in their 
 character from the rest of the Act. 
 
 It may be well to mention here that where it is 
 intended to refer in the enactments themselves to 
 the division into parts, as, for example, by using 
 the expressions "this part," "part five," or so
 
 17 & 18 Vict. 
 c. 104. 
 
 25 & 26 Vict, 
 c. 89. 
 
 18. Obser- 
 vations on 
 marginal 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 60 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 forth, the Act itself should commence (as is the 
 case in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and in 
 the Companies Act, 1862), by declaring that the 
 Act is to be divided into parts, and specifying 
 them. It will thus be out of the power of courts 
 of law to refuse to recognise the division into 
 parts, as being a substantive portion of the Act. 
 
 The use of headings or titles dividing groups of 
 sections also requires great care. If they are 
 unnecessarily multiplied, they become little more 
 than marginal notes ; on the other hand, if clauses 
 are grouped under them, which do not properly 
 fall within the description of the heading, the 
 reader is misled instead of being assisted. 
 
 Marginal notes should receive more attention 
 than is usually given to them. Each note should 
 express in a concise form the main object of the 
 section on which it is made, or should at least 
 indicate distinctly its subject-matter ; and all the 
 notes, when read together in the " Arrangement 
 of sections," should have such a consecutive mean- 
 ing as will give a tolerably accurate idea of the 
 contents of the Act.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES.* 
 
 Clearness is the main object to be aimed at in 19. clear- 
 drawing Acts of Parliament. Clearness depends, ject of par 
 
 _ LIAMEXTARY 
 
 first, on the proper selection of words ; secondly, drawing. 
 on the arrangement and the construction of sen- 
 tences. 
 
 An enactment in its simplest form is a declara- 20. enact- 
 tion of the legislature, directing or empowering simplest 
 
 I 1 . . -i • P .i FORM CON- 
 
 tne doing or abstention from doing 01 a particular sists of 
 
 . LEGAL ST7B- 
 
 act or thing. Such an enactment consists 01 a ject and 
 
 T m, LEGAL PRE- 
 
 legal subject and legal predicate. The legal sub- dicate. 
 ject denotes either the person directed or em- 
 powered to do or prohibited from doing the thing 
 mentioned, or when the passive form is used the 
 thing to be done or left undone. The legal predi- 
 cate expresses what the person is to do or leave 
 undone, or when the passive form is used what is 
 enacted with respect to the thing to be done or to 
 
 See Coode's " Legislative Expression ; or, the Language of the 
 Written Law," a work which draftsmen are recommended to read, 
 and to which I am much indebted in writing the instructions con- 
 tained in this chapter.
 
 62 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 be left undone. If the law is imperative, the 
 proper auxiliary verb of the predicate is " shall " 
 or " shall not," if permissive, " may." For 
 example : 
 
 Subject. Predicate. 
 
 Every Court shall take judicial notice of the 
 
 seal of the Bankruptcy Court. 
 This Act may be cited as " The Companies 
 
 Act, 1862." 
 A sheriff shall not, after the commencement 
 
 01 this Act, be liable for the 
 
 escape of a prisoner. 
 
 The expressions " It shall be lawful," " It is the 
 duty," and similar impersonal forms, should not 
 be used when the auxiliary verbs " shall," " shall 
 not," or " may " will do equally well. Sometimes 
 it is useful to substitute " It shall be lawful" for 
 the auxiliary form of expression, in order that 
 verbs in the infinitive mood may be used in the 
 dependent sentences. The inclination of the 
 Courts to construe " may " as sometimes impera- 
 tive in an Act of Parliament requires that in 
 doubtful cases the draftsman should add words 
 such as " The Court may in its discretion" or 
 " may if it thinks it expedient" and so forth. 
 Where it is intended that a person should be 
 exempted from the obligation to do a thing to 
 which he would generally be subject (a very rare
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 63 
 
 form of expression), it would be well to say " It 
 shall be lawful for A.B. not to do so and so," as 
 the phrase " may not " would imply a command 
 that he should not do it. It is almost needless to 
 add that expressions such as " may and are 
 hereby required " are redundant, and should never 
 be used. 
 
 A number of legal subjects, legal predicates, or 21. mode of 
 
 . . GKOUPING 
 
 independent enactments may be conveniently legal 
 
 J SUBJECTS. 
 
 grouped together. Useful formulas for uniting 
 such groups of legal subjects are as follows : 
 
 " After the commencement of this Land Trans- 
 " Act the following persons ; (that is to 38 & 39 Vict.' 
 
 Legal subject, 
 No. 1. 
 
 Legal subject, 
 No. 2. 
 
 Legal subiect. 
 No. 3. 
 
 say,) 
 
 " (1) Any person who has contracted 
 "to buy for his own benefit an 
 " estate in fee simple in land, 
 " whether subject or not to in- 
 " cumbrances ; and 
 
 " (2) Any person entitled for his 
 " own benefit at law or in equity 
 " to an estate in fee simple in land, 
 " whether subject or not to in- 
 " cumbrances ; and 
 
 " (3) Any person capable of dispos- 
 " ing for his own benefit by way 
 " of sale of an estate in fee simple 
 " in land, whether subject or not 
 " to incumbrances, 
 
 c. 87, s. 5.
 
 t>4 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 The Merchant 
 Shipping Act, 
 1854, 17 & 18 
 Vict. c. 104, 
 bs. 322 and 
 323. 
 
 22. Mode of 
 grouping 
 legal pre- 
 DICATES. 
 
 Land Trans- 
 fer Act, 1875. 
 38 & 39 Vict. 
 
 c. 87, s. 118. 
 
 Legal subject. 
 
 Legal predi- 
 cate. 
 
 Legal subject. 
 
 23. Mode op 
 grouping in- 
 dependent 
 enactments 
 op a simple 
 character. 
 
 Companies 
 Act, 1862, 
 25 .V: 26 Vict. 
 c. 89, s. 133. 
 
 Legal predi- « mav apply to the registrar under this 
 " Act to be registered. 
 " The following offenders ; that is to say, 
 Legal subject. " (l) Any person who, &c. 
 " (2) Any person who, &c. 
 " shall for each offence be liable to a 
 " fine not exceeding 
 
 " The Lord Chancellor, with the con- 
 " currence of the Commissioners of her 
 " Majesty's Treasury, shall have power 
 " by general orders from time to time 
 " to do all or any of the following 
 " things : 
 
 "(1) To create district registries, 
 
 " &c. ; 
 " (2) To direct, by notice, &c. ; 
 " (3) To commence registration, &c. ; 
 " (4) To appoint district registrars, 
 
 " &c. 
 " The Lord Chancellor may, with the 
 " like concurrence, from time to time 
 " make, rescind, alter, or add to any 
 " order made in pursuance of this 
 " section." 
 
 Independent enactments of a simple character 
 may be linked together by any of the following 
 formulas : 
 
 " The following consequences shall ensue upon 
 " the voluntary winding-up of a company. 
 
 Legal predi- 
 cate, No. 1. 
 
 Legal predi- 
 cate, No. 2. 
 Legal predi- 
 cate, No. 3. 
 Legal predi- 
 cate, No. i. 
 
 Legal subject. 
 
 Legal predi 
 cate.
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 
 
 65 
 
 " The registration of companies under this Act 
 
 " shall be conducted as follows ; that is to 
 
 " Bay, 
 " The following: enactments shall be made with 
 
 " respect to registration of title : 
 " The offences herein-after mentioned shall be 
 
 "punishable as follows ; that is to say," 
 
 Sometimes a number of short enactments cannot 
 conveniently be arranged in sub-sections, and in 
 such instances they may be grouped in one section 
 in the following manner : 
 
 Companies 
 Act, 1862, 
 2:. & 26 Vict, 
 c. 89, B. 171. 
 
 Land Trans- 
 fer Act, 1875, 
 38 & 39 Vict, 
 c. 87, 8. 83. 
 Merchant 
 Shipping 
 Act, 1854, 
 17 & 18 Vict, 
 c. 104, s. 103. 
 
 Enactment. 
 No. 1. 
 
 Enactments, 
 Nos. 2 & 3. 
 
 c. 36, s. 5. 
 
 Enactment. 
 No. 4. 
 
 Enactment. 
 No. 5. 
 
 " The improvement scheme of a local Artisans and 
 
 J- Labourers 
 
 " authority shall be accompanied by P wellin s s 
 
 •j r j Improvement 
 
 "maps, particulars, and estimates; 38&!^)'vi«t 
 
 " it may exclude any part of the area 
 "in respect of which an official repre- 
 " sentation is made, or include any 
 " neighbouring lands, if the local autho- 
 " rity are of opinion that such exclusion 
 " is expedient or inclusion is necessary 
 " for making their scheme efficient for 
 " sanitary purposes ; 
 " it may also provide for widening aii)^ 
 " existing approaches to the unhealthy 
 " area or otherwise for opening out the 
 " same for the purposes of ventilation 
 " or health ; 
 
 " also it shall distinguish the lands pro- 
 
 1
 
 Enactment, 
 No. 6. 
 
 Enactment, 
 No. 7. 
 
 32 & 33 Vict, 
 c. 42, s. 40. 
 
 66 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " posed to be taken compulsorily, and 
 " shall provide for the accommodation 
 " of at the least as many persons of the 
 " working class as may be displaced in 
 " the area with respect to which the 
 " scheme is proposed, in suitable dwell- 
 " ings, which, unless there are any 
 " special reasons to the contrary, shall 
 " be situate within the limits of the 
 " same area, or in the vicinity thereof; 
 " it shall also provide for proper sani- 
 " tary arrangements ; 
 " it may also provide for such scheme 
 " or any part thereof being carried out 
 " and effected by the person entitled to 
 ' ' the first estate of freehold in any pro- 
 " perty subject to the scheme or with 
 " the concurrence of such person, under 
 " the superintendence and control of 
 " the local authority, and upon such 
 " terms and conditions to be embodied 
 " in the scheme as may be agreed upon 
 " between the local authority and such 
 " person." 
 An instance of the advantage of grouping 
 enactments in a matter of some complexity may 
 be found in the Irish Church Act, 1869. 
 
 " When the annual sums herein -after 
 " mentioned cease to be paid, compensa-
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 67 
 
 " tion shall be made in respect thereof 
 " by payment of capital sums as follows ; 
 " that is to say, 
 
 " (1) In respect of the annual sum 
 " paid out, &c, by payment of the 
 " capital sum herein-after men- 
 " tioned, to &c. : 
 " (2) In respect of the several annual 
 " sums paid out of, &c. (such sums 
 "to be ascertained on an average 
 " of such number of years as the 
 " Commissioners may think fit), 
 "by payment of the capital sums 
 " herein-after mentioned, to &c. : 
 " (3) In respect of the several sums 
 "paid annually by, &c, by pay- 
 " ment of the capital sum herein- 
 " after mentioned, to &c. : 
 " (4) In respect of the annual sum 
 " paid out of, &c, by payment of 
 " the capital sum herein-after 
 " mentioned, to &c. : 
 " (5) In respect of the annual sums 
 " granted, &c, by payment of the 
 " capital sum herein-after men- 
 " tioned, to &c. : 
 " (6) In respect of the buildings of the 
 " said college; by payment of a 
 " sum :
 
 68 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " (7) In respect of the annual sums 
 "granted, &c, by payment of the 
 " capital sum herein-after men- 
 " tioned, to &c. : 
 
 " (8) In respect of the annual sum 
 
 " paid, &c, by payment of the 
 
 " capital sum herein-after raen- 
 
 " tioned, to &c." 
 
 24. Mode of Little difficulty would arise in framing Acts of 
 
 STATING 
 
 case. Parliament if the law were, as a general rule, 
 
 meant to apply universally. It is, however, 
 usually limited to special cases, and the first duty 
 of a draftsman is to state clearly the nature of the 
 case to which the law applies. 
 
 Where the case is simple it should be introduced 
 at the beginning of the section with the words 
 " where" or " when," " in the event of" or " if," 
 with the indicative. 
 
 The Com- Case. " Where any company is being wound 
 
 parries Act, 
 
 18G2, 2S&26 "UD, 
 
 Vict. c. 89 
 
 ss. in, 154. statutory << a }} b 00 k s accounts, and documents of 
 
 declaration. 
 
 " the company and of the liquidators 
 " shall, as between the contributories of 
 "the company, be prima facie evidence 
 " of the truth of all matters purporting 
 "to be therein recorded. 
 
 Case. " When the affairs of the company 
 
 " have been completely wound up, 
 
 Statutory de- « the court shall make an order that the 
 
 duration (1).
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 69 
 
 " company shall be dissolved from the 
 " date of such order, 
 Statutory de- ''arid the company shall be dissolved 
 
 duration (2). * J 
 
 " accordingly." 
 Where a single statutory declaration applies to 
 numerous cases, it is convenient to arrange them 
 as follows : 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration. 
 
 Cases. 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration. 
 
 " A company under this Act may be 25 & 26 Vict. 
 
 c .89 s. 79. 
 
 " wound up by the court, as herein-after 
 " defined, under the following circum- 
 " stances ; (that is to say,) 
 
 "(l) Whenever, &c. 
 
 " (2) Whenever, &c. 
 
 " (3) Whenever, &c. 
 
 " (4) Whenever, &c. 
 
 " (5) Whenever," &c. 
 
 " The expression ' the court,' as used 25 & 26 Vict. 
 
 c. 89, s. 81. 
 
 " in this part of this Act, shall mean the 
 
 " following authorities; (that is to say,) 
 Cases. " Iii the case of a company, &c. 
 
 "In the case of a company, &c. 
 
 " In the case of a company, &c. 
 
 " In all cases of companies, &c. 
 
 " Provided that, &c." 
 Sometimes a statement of the cases precedes 
 the statutory declaration : 
 Cases. " In the following cases ; that is to 
 
 " say, 
 statutory « i x \ Where, &c. 
 
 declaration. v '
 
 Case with 
 subordinate 
 
 clauses. 
 
 70 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " (2) Where, &c. 
 " (3) Where, &c." 
 A useful example of a case with subordinate 
 clauses stating alternatives and several statutory 
 declarations is found in the Foreign Enlistment 
 Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict, c. 90, s. 7), as follows: 
 
 " If the master or owner of any ship, 
 " without the license of her Majesty, 
 "knowingly either takes on board, or 
 " engages to take on board, or has on 
 "board such ship within her Majesty's 
 " dominions, any of the following per- 
 " sons, in this Act referred to as illegally 
 "enlisted persons ; that is to say, 
 "(1) Any person who, &c. 
 " (2) Any person, being a British 
 
 " subject, who, &c. 
 " (3) Any person who, &c. 
 " Such master or owner shall be 
 " guilty of an offence against this Act, 
 "and the following consequences shall 
 " ensue ; that is to say, 
 " (1) The offender shall be punishable 
 " by fine and imprisonment, or either 
 " of such punishments, at the discre- 
 " tion of the court before which the 
 " offender is convicted; and imprison- 
 " ment, if awarded, may be either 
 " with or without hard labour ; and 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration 
 No. 1. 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration 
 No. 2.
 
 Statutory 
 
 declaration 
 No. 3. 
 
 Statutory 
 
 declaration 
 No. 4. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 71 
 
 " (2) Such ship shall be detained until 
 " the trial and conviction or acquittal 
 " of the master or owner, and until 
 " all penalties inflicted on the master 
 "or owner have been paid, or the 
 " master or owner has given security 
 " for the payment of such penalties 
 " to the satisfaction of two justices 
 " of the peace, or other magistrate or 
 " magistrates having the authority 
 " of two justices of the peace ; and 
 " (3) All illegally enlisted persons shall 
 " immediately on the discovery of the 
 " oifence be taken on shore, and shall 
 " not be allowed to return to the 
 " ship." 
 A case with several alternatives may be ex- 
 pressed as follows : Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, 
 17 & 18 Vict, c. 104, s. 45. 
 
 " Whenever any change takes place 
 " in the registered ownership of any 
 " ship, then, if such change occurs at a 
 " time when the ship is at her port of 
 " registry, 
 
 " the master shall forthwith deliver the 
 " certificate of registry to the registrar, 
 " and he shall endorse thereon a memo- 
 " randum of such change ; 
 " but if such change occurs during the 
 
 Case. 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration. 
 
 Alternative 
 case.
 
 General rule 
 as to expres- 
 sion of case. 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration 
 
 Further 
 
 alternative 
 
 case. 
 
 Statutory de 
 claration (1) 
 
 72 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 absence of the ship from her port of 
 registry, 
 
 then upon her first return to such 
 port the master shall deliver the 
 certificate of registry to the registrar, 
 and he shall endorse thereon a like 
 memorandum of the change ; 
 or if she previously arrives at any 
 port where there is a British registrar, 
 such registrar shall, upon being ad- 
 vised by the registrar of her port of 
 registry of the change having taken 
 place, endorse a like memorandum 
 thereof on the certificate of registry, 
 and may for that purpose require the 
 certificate to be delivered to him, so 
 that the ship be not thereby de- 
 tained ; 
 
 and any master who fails to deliver 
 to the registrar the certificate of 
 registry as herein-before required 
 shall incur a penalty not exceeding 
 one hundred pounds." 
 The case must always be so expressed as to be 
 clearly distinguishable from the other parts of the 
 sentence ; but it need not, indeed should not, 
 where the rules of composition require a different 
 arrangement, be comprised in a consecutive sen- 
 tence. A separation of the members of a case is 
 
 Statutory de- 
 claration (2).
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 73 
 
 almost always desirable where it consists partly of 
 the statement of a fact and partly of an act to be 
 done. This will appear from the following ex- 
 ample, in which the case is shown in italics, the 
 statutory declaration in ordinary type. 
 
 " Wliere ami church was in use at the time of Irish Church 
 . ... Act > 186y . 
 
 " the passing of this Act, and no application in 32 & 33 Vict. 
 
 C. I -. S. — ■ 
 
 " respect thereof is made by the said representative sub - s - 3 - 
 
 " body of the said church within the said pre- 
 
 " scribed period, and such church was erected at 
 
 "the private expense of any person, the Commis- 
 
 " sioners shall, on the application of the person 
 
 " who erected such church, if alive, or of his 
 
 "representatives if he died since the year one 
 
 " thousand eight hundred, by order vest such 
 
 " church in the applicant or applicants, or in such 
 
 " person or persons as he or they may direct." 
 
 The law frequently confers a benefit or imposes 25. mode op 
 
 . ,. . , . . STATING 
 
 an obligation on certain conditions ; a condition is conditions. 
 aptly introduced by " If, &c," or (where it follows 
 a negative sentence) by " unless " or " until." 
 Case. " Where any person is convicted of 
 
 " an offence 
 Condition. " if he has given notice at the prescribed 
 
 " time and in the prescribed manner 
 
 declaration " De ma y a PP ea l from Such Conviction, 
 
 " &c." 
 Where the conditions are numerous it is best 32 & 33 Vict. 
 
 c. 42 8. 34. 
 
 (as has been before remarked with respect to the
 
 74 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration 
 
 Conditions. 
 
 case) to state them in separate subordinate sen- 
 tences. 
 
 " The Commissioners may at any 
 " time after the first of January one 
 " thousand eight hundred and seventy - 
 " one sell by public auction or private 
 "contract, or otherwise convert into 
 " money, any real or personal property 
 " vested in them by this Act, 
 " subject to the other provisions of this 
 " Act, and to the following conditions : 
 " (1) They shall not sell, &c. 
 " (2) Perpetuity rents shall, &c. 
 " (3) The price of the rights to mines 
 
 " or quarries shall, &c. 
 "(4) They shall not sell to the 
 
 " public, &c. 
 " (5) They shall not sell to the 
 
 " public, &c. 
 " (6) Notice shall be given to, &c. 
 " (7) An owner shall be deemed, 
 
 "&c." 
 " Where any person is authorised by 
 " any Act of Parliament passed after 
 " the commencement of this Act to 
 " appeal from the decision of a court of 
 " summary jurisdiction to a court of 
 " general or quarter sessions, he may 
 statutory « appeal to such court, 
 
 declaration. L L 
 
 Case.
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 75 
 
 " subject to the conditions and regula- 
 " lations following : 
 Condition i. " (l) The appeal shall be made, &c. 
 Condition 2. " (2) The appellant shall, &c. 
 Condition 3. " (3) The appellant shall, &c. 
 Condition 4. " (4) Where the appellant, &c. 
 Condition 5. " (5) The court of appeal, &c. 
 Condition 6. " (6) Whenever a decision, &c. 
 Condition 7. " (7) Every notice, &c." 
 
 Another mode of stating the conditions in the 
 last-mentioned example would be to substitute for 
 the words " subject to the conditions and regula- 
 tions following" the words "but no appeal shall 
 " be entertained unless the following conditions 
 " and regulations have been complied with." The 
 greatest caution must, however, be used in putting 
 a sentence in a negative form, as it makes the 
 performance of the conditions a matter of absolute 
 necessity, and the omission of the smallest portion 
 of them will render the appeal altogether nuga- 
 tory. On the other hand, if the affirmative 
 expression only be used, the court will consider 
 the enactment as to the conditions directory, and 
 dispense with them on due cause being shown for 
 their omission. 
 
 An example of very complicated cases with a 38 & 39 Vict, 
 condition, attached to the later but not to the 
 earlier statutory declaration, may be found in the
 
 76 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Improvement 
 26. mode of Act, 1875, sect. 3. 
 
 STATING EX- 
 
 ceptions. The word " except may generally be used in 
 
 introducing exceptions, but care must be taken 
 to avoid its use where it is likely to lead to 
 ambiguity. This is illustrated by the fourteenth 
 section of the Irish Church Bill as brought in. 
 That section was as follows : 
 
 " The Commissioners shall, as soon as 
 " may be after the passing of this Act, 
 "ascertain and declare by order the 
 " amount of yearly income of which the 
 " holder of any archbishopric, bishopric, 
 "benefice, or cathedral preferment in 
 " or connected with the said Church 
 " will be deprived by virtue of this Act, 
 "after deducting all rates and taxes, 
 " except income or property tax, salaries 
 " of permanent curates employed as 
 "herein-after mentioned, payments to 
 " diocesan schoolmasters, and other out- 
 " goings to which such holder is liable 
 " by law." 
 In the above example it will be perceived that 
 it was intended only to except income or property 
 tax, but as the sentence is worded it may reason- 
 ably be argued that all the substantives that follow 
 the word " except " are excepted. The sentence 
 should run as follows :
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 77 
 
 " After deducting all rates and taxes, 
 " salaries to permanent curates em- 
 " ployed as herein-after mentioned, pay- 
 " ments to diocesan schoolmasters, and 
 " other outgoings to which such holder 
 " is liable by law, but not deducting 
 " income or property tax." 
 
 Where exceptions are numerous they should (as 
 in the instances of numerous cases and numerous 
 conditions) be placed in separate members of the 
 section or even in a separate section. Where the 
 enumeration of the exception is short, compared 
 with the enumeration of the particulars not ex- 
 cepted, it is often convenient to state the excep- 
 tions first. Illustrations of this may be found in 
 the fifteenth and thirty-first sections of the Bank- 32 fc 33 Vict, 
 ruptcy Act, 1869. 
 
 " The property of the bankrupt s. 15. 
 
 "divisible amongst his creditors, and in 
 
 " this Act referred to as the property 
 
 " of the bankrupt, shall not comprise 
 
 " the following particulars : 
 
 Exception 1. " (l) Property held by the bankrupt 
 
 " on trust for any other person : 
 
 Exception 2. " (2) The tools (if any) of his trade, 
 
 " and the necessary wearing 
 
 " apparel and bedding of him- 
 
 " self, his wife and children, to
 
 78 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " a value, inclusive of tools and 
 " apparel and bedding, not ex- 
 " ceeding twenty pounds in the 
 "whole:" 
 But it shall comprise the following particulars : 
 General « (3) £\\ sucn property as may be- 
 
 enumeration. x ' L x J J 
 
 " long to or be vested in the 
 " bankrupt at the commence- 
 " ment of the bankruptcy, or 
 " may be acquired by or devolve 
 " on him during its continuance : 
 
 " (4) The capacity to exercise and 
 " take proceedings for exercising 
 " all such powers in or over or 
 " in respect of property as might 
 " have been exercised by the 
 " bankrupt for his own benefit 
 " at the commencement of his 
 " bankruptcy or during its con- 
 " tinuance, except the right of 
 " nomination to a vacant eccle- 
 " siastical benefice : 
 
 " (5) All goods and chattels being, 
 " at the commencement of the 
 " bankruptcy, in the possession, 
 " order, or disposition of the 
 " bankrupt, being a trader, by 
 " the consent and permission of 
 " the true owner, of which goods
 
 Further 
 exceptions 
 
 Further 
 enumeration. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 79 
 
 " and chattels the bankrupt is 
 " reputed owner, or of which he 
 " has taken upon himself the 
 " sale or disposition as owner ; 
 " provided that things in action, 
 " other than debts due to him 
 " in the course of his trade or 
 " business, shall not be deemed 
 " goods and chattels within the 
 " meaning of this clause." 
 " Demands in the nature of unliqui- 32 & 38 Yin. 
 
 c. 71, s. 31. 
 
 " dated damages arising otherwise than 
 " by reason of a contract or promise 
 " shall not be provable in bankruptcy, 
 " and no person having notice of any 
 " act of bankruptcy available for ad- 
 judication against the bankrupt shall 
 " prove for any debt or liability con- 
 " tracted by the bankrupt subsequently 
 " to the date of his so having notice. 
 
 " Save as aforesaid, all debts and 
 " liabilities, present or future, certain 
 " or contingent, to which the bankrupt 
 " is subject at the date of the order of 
 " adjudication, or to which he may 
 " become subject during the continu- 
 " ance of the bankruptcy by reason of 
 " any obligation incurred previously to 
 " the date of the order of adjudication,
 
 32 k 33 Vict, 
 c. 62, s. 4. 
 
 27. Use of 
 provisoes. 
 
 Statutory 
 declaration. 
 
 28. Sum- 
 mary op 
 
 KULES. 
 
 80 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " shall be deemed to be debts provable 
 
 " in bankruptcy, and may be proved in 
 
 " the prescribed manner before the 
 
 " trustee in the bankruptcy." 
 
 On the other hand, in the Debtors Act, 1869, 
 
 sect. 4, the exceptions being numerous are placed 
 
 at the end of the section : 
 
 " No person shall, after the com- 
 " mencement of this Act, be arrested 
 " or imprisoned for making default in 
 " payment of a sum of money. 
 
 " There shall be excepted from the 
 " operation of the above enactment : 
 "(1) Default, &c. 
 " (2) Default, &c. 
 " (3) Default, &c. 
 " (4) Default, &c. 
 " (5) Default, &c. 
 " (6) Default, &c." 
 Provisoes should never be used to define the 
 case or the condition or the legal subject ; their 
 proper function is to make a special exemption 
 from a general statutory declaration, and they 
 should be exclusively confined to that function. 
 The rules with respect to the grouping of condi- 
 tions and exceptions apply to provisoes also where 
 they are numerous. 
 
 To give a short summary of what has been 
 stated. The draftsman should recollect that an 
 
 Exception 1. 
 Exception 2. 
 Exception 3. 
 Exception 4. 
 Exception 5. 
 Exception 6.
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 81 
 
 enactment, in its most complicated form, is made 
 up of the following parts : 
 
 (1) The case ; 
 
 (2) The statutory declaration ; 
 
 (3) The conditions ; 
 
 (4) The exceptions ; 
 
 (5) The provisoes. 
 
 The arrangement of these parts must much 
 depend on the judgment of the draftsman ; the 
 only general rule to be observed is that each 
 part should in substance be clearly distinguish- 
 able, and should be comprised, as far as possible, 
 in a short sentence or sentences. # 
 
 It may be well to give a few miscellaneous sug- 29. selec- 
 
 , TION OF 
 
 gestions with respect to the selection of words and words and 
 
 OTHER 
 
 structure of sentences. matters. 
 
 In the selection of words, Latin words and, 
 where possible without a sacrifice of accuracy, 
 technical phraseology should be avoided ; the 
 word best adapted to express a thought in ordin- 
 ary composition will generally be found to be the 
 best that can be used in an Act of Parliament. 
 
 The use of technical phraseology may be 
 admitted in an Act relating to contingent re- 
 mainders, but should in the case of an Agricul- 
 
 s Where the circumstances under which an enactment is to take 
 effect are complicated there is no practical difference, except in 
 form, between the statement of the subordinate propositions of 
 the case and conditions, and the draftsman must use his discretion 
 in using one or the other form as he deems most advisable.
 
 82 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 tural Holdings Act or Highway Act be excluded 
 from the body of the Act, and if required to be 
 introduced for the purpose of securing legal pre- 
 cision, appear only in the interpretation clause 
 explaining, extending, or limiting words in 
 ordinary use, such as " Agricultural Holding," 
 " Highway," and so forth. Law is made for man, 
 and not man for law ; and it is too often forgotten 
 by lawyers and draftsmen that the greater 
 number of Acts of Parliament contain rules of 
 conduct to be observed by illiterate persons, and 
 to be enforced by authorities unacquainted with 
 the technical language of Coke and the year 
 books. 
 
 A draftsman should pay attention to collecting 
 and arranging for his own use any relative terms, 
 such as " mortgage, mortgagor, mortgagee," 
 "comply, compliance," "require, requisition;" 
 and exhaustive forms of expression, such as " all 
 " property, real and personal, including all interests 
 " and rights in to or out of property," " rights, 
 " duties, liabilities, capacities and incapacities," 
 " acts, neglects, defaults." 
 
 The miscellaneous remarks following may be 
 useful : 
 
 Nouns should be used in preference to pronouns, 
 even though the noun has to be repeated. Repe- 
 tition of the same word is never a fault in business 
 composition, if an ambiguity is thereby avoided.
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 83 
 
 An Act of Parliament should be deemed to be 
 always speaking, and therefore the present or 
 past tense should be adopted, and " shall " should 
 be used as an imperative only, and not as a 
 future. "If" should be followed by the indica- 
 tive where it suggests a case ; for example, " If 
 " any person commits, &c, he shall be punished 
 as follows." 
 
 Where there is an enumeration of several per- 
 sons or things, followed by an enactment intended 
 to apply to all and each of them, care must be 
 taken to make this enactment apply both gene- 
 rally and distributively. For instance, "A., B., 
 " C, and D., or any of them may, &c," or "any 
 " one or more of the following persons may." 
 
 It must be recollected that " other " following 
 an enumeration of various particulars is always 
 construed to mean other things of the like de- 
 scription as those before enumerated, unless the 
 construction be negatived by the introduction of 
 words such as " whether of the same kind as, &c, 
 " or not." 
 
 Numbers should be written at full length ; thus 
 sections of an Act should be cited as " section 
 " two," &c. The titles, as well as the year and 
 chapter of Acts should, for the sake of accuracy, 
 be given, and where an Act is cited by its short 
 title a reference should always be made in the 
 margin to its session and chapter.
 
 30. Recom- 
 mendation 
 
 OF USE OF 
 
 GENERIC 
 
 TERMS. 
 
 84 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Lastly, the same thing should invariably be 
 said in the same words. 
 
 It will often be found that it is absolutely 
 essential to shorten a sentence by giving a generic 
 name to several particulars. Take, for example, 
 the Inclosure Act, 1876, 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56. It 
 was desirable that the Commissioners should not 
 make a provisional order for the inclosure of a 
 common until they had satisfied themselves that 
 the inclosure would be for the benefit not only of 
 the public in general but of the inhabitants of the 
 neighbourhood. In order to simplify the language 
 of the Act the generic terms " benefit of the 
 " neighbourhood and private interests " were used 
 to cover the following subjects, " the health, com- 
 " fort and convenience of the inhabitants of any 
 "cities, towns and villages or populous places in 
 ' ' or near any parish in which the land proposed 
 "to be inclosed, or any part thereof, may be 
 " situate (hereinafter included under the expres- 
 " sion ' the benefit of the neighbourhood '), as to the 
 "advantage of the persons interested in the 
 " common to which such application relates (herein - 
 " after included under the expression ' private 
 " ' interests ')." 
 
 Again, in Bills respecting various local areas a 
 system was adopted of grouping the areas and 
 the spending authorities under the term local 
 areas and local authorities, setting forth in a
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 
 
 85 
 
 schedule the separate names of the areas and 
 authorities. 
 
 Not unfrequently a difficulty may be avoided by 
 nicknaming, as it were, a particular person or body 
 of persons, so as to comprise in one word what 
 would otherwise make a complicated sentence. 
 Take for an example the sixty-sixth section of the 
 Prison Act, 1865. The section is as follows : 
 
 " Where a prison authority, in this 28 & 29 Vict. 
 
 ,, , 7 . 7 . c. 126, s. 6fi. 
 
 section called tlie contracting authority, 
 has contracted with any other prison 
 authority, in this section called the 
 receiving authority, that the receiving 
 authority is to receive into and main- 
 tain in its prison any prisoners main- 
 tainable at the expense of the con- 
 tracting authority, the prison of the 
 receiving authority shall for all the 
 purposes of and incidental to the com- 
 mitment, trial, detention, and punish- 
 ment of the prisoners of the contract- 
 ing authority, or any of such pur- 
 jDOses, according to the tenor of the 
 contract, be deemed to be the prison 
 of the contracting authority, except 
 that the contracting authority shall 
 have no right to interfere in the 
 management of the prison of the 
 receiving authority"
 
 c. 81 
 
 86 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 A little consideration will show that if the 
 words " contracting authority," " receiving autho- 
 rity," were not adopted, the sentence would be 
 overloaded with words to such an extent as to be 
 unintelligible. In short, whenever a draftsman 
 finds his sentence becoming confused, although he 
 has duly observed the directions as to the state- 
 ment of the case, the conditions, and so forth, he 
 may be certain that some part of it wants to be 
 separated from the rest, and to be dealt with as 
 a separate paragraph at the end of the section, or 
 even as a separate section. The framer of the 
 
 32 & 33 Vict. Volunteer Act, 1869, obviously saw the difficulty 
 of stating in section three the mode in which the 
 demand was to be made ; as it comprised so many 
 particulars, that it would, if introduced into the 
 beginning of that section, have inconveniently 
 separated the several members of the case. Ac- 
 cordingly he lightened section three by inserting 
 in that section the words " on demand made as 
 " herein-after mentioned," and placed the parti- 
 culars of the demand in section four. 
 
 38 & 39 Vict. A similar course was adopted in " The Artisans 
 and Labourers Dwellings Improvement Act, 
 1875." On referring to the Act it will be found 
 that the action of the local authority under section 
 three is to take place " when an official repre- 
 " sentation as herein-after mentioned " is made as 
 to the unhealthiness of the area, and so forth. 
 
 c. 36
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 87 
 
 The nature of the official representation referred 
 to in section three is stated in section four. 
 
 A reference to the Act will show that if section 
 four had formed part of section three the case 
 would have been so overcrowded with words as 
 to be absolutely unintelligible. 
 
 A form of section that deserves to be con- i7&i8Vict. 
 
 C. 104, s. 346. 
 
 sidered by a draftsman, as an example of the 
 advantage to be derived from getting a generic 
 term to express and include a number of special 
 predicates, is the following section of the Mer- 
 chant Shipping Act, 1854. 
 
 " Every pilot boat or ship shall be 
 " distinguished by the following charac- 
 " teristics ; (that is to say,) 
 
 " (1) A black colour painted or tarred 
 
 " outside, &c. : 
 " (2) On her stern the name of the 
 " owner thereof and the port to 
 " which she belongs painted in 
 " white letters, and on each 
 " bow the number of the licence 
 " of such boat or ship : 
 " (3) When afloat, a flag at the mast- 
 " head or on a sprit, or staif, 
 " &c." 
 " And it shall be the duty of the master 
 " of such boat or ship to attend to the 
 " following particulars : First, that the
 
 17 & 18 Vict. 
 c. 104, s. 48. 
 
 88 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 " boat or ship possesses all the above 
 " characteristics ; secondly, that the 
 " aforesaid flag is kept clean and dis- 
 " tinct, so as to be easily discerned at a 
 " proper distance ; and lastly, that the 
 " names and numbers before mentioned 
 " are not at any time concealed ; and if 
 " default is made in any of the above 
 " particulars he shall incur a penalty 
 " not exceeding twenty pounds for each 
 " default," 
 The generic term characteristics prevents the 
 necessity for a repetition of the sub-sections 1, 2, 
 and 3. Similarly the declaration that " it shall 
 " be the duty of the master to attend to the 
 " following particulars," and the infliction of the 
 penalty on default being made "in any of the 
 " above particulars" makes the master liable, first, 
 for a general default in the boat not possessing 
 the characteristics required ; and, secondly, for a 
 special default in not attending to the flag being- 
 kept clean, and so forth. 
 
 Section 48 of the same Act illustrates the advan- 
 tage of the use of the word " event " where a set 
 of circumstances have to be repeated : 
 
 " In the event of the certificate of re- 
 " gistry of any ship being mislaid, lost, 
 " or destroyed, if such event occurs at 
 "any port of the United Kingdom, &c,
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 89 
 
 " then the registrar of her port of registry 
 ' ' shall grant a new certificate of registry 
 " in lieu of and as a substitute for her 
 " original certificate of registry ; but if 
 " such event occurs elsewhere, the master 
 " or some other person having knowledge 
 " of the circumstances shall make a de- 
 " claration, &c. ; and the registrar shall 
 "thereupon grant a provisional cer- 
 tificate, &c." 
 If the word "event" were not used it would 
 require a constant repetition of the words " cer- 
 " tificate of registry of any ship being mislaid, 
 " lost, or destroyed." 
 
 As to Enumeration of Particulars. — In framing 31. enume- 
 an Act intended to include a great number of par- pabticu- 
 ticulars, no attempt should be made to enumerate 
 the particulars, but a generic term should be used 
 dealing exhaustively with the subject-matter of 
 the Act. Those particulars only should be enume- 
 rated which are intended to be excepted from the 
 Act ; for example, the Succession Duty Act is 
 framed with a view of including every disposition 
 or devolution of property at death that is not 
 subject to the Legacy Duty Acts. It was impos- 
 sible to make any exhaustive enumeration of the 
 particulars of the property to be included in 
 the Act. The course, therefore, was adopted of 
 
 M
 
 90 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 including in the Act every possible disposition or 
 devolution of property on death, and then to 
 exempt from the operation of the Act any acquisi- 
 tion of property in respect of which duty was 
 payable under the Legacy Duty Acts. 
 
 The most frequent cause of ambiguity in Acts 
 of Parliament is the want of an adjectival in- 
 flexion. For example, the expression " Every 
 " factory and every workshop subject to this Act," 
 raises the question whether " subject to this Act " 
 applies to both or to the last only of the nouns. 
 If it is intended to apply to the last only, the 
 ambiguity is avoided by placing the qualified noun 
 before the unqualified, that is to say, by reading 
 the sentence " Every workshop subject to this Act 
 " and every factory." To make the qualification 
 certainly apply to both the form of sentence must 
 be altered somewhat in this way, "Where a factory 
 " and a workshop are subject to this Act they 
 " shall," &c. 
 
 The same difficulty arises in the case of the rela- 
 tive, e.g., "In a factory or workshop in which 
 " young children are employed," is an expression 
 subject to the same ambiguity, which can only be 
 avoided by adopting a similar rule to that recom- 
 mended above, or else by repeating the antecedent, 
 and reading the sentence, " Every factory and 
 " workshop in which factory and workshop young 
 " children are employed."
 
 COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 91 
 
 Illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely. 
 The draftsman cannot do better than read care- 
 fully Mr. Coode's book on legislative expression, 
 before referred to, and might also study, for forms 
 of expression, the Code of Criminal Procedure and 
 Civil Procedure of the State of New York, and 
 the General Rules of the Court of Chancery of the 
 8th May 1845. He should analyse the arrange- 
 ment of Acts, and pick to pieces sentences which 
 appear to him to be well drawn. As a model of 
 clearness of expression no better example can be 
 found than Paley's work on Moral Philosophy. A 
 book which will well repay a careful perusal by a 
 draftsman, indeed by every writer of business 
 compositions, is " Errors in the Use of English," 
 by William E, Hodgson, LL.D., Edinburgh, David 
 Douglas, 1882.
 
 AMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The object of this chapter is to explain certain 
 formal parts and groups of sections constantly 
 recurring in Acts of Parliament. 
 
 32. pre- As to Preambles. — The proper function of a 
 
 preamble is to explain certain facts which are 
 necessary to be explained before the enactments 
 contained in the Act can be understood ; for ex- 
 
 28 & 39 Vict, ample, the Courts of Justice Building Act, 1865, 
 proposes to apply certain funds to the payment 
 of the expenses of constructing new courts of 
 justice. Accordingly a long preamble is prefixed 
 to the Act, explaining the origin of those funds ; 
 for without such a preamble it would have been 
 impossible for Parliament to have understood the 
 subject-matter of the Act. Preambles are also 
 not unfrequently required in amending Acts for 
 the purpose of showing the exact bearing of the 
 amendments on the principal Act. 
 
 A preamble may also be used to limit the scope 
 of certain expressions in an Act ; for example, in 
 
 c. 48
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 93 
 
 dealing with the subject of licensing public-houses, 
 it may be convenient in the preamble to define 
 as licensing Acts the Acts relating to the sale of 
 intoxicating liquors. 
 
 Sometimes a preamble is inserted for political 
 reasons when the object of an Act is popular, and 
 admits of being stated in a telling sentence or 
 sentences. 
 
 Other cases will occur in practice, in which a 
 preamble will be found convenient to explain a 
 fact or introduce a definition ; but it is not as a 
 general rule advisable to enunciate the principle 
 of an Act in a preamble, as the opponents of the 
 Act are sure to select it as a battle-ground instead 
 of dividing on the actual provisions of the Act. 
 
 As to Short Title of Act. — Every Act should 33. short 
 
 TITLE OP 
 
 have a short title, ending with the date of the a ct. 
 year in which it is passed. 
 
 As to Extent of Act. — Where an Act is intended 34. extent 
 
 of Act. 
 to operate within the territorial limits of the 
 
 United Kingdom but not beyond, there is no 
 necessity for a section declaring the extent of the 
 Act. The most frequent use of such a section is 
 to restrict the Act to England by declaring that 
 it shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. Some- 
 times, however, an affirmative extension is re- 
 quired, declaring that it is to extend to the
 
 94. PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Channel Islands, the Colonies, her Majesty's 
 dominions in India, and so forth. 
 
 Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed are included 
 in England by the Act of 20 Geo. II. c. 42, and 
 ought not therefore to be specially mentioned. 
 The phrase that an Act shall apply to " England 
 "only" is not advisable, as it would seem to exclude 
 by inference the inclusion in England of Wales 
 and Berwick-upon-Tweed established by the above 
 mentioned Act of 20 Geo. II. 
 
 35. com- As to Commencement of Act. — At common law 
 
 of act. every Act of Parliament commences from the first 
 
 day of the session in which it is passed. The in- 
 justice arising from such a rule was obviated by 
 33 Geo. III. c. 13, which enacts that the Clerk of 
 the Parliaments shall endorse after the title of the 
 Act the date, month, and year when the same is 
 passed and receives the Royal Assent, and that 
 such endorsement shall be taken to be part of such 
 Act, and to be the date of its commencement 
 where no other commencement is therein provided. 
 Even thus, great inconvenience arises from bring- 
 ing a complicated Act into operation immediately 
 on the date of its passing, and it is almost always 
 advisable to postpone its operation for some little 
 time, in order at all events that the public may 
 become acquainted with its provisions. The 1st 
 of January ensuing the passing of the Act is the
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 95 
 
 most natural day for bringing it into operation, 
 when there are no special reasons to be adduced 
 in favour of another day. If, however, the Act 
 commences at a future period there should usually 
 be inserted a provision giving immediate effect to 
 any rules, appointments of officers, or other 
 machinery required to bring the Act duly into 
 operation at the date of its commencement. 
 
 As to Construction of Act. — The interpretation 36. inter- 
 clause should be preceded by a qualifying intro- of teems. 
 ductory clause, such as " In this Act, unless the 
 " context otherwise requires." In framing defini- 
 tions and other subsidiary clauses regard should 
 be had to the Interpretation Act, 1889, which is 52 & 53 Vict. 
 
 c. 63. 
 
 set out in the appendix, and which must be learnt 
 by heart by the draftsman. Definitions require to 
 be carefully considered, as a misuse of them is a 
 frequent cause of ambiguity. It should be recol- 
 lected that a word once defined preserves its mean- 
 ing throughout the whole Act — a truism frequently 
 overlooked in practice. A word should never be 
 defined to mean something which i<' does not pro- 
 perly include, e.g., " piracy " ought not to be de- 
 fined to include " mutiny," and so forth. The 
 fewer the definitions the better, and as a general 
 rule, the draftsman should endeavour to draw 
 his Act without definitions, and insert them only 
 when he finds that they are absolutely necessary.
 
 96 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 The proper use of definitions is to include or ex- 
 clude something with respect to the inclusion or 
 exclusion of which there is a doubt without such 
 a definition, and no attempt should be made to 
 make a pretence of scientific precision by defining 
 words of which the ordinary meaning is sufficiently 
 clear and exact for the purpose of the Act in 
 which they are used. 
 
 37 As to 
 
 place in As to all above-mentioned Sections. — The above- 
 
 definitions mentioned sections must be placed either at the 
 
 AND CERTAIN 1P1A T • n 1 • 
 
 other pre- beginning or the end 01 the Act. Logically, their 
 
 LIMINARY ..... 
 
 matters. proper place is the beginning of the Act, as the 
 reader cannot understand the Act till he is master 
 of the definitions or explanations of the terms 
 used in the Act. Politically, their proper place is 
 at the end of the Act, as a definition frequently 
 narrows or widens the whole scope of an Act, and 
 Parliament cannot possibly judge whether such 
 narrowing or widening is or is not expedient till 
 they are acquainted with the Act itself, e.g., in 
 
 T.w^Xt' the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869, 
 the definition, as it is called, of local authorities 
 in the schedule determines the persons by whom, 
 the places in which, and the funds out of which, 
 the whole Act is to be carried into operation. 
 This logical and political antagonism of arrange- 
 ment might easily be reconciled were it the custom 
 of Parliament to postpone the above sections in
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 97 
 
 the same way as they postpone the preamble till 
 the Bill has been gone through. Such a post- 
 ponement, however, would, in a hardly fought 
 Bill, give rise to a division. The draftsman, 
 therefore, is recommended as a general rule to 
 adhere to the political and not to the logical rule, 
 and to place the sections in question at the end 
 of the Act. 
 
 As to Adjustment of Existing and New Laiv. — 38. adjust- 
 ment OF 
 One of the most responsible duties of a draftsman existing 
 
 AND NEW 
 
 is to provide for the adjustment of the provisions law. 
 of the new Act which he is drawing, and the 
 former law. 
 
 Take a very simple case, the New Forest Act, 40 & n Vict. 
 
 c - cixi. 
 
 1877. The instructions to the draftsman would (local), 
 be to amend the constitution of the Court of 
 Verderers by increasing the number of verderers 
 to seven, one of whom should be nominated by 
 the Crown, and the others be elected, the elective 
 verderers to be chosen by the Parliamentary 
 electors of the parishes and townships within the 
 confines of the Forest, and by the commoners. 
 The principles of this instruction are carried into 
 effect by sects. 14-23, defining the constitution of 
 the verderers, the qualification of the electors, the 
 time at which the verderers come into office and 
 their leoal status. The details of their election 
 are contained in Schedules 2 and 3, providing for
 
 98 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 a register of commoners and the mode of election 
 of the verderers. 
 
 An examination of these clauses will show the 
 necessity for the draftsman filling in the details 
 of an instruction by sections which, though in one 
 sense formal, in another require to be settled with 
 great consideration. The draftsman must care- 
 fully look forward and see that the new body will 
 be brought into action at the time fixed for the 
 determination of the old body, and that there is 
 no hiatus between the old and the new adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Frequently, however, more complicated cases 
 
 arise in which provisions have to be inserted for 
 
 abolishing an old authority and constituting a new 
 
 36 & 37 Vict. one. Take, for example, the Supreme Court of 
 
 c. 63. 
 
 Judicature Act, 1873, in which the greater portion 
 of the Act is occupied in the transfer of jurisdiction 
 of the existing courts and the existing officers, and 
 the declaration of the status of the existing 
 officers when so transferred. 
 39. exemp- Where a new law is laid down establishing 
 
 TIONS AND 
 
 savings. penalties on new manufactures, or bringing estab- 
 lished manufactures within the jurisdiction of an 
 administrative body, a separate heading of exemp- 
 tions and savings will usually be required. An 
 illustration of this necessity will be found in the 
 
 38 & 39 Vict. Explosives Act, 1875. These sections provide, 
 
 c. 17, as. 97- 
 
 103. amongst other things, for the exemption of
 
 ^GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 99 
 
 Government factories, for cases of emergency in 
 which a master of a ship or carrier transgresses 
 the law by stress of weather or inevitable accident, 
 and further, reserves in sects. 102-103, the com- 
 mon law liabilities in respect of nuisances and the 
 powers of local Acts. Provisions such as these 
 must always be kept in mind by the draftsman, 
 and should be inserted by him when necessary 
 without special instructions. 
 
 The section which most frequently raises the 
 question of savings, is that of the repeal of Acts. 
 As a general rule, when Acts are repealed, existing 
 appointments and existing rights or privileges are 
 maintained, and oifences committed under the old 
 Acts are punished in pursuance of the old pro- 
 visions. Frequently, however, the draftsman will 
 have to deviate from the above-mentioned rule. 
 He will be required to abolish the old officers 
 instead of retaining them, or to declare that the 
 procedure of the new Acts is to be substituted in 
 relation to the punishment of offences committed 
 before the Act for the procedure under the old 
 Acts and so forth. In short, he must be prepared 
 to reconcile the provisions of the old and the new 
 law by the insertion of such provisions as his legal 
 knowledge will show him to be necessary for the 
 proper working of the law. 
 
 The difficulty of settling the repeal clause of an 
 Act is enhanced rather than diminished by the
 
 100 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 enactment of section 38 of the Interpretation Act, 
 1889. That section, which is copied from the 
 statutory forms framed for the use of the Par- 
 liamentary Counsel's office, makes provision for the 
 usual incidents attending a repeal, but at the 
 same time if the proposed Act is intended to 
 affect existing' rights or interests which are 
 excluded by the Interpretation Act, care must be 
 taken to say that such portion of the Interpretation 
 Act as contains such exclusions shall not apply. 
 
 It may be well to suggest here a provision 
 which is often forgotten, viz., that in drawing a 
 temporary Act which is to expire on a given day, 
 and which imposes penalties or creates obligations, 
 care must be taken to provide that offences com- 
 mitted and obligations incurred before the day 
 appointed for its expiration may be punished or 
 enforced after that day, or else the law will, in a 
 great degree, fail of its purpose. 
 
 40. sche- As to Schedules. — Great care should be taken 
 
 DULES. 
 
 in the preparation of schedules. It is desirable 
 to include in a schedule matters of detail ; it is 
 improper to put in a schedule matters of principle. 
 The drawing the proper line of demarcation 
 between the two classes of matters is often diffi- 
 cult. All that can be said is that nothing should 
 be placed in a schedule to which the attention of 
 Parliament should be particularly directed ; for
 
 PASSAGE OF 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 101 
 
 example, the constitution of an electoral or 
 financial body of persons should be found in the 
 body of the Act ; but the mode of conducting 
 the election of the electoral body, and the rules 
 as to proceedings at meetings of the financial body, 
 may not improperly be placed in a schedule. 
 
 As to Alterations. — Great care must be taken 41. altera- 
 tions 
 in noticing any consequential alterations that may during 
 
 PASS 4 *" 117 
 
 be required in consequence of amendments made act. 
 in the passage of an Act through Parliament. 
 For example, a schedule is taken out, and nothing 
 is more common than to find that the omission is 
 noticed in one section, but the number of the 
 schedules is forgotten to be altered in another 
 section, and hence the schedules are misnumbered, 
 and most important sections may fail of effect. 
 
 With a view to obviate this difficulty the 
 draftsman should note in the margin of each 
 schedule the sections in which it is mentioned, 
 and should refer to that note in the event of an 
 alteration being made in any of such sections. 
 
 Similarly with respect to dates ; the alteration 
 of a date in one section not unfrequently necessi- 
 tates the alteration of a date in another. This is 
 forgotten in the haste of passing the Act through 
 committee, and unless the alteration is attended 
 to by the draftsman, the Act fails of effect in some 
 material provision.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889. 
 [52 & 53 Vict. c. 63.] 
 
 ARBANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. 
 
 Re-enactment of existing Rules. 
 Sections. 
 
 1. Bules as to gender and number. 
 
 2. Application of penal Acts to bodies corporate. 
 
 3. Meanings of certain words in Acts since 1850. 
 
 4. Meaning of " county " in past Acts. 
 
 5. „ " parish." 
 
 6. „ " county court." 
 
 7. „ " sheriff clerk," &c, in Scotch Acts. 
 
 8. Sections to be substantive enactments. 
 
 9. Acts to be Public Acts. 
 
 10. Amendment or repeal of Acts in same session. 
 
 11. Effect of repeal in Acts passed since 1850. 
 
 New General Rules of Construction. 
 
 12. Official definitions in past and future Acts. 
 
 13. Judicial definitions in past and future Acts. 
 1-1. Meaning of "rules of court." 
 
 15. „ borough. 
 
 16. ,, guardians and union. 
 
 17. Definitions relating to elections. 
 
 18. Geographical and Colonial definitions in future Acts. 
 
 19. Meaning of "person" in future Acts. 
 
 20. ,, " writing" in past and future Acts.
 
 104 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Sections. 
 
 21. Meaning of " statutory declaration " in past and future 
 
 Acts. 
 ^2. „ " financial year " in future Acts. 
 
 23. Definition of Lands Clauses Acts. 
 
 24. Meaning of " Irish Valuation Acts." 
 
 25. „ " ox^dnance map." 
 %$• „ service by post. 
 
 27. ,, " committed for trial." 
 
 28. Meanings of " sheriff," " felony," and " misdemeanour," 
 
 in future Scotch Acts. 
 
 29. Meaning of " county court " in future Irish Acts. 
 
 30. References to the Crown. 
 
 31. Construction of statutory rules, &c. 
 
 32. Construction of provisions as to exercise of powers and 
 
 duties. 
 
 33. Provisions as to offences under two or more laws. 
 
 34. Measurement of distances. 
 
 35. Citation of Acts. 
 
 36. Commencement. 
 
 37. Exercise of statutory powers between passing and 
 
 commencement of Act. 
 
 38. Effect of repeal in future Acts. 
 
 Siipplemental. 
 
 39. Definitions of " Act " in this Act. 
 
 40. Saving for past Acts. 
 
 41. Repeal. 
 
 42. Commencement of Act. 
 
 43. Short title. 
 Schedule.
 
 INDEX TO DEFINITIONS. 
 
 Definition. 
 
 
 Section. 
 
 Sub-section 
 
 
 12 
 
 (4) 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 (5) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (18) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (19) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (8) 
 
 
 16 
 
 (1), (3) 
 
 
 15 
 
 (4) 
 
 
 18 
 
 (1) 
 
 
 18 
 
 (2) 
 
 
 18 
 
 (4) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (14) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (10) 
 
 
 18 
 
 (8) 
 
 
 18 
 
 (7) 
 
 
 36 
 
 (1) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (12) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (13) 
 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 (20) 
 
 
 4,7 
 
 
 
 6, 29 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 (2) 
 
 
 13 
 
 (4) 
 
 
 13 
 
 (11) 
 
 
 13 
 
 (14) 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 (15) 
 
 
 12 
 
 (6) 
 
 Admiralty ..... 
 Affidavit ..... 
 Appeal Court (see Court of Appeal) 
 Assizes ..... 
 
 Bank of England 
 
 Bank of Ireland 
 
 Board of Trade .... 
 
 Board of Guardians . 
 
 Borough ..... 
 
 British Islands .... 
 
 British Possession 
 
 British India .... 
 
 Chancellor (see Lord Chancellor) 
 
 Charity Commissioners 
 
 Chief Secretary .... 
 
 Colony ..... 
 
 Colonial Legislature . 
 
 Commencement .... 
 
 Commissioners of Woods and Forests 
 
 Commissioners of Works . 
 
 Committed for Trial . 
 
 Consular Officer 
 
 County ..... 
 
 County Court .... 
 
 Court of Appeal 
 
 Court of Assize .... 
 
 Court of Summary Jurisdiction . 
 
 Court of Quarter Sessions . 
 
 Crown ..... 
 
 Declaration, Statutory 
 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 Education Department
 
 106 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Definition. 
 
 Section. 
 
 Sub-section. 
 
 Felony ...... 
 
 28 
 
 
 Financial Year ..... 
 
 22 
 
 
 Governor ...... 
 
 18 
 
 (6) 
 
 Guardians ...... 
 
 16 
 
 (1), (3) 
 
 High Court ..... 
 
 13 
 
 (3) 
 
 India ...... 
 
 18 
 
 (5) 
 
 India, British ..... 
 
 18 
 
 (4) 
 
 Irish Valuation Acts .... 
 
 24 
 
 
 Land ...... 
 
 3 
 
 
 Lands Clauses Acts .... 
 
 23 
 
 
 Legislature ..... 
 
 18 
 
 (<) 
 
 Local Government register of electors 
 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 Lord Chancellor .... 
 
 12 
 
 0) 
 
 Lord Lieutenant .... 
 
 12 
 
 (9) 
 
 Misdemeanour ..... 
 
 28 
 
 
 Month 
 
 3 
 
 
 Municipal borough .... 
 
 15 
 
 (1), (2) 
 
 National Debt Commissioners . 
 
 12 
 
 (17) 
 
 Oath 
 
 3 
 
 
 Ordnance map ..... 
 
 25 
 
 
 Parish ...... 
 
 5 
 
 
 Parliamentary Borough 
 
 15 
 
 (3) 
 
 Parliamentary Election 
 
 17 
 
 (1) 
 
 Parliamentary register of electors 
 
 17 
 
 (2) 
 
 Person ...... 
 
 2, 19 
 
 
 Petty Sessional Court 
 
 13 
 
 (12) 
 
 Petty Sessional Court-house 
 
 13 
 
 (13) 
 
 Poor Law Union .... 
 
 16 
 
 (2), (4) 
 
 Postmaster-General .... 
 
 12 
 
 (11) 
 
 Privy Council ..... 
 
 12 
 
 (• r >) 
 
 Quarter Sessions (see Court of Quarter 
 
 
 
 Sessions) 
 
 
 
 Queen Anne's Bounty 
 
 12 
 
 (16) 
 
 Rules of Court . . . 
 
 14 

 
 INDEX TO DEFINITIONS 
 
 107 
 
 Definition. 
 
 Section. 
 
 Sub-section. 
 
 Scotch Education 
 
 Department . 
 
 12 
 
 (") 
 
 Secretary of State 
 
 
 12 
 
 (3) 
 
 Sheriff 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 Sheriff Clerk . 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Sheriffdom 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 Shire 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 Sovereign . 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 Statutory Declare 
 
 Ltion. 
 
 21 
 
 
 Summary Jurisdiction Act, l*4<s 
 
 13 
 
 (6) 
 
 Summary Jurisdiction Acts 
 
 13 
 
 (10) 
 
 Ditto 
 
 (England) 
 
 13 
 
 0) 
 
 Ditto 
 
 (Scotland) 
 
 13 
 
 (8) 
 
 Ditto 
 
 (Ireland) 
 
 13 
 
 (9) 
 
 Supreme Court . 
 
 
 13 
 
 (1) 
 
 Swear 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Treasury . 
 
 
 12 
 
 (2) 
 
 Union, Poor Law 
 
 
 16 
 
 (2), (4) 
 
 Valuation (Irish) 
 
 Acts 
 
 21 
 
 
 Woods and Forests, Commissioners of 
 
 12 
 
 (12) 
 
 Works, Commissioners of . 
 
 12 
 
 (13) 
 
 Writing 
 
 .... 
 
 20 

 
 CHAPTER 63. 
 
 An Act for consolidating enactments relating to a.d. i889. 
 the Construction of Acts of Parliament and 
 for further shortening the Language used in 
 Acts of Parliament. 
 
 [30th August 1889.] 
 
 Be it enacted by the 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 : 
 
 Re-enactment of existing Rules. 
 
 1. — (l) In this Act and in every Act passed Rules as to 
 after the year one thousand eight hundred and lumber" 1 
 fifty, whether before or after the commencement 
 of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears — 
 
 (a) words importing the masculine gender shall 
 
 include females ; and 
 
 (b) words in the singular shall include the 
 
 plural, and words in the plural shall in- 
 clude the singular. 
 (2) The same rules shall be observed in the 
 construction of every enactment relating to an 
 offence punishable on indictment or on summary
 
 110 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Application 
 of penal Acts 
 to bodies 
 corporate. 
 
 conviction, when the enactment is contained in an 
 Act passed in or before the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty. 
 
 2. — (1) In the construction of every enactment 
 relating to an offence punishable on indictment or 
 on summary conviction, whether contained in an 
 Act passed before or after the commencement of 
 this Act, the expression " person " shall, unless 
 the contrary intention appears, include a body 
 corporate. 
 
 (2) Where under any Act, whether passed 
 before or after the commencement of this Act, 
 any forfeiture or penalty is payable to a party 
 aggrieved, it shall be payable to a body corporate 
 in every case where that body is the party 
 aggrieved. 
 
 Meanings of 3. In every Act passed after the year one 
 certain words thousand eight hundred and fifty, whether before 
 
 in Acts since ° \ 
 
 1850. or after the commencement of this Act, the follow- 
 
 ing expressions shall, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, have the meanings hereby respectively 
 assigned to them ; namely — 
 
 The expression " month " shall mean calendar 
 
 month : 
 The expression " land " shall include messuages, 
 tenements, and hereditaments, houses, and 
 buildings of any tenure : 
 The expressions " oath " and "affidavit" shall, 
 in the case of persons for the time being 
 allowed by law to affirm or declare instead 
 of swearing, include affirmation and de- 
 claration, and the expression " swear "
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 11 1 
 
 shall, in the like case, include affirm and 
 declare. 
 
 4. In every Act passed after the year one Meaning of 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty and before the pijJtActB. 
 commencement of this Act the expression ''county" 
 
 shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be 
 construed as including a county of a city and a 
 county of a town. 
 
 5. In every Act passed after the year one Meaning of 
 thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, whether par 
 before or after the commencement of this Act, the 
 expression '"parish" shall, unless the contrary 
 intention appears, mean, as respects England and 
 Wales, a place for which a separate poor rate is 
 
 or can be made, or for which a separate overseer 
 is or can be appointed. 
 
 6. In this Act, and in every Act and Order of Meaning of 
 Council passed or made after the year one thou- court."' 
 sand eight hundred and forty-six, whether before 
 
 or after the commencement of this Act, the ex- 
 pression " county court" shall, unless the contrary 
 intention appears, mean as respects England and 
 Wales a court under the County Courts Act, 1888. si & 52 Vict. 
 
 J c. 43. 
 
 7. In every Act relating to Scotland, whether Meaning of 
 passed before or after the commencement of this c i er k" £c. m 
 Act, unless the contrary intention appears — Scotch Acts. 
 
 The expression " sheriff clerk " shall include 
 
 steward clerk ; 
 The expressions " shire," " sheriffdom," and 
 
 " county " shall include any stewartry in 
 
 Scotland.
 
 112 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Sections to 
 be substan- 
 tive enact- 
 ments. 
 
 Acts to be 
 public Acts. 
 
 Amendment 
 or repeal of 
 Acts in same 
 session. 
 
 Effect of 
 repeal in 
 Acts passed 
 since 1850. 
 
 8. Every section of an Act shall have effect as 
 a substantive enactment without introductory 
 words. 
 
 9. Every Act passed after the year one thou- 
 sand eight hundred and fifty, whether before or 
 after the commencement of this Act, shall be a 
 public Act and shall be judicially noticed as such, 
 unless the contrary is expressly provided by the 
 Act. 
 
 10. Any Act may be altered, amended, or re- 
 pealed in the same session of Parliament. 
 
 11. — (1) Where an Act passed after the year 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty, whether 
 before or after the commencement of this Act, 
 repeals a repealing enactment, it shall not be 
 construed as reviving any enactment previously 
 repealed, unless words are added reviving that 
 enactment. 
 
 (2) Where an Act passed after the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty, whether before 
 or after the commencement of this Act, repeals 
 wholly or partially any former enactment and 
 substitutes provisions for the enactment repealed, 
 the repealed enactment shall remain in force until 
 the substituted provisions come into operation. 
 
 Official 
 definitions in 
 past and 
 future Acts. 
 
 New General Rules of Construction. 
 
 12. In this Act, and in every other Act whether 
 passed before or after the commencement of this 
 Act, the following expressions shall, unless the
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 113 
 
 contrary intention appears, have the meanings 
 hereby respectively assigned to them, namely : 
 
 (1) The expression " the Lord Chancellor " 
 shall, except when used with reference to Ireland 
 only, mean the Lord High Chancellor of Great 
 Britain for the time being, and when used with 
 reference to Ireland only, shall mean the Lord 
 Chancellor of Ireland for the time being. 
 
 (2) The expression "the Treasury" shall mean 
 the Lord High Treasurer for the time being or 
 the Commissioners for the time being' of her 
 Majesty's Treasury. 
 
 (3) The expression " Secretary of State " shall 
 mean one of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries 
 of State for the time being. 
 
 (4) The expression " the Admiralty " shall mean 
 the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom 
 for the time being, or the Commissioners for the 
 time being for executing the office of Lord High 
 Admiral of the United Kino-dom. 
 
 (5) The expression " the Privy Council " shall, 
 except when used with reference to Ireland only, 
 mean the Lords and others for the time being of 
 her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, 
 and when used with reference to Ireland only, 
 shall mean the Privy Council of Ireland for the 
 time being. 
 
 (6) The expression " the Education Depart- 
 ment " shall mean the Lords of the Committee for 
 the time being of the Privy Council appointed for 
 Education. 
 
 (7) The expression " the Scotch Education De- 
 partment " shall mean the Lords of the Committee 
 
 p
 
 114 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 for the time being of the Privy Council appointed 
 for Education in Scotland. 
 
 (8) The expression "the Board of Trade" shall 
 mean the Lords of the Committee for the time 
 being of the Privy Council appointed for the 
 consideration of matters relating to trade and 
 foreign plantations. 
 
 (9) The expression " Lord Lieutenant," when 
 used with reference to Ireland, shall mean the 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or other Chief 
 Governors or Governor of Ireland for the time 
 being. 
 
 (10) The expression "Chief Secretary," when 
 used with reference to Ireland, shall mean the 
 Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant for the 
 time being. 
 
 (11) The expression "Postmaster General" 
 shall mean her Majesty's Postmaster General for 
 the time being. 
 
 (12) The expression " Commissioners of Woods " 
 or " Commissioners of Woods and Forests " shall 
 mean the Commissioners of her Majesty's Woods, 
 Forests, and Land Revenues for the time being. 
 
 (13) The expression ' ' Commissioners of Works " 
 shall mean the Commissioners of her Majesty's 
 Works and Public Buildings for the time being. 
 
 (14) The expression " Charity Commissioners" 
 shall mean the Charity Commissioners for England 
 and Wales for the time being. 
 
 (15) The expression "Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sioners " shall mean the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sioners for England for the time being. 
 
 (10) The expression "Queen Anne's Bounty"
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 18S9 115 
 
 shall mean the Governors of the Bounty of Queen 
 Anne for the augmentation of the maintenance of 
 the poor clergy. 
 
 (17) The expression "National Deht Commis- 
 sioners " shall mean the Commissioners for the 
 time being for the Reduction of the National 
 Debt, 
 
 (18) The expression "the Bank of England" 
 shall mean, as circumstances require, the Governor 
 and Company of the Bank of England or the 
 bank of the Governor and Company of the Bank 
 of England. 
 
 (19) The expression "the Bank of Ireland" 
 shall mean, as circumstances require, the Governor 
 and Company of the Bank of Ireland, or the bank 
 of the Governor and Company of the Bank of 
 Ireland. 
 
 (20) The expression "consular officer" shall 
 include consul-general, consul, vice-consul, consular 
 agent, and any person for the time authorised to 
 discharge the duties of consul-general, consul, or 
 vice-consul. 
 
 13. In this Act and in every other Act whether judicial 
 
 tip n j_i j_ i* ji • definitions 
 
 passed before or alter the commencement ol this i n pa8 t .„„i 
 Act, the following expressions shall, unless the futlu ' eActs - 
 contrary intention appears, have the meanings 
 hereby respectively assigned to them, namely : 
 
 (1) The expression "Supreme Court," when 
 used with reference to England or Ireland, shall 
 mean the Supreme Court of Judicature in England 
 or Ireland, as the case may be, or either branch 
 thereof.
 
 116 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 (2) The expression "Court of Appeal," when 
 used with reference to England or Ireland, shall 
 mean her Majesty's Court of Appeal in England 
 or Ireland, as the case may be. 
 
 (3) The expression " High Court," when used 
 with reference to England or Ireland, shall mean 
 her Majesty's High Court of Justice in England 
 or Ireland, as the case may be. 
 
 (4) The expression " court of assize " shall, as 
 respect England, Wales, and Ireland, mean a court 
 of assize, a court of oyer and terminer, and a court 
 of gaol delivery, or any of them, and shall, as 
 respects England and Wales, include the Central 
 Criminal Court. 
 
 (5) The expression "assizes," as respects Eng- 
 land, Wales, and Ireland, shall mean the courts of 
 assize usually held in every year, and shall include 
 the sessions of the Central Criminal Court, but 
 shall not include any court of assize held by virtue 
 of any special commission, or, as respects Ireland, 
 any court held by virtue of the powers conferred 
 
 40 & 41 Vict, by section sixty-three of the Supreme Court of 
 Judicature Act (Ireland), 1877. 
 
 (6) The expression " the Summary Jurisdiction 
 Act, 1848," shall mean the Act of the session of 
 the eleventh and twelfth years of the reign of her 
 present Majesty, chapter forty-three, intituled 
 " An Act to facilitate the performance of the duties 
 " of justices of the peace out of sessions within 
 " England and Wales with respect to summary 
 " convictions and orders." 
 
 (7) The expression "the Summary Jurisdic- 
 tion (England) Acts " and the expression " the 
 
 c. 57
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 117 
 
 Summary Jurisdiction (English) Acts " shall re- 
 spectively mean the Summary Jurisdiction Act, n & 12 Vict. 
 1848, and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, 42&43Vict. 
 and any Act, past or future, amending those Acts c " 
 or either of them. 
 
 (8) The expression "the Summary Jurisdiction 27&28Vict. 
 (Scotland) Acts" shall mean the Summary Juris- 4V \ 1:. vi.t. 
 diction (Scotland) Acts, 1864 and 1881, and any °- 33, 
 Act, past or future, amending those Acts or either 
 
 of them. 
 
 (9) The expression " the Summary Jurisdiction 
 (Ireland) Acts " shall mean, as respects the Dublin 
 Metropolitan Police District, the Acts regulating 
 the powers and duties of justices of the peace or 
 of the police of that district, and as respects any 
 
 other part of Ireland, the Petty Sessions (Ireland) h & 15 Viet. 
 Act, 1851, and any Act, past or future, amending 
 the same. 
 
 (10) The expression "the Summary Jurisdiction 
 Acts " when used in relation to England or Wales 
 shall mean the Summary Jurisdiction (England) 
 Acts, and when used in relation to Scotland the 
 Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Acts, and when 
 used in relation to Ireland the Summary Jurisdic- 
 tion (Ireland) Acts. 
 
 (11) The expression " court of summary juris- 
 diction " shall mean any justice or justices of the 
 peace, or other magistrate, by whatever name 
 called, to whom jurisdiction is given by, or who is 
 authorised to act under, the Summary Jurisdic- 
 tion Acts, whether in England, Wales, or Ireland, 
 and whether acting under the Summary Jurisdic- 
 tion Acts or any of them, or under any other Act,
 
 118 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 or by virtue of his commission, or under the 
 common law. 
 
 (12) The expression "petty sessional court" 
 shall, as respects England or Wales, mean a court 
 of summary jurisdiction consisting of two or more 
 justices when sitting in a petty sessional court-house, 
 and shall include the Lord Mayor of the city of 
 London, and any alderman of that city, and any 
 metropolitan or borough police magistrate or other 
 stipendiary magistrate when sitting in a court- 
 house or place at which he is authorised by law to 
 do alone any act authorised to be done by more 
 than one justice of the peace. 
 
 (13) The expression "petty sessional court- 
 house " shall, as respects England or Wales, mean 
 a court-house or other place at which justices are 
 accustomed to assemble for holding special or petty 
 sessions, or which is for the time being appointed 
 as a substitute for such a court-house or place, and 
 where the justices are accustomed to assemble for 
 either special or petty sessions at more than one 
 court-house or place in a petty sessional division, 
 shall mean any such court-house or place. The 
 expression shall also include any court-house or 
 place at which the Lord Mayor of the city of 
 London or any alderman of that city, or any metro- 
 politan or borough police magistrate or other sti- 
 pendiary magistrate is authorised by law to do 
 alone any act authorised to be done by more than 
 one justice of the peace. 
 
 (14) The expression " court of quarter sessions " 
 shall mean the justices of any county, riding, 
 parts, division, or liberty of a county, or of any
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 llfl 
 
 county of a city, or county of a town, in general 
 or quarter sessions assembled, and shall include 
 the court of the recorder of a municipal borough 
 having a separate court of quarter sessions. 
 
 14. In every Act passed after the commence- Meaning of 
 ment of this Act, unless the contrary intention court." 
 appears, the expression " rules of court " when 
 
 used in relation to any court shall mean rules 
 made by the authority having for the time being 
 power to make rules or orders regulating the 
 practice and procedure of such court, and as 
 regards Scotland shall include acts of adjournal 
 and acts of sederunt. 
 
 The power of the said authority to make rules 
 of court as above defined shall include a power to 
 make rules of court for the purpose of any Act 
 passed after the commencement of this Act, and 
 directing or authorising anything to be done by 
 rules of court. 
 
 15. In this Act and in every Act passed after Meaning of 
 the commencement of this Act the following ex- 
 pressions shall, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, have the meanings hereby respectively 
 assigned to them, namely : 
 
 (1) The expression "municipal borough" shall 
 mean, as respects England and Wales, any place 
 for the time being subject to the Municipal Cor- 45 & 46 Vict. 
 porations Act, 1882, and any reference to the c ' f, °' 
 mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of a borough shall 
 include a reference to the mayor, aldermen, and 
 citizens of a city, and any reference to the powers, 
 duties, liabilities or property of the council of a
 
 120 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 borough shall be construed as a reference to the 
 powers, duties, liabilities, or property of the mayor, 
 aldermen, and burgesses of the borough acting by 
 the council. 
 
 (2) The expression " municipal borough " shall 
 mean, as respects Ireland, any place for the time 
 being subject to the Act of the session of the third 
 and' fourth years of the reign of her present 
 Majesty, chapter one hundred and eight, intituled 
 " An Act for the regulation of municipal corpora- 
 tions in Ireland." 
 
 (3) The expression " parliamentary borough " 
 shall mean any borough, burgh, place or combina- 
 tion of places returning a member or members to 
 serve in Parliament, and not being either a county 
 or division of a county, or a university, or a com- 
 bination of universities. 
 
 (4) The expression " borough " when used in 
 relation to local government shall mean a muni- 
 cipal borough as above denned, and when used 
 in relation to parliamentary elections or the 
 registration of parliamentary electors shall mean 
 a parliamentary borough as above defined. 
 
 Meaning of 16. In this Act and in every Act passed after 
 
 am? "union." the commencement of this Act the following ex- 
 pressions shall, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, have the meanings hereby respectively 
 assigned to them, namely : 
 
 (1) The expression "board of guardians" shall, 
 as respects England and Wales, mean a board of 
 4&5WU1.IV. guardians elected under the Poor Law Amend- 
 ment Act, 1834, and the Acts amending the same,
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 188.9 121 
 
 and shall include a board of guardians or other 
 body of persons performing under any local Act 
 the like functions to a board of guardians under 
 the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834. 
 
 (2) The expression " poor law union " shall, as 
 respects England and Wales, mean any parish or 
 union of parishes for which there is a separate 
 board of guardians. 
 
 (3) The expression "board of guardians" shall, 
 as respects Ireland, mean a board of guardians 
 elected under the Act of the Session of the first 
 and second years of the reign of her present 
 Majesty, chapter fifty-six, intituled " An Act for 
 the more effectual relief of the destitute poor in 
 Ireland," and the Acts amending the same, 
 and shall include any body of persons appointed 
 by the Local Government Board for Ireland to 
 carry into execution the provisions of those 
 Acts. 
 
 (4) The expression " poor law union " shall, as 
 respects Ireland, mean any townland or place or 
 union, or townlands or places, for which there is 
 a separate board of guardians. 
 
 17. In every Act passed after the commence- Definitions 
 ment of this Act the following expressions shall, Sections. 
 unless the contrary intention appears, have the 
 meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, 
 namely : 
 
 (l) The expression "parliamentary election" 
 shall mean the election of a member or members 
 to serve in Parliament for a county or division of 
 a county, or parliamentary borough or division of 
 
 Q
 
 122 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 a parliamentary borough, or for a university or 
 combination of universities. 
 
 (2) The expression " parliamentary register of 
 electors " shall mean a register of persons entitled 
 to vote at any parliamentary election. 
 
 (3) The expression " local government register 
 of electors " shall mean as respects an administra- 
 tive county in England or Wales other than a 
 county borough, the county register, and as re- 
 spects a county borough or other municipal borough, 
 the burgess roll. 
 
 Geographical 18. In this Act, and in every Act passed after 
 definitions in the commencement of this Act, the following ex- 
 future Acts, passions shall, unless the contrary intention 
 
 appears, have the meanings hereby respectively 
 
 assigned to them, namely : 
 
 (1) The expression " British Islands " shall mean 
 the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the 
 Isle of Man. 
 
 (2) The expression " British possession " shall 
 mean any part of her Majesty's dominions ex- 
 clusive of the United Kingdom, and where 
 parts of such dominions are under both a 
 central and a local legislature, all parts under 
 the central legislature shall, for the purposes of 
 this definition, be deemed to be one British pos- 
 session. 
 
 (3) The expression " colony " shall mean any 
 part of her Majesty's dominions exclusive of the 
 British Islands, and of British India, and where 
 parts of such dominions are under both a central 
 and a local legislature, all parts under the central
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 128 
 
 legislature shall, for the purposes of this definition, 
 be deemed to be one colony. 
 
 (4) The expression "British India" shall mean 
 all territories and places within her Majesty's 
 dominions which are for the time being governed 
 by her Majesty through the Governor-General of 
 India or through any governor or other officer sub- 
 ordinate to the Governor- General of India. 
 
 (5) The expression " India " shall mean British 
 India together with any territories of any native 
 prince or chief under the suzerainty of her 
 Majesty exercised through the Governor- General 
 of India, or through any governor or other officer 
 subordinate to the Governor-General of India. 
 
 (6) The expression "Governor " shall, as respects 
 Canada and India, mean the Governor-General, 
 and include any person who for the time being has 
 the powers of the Governor- General, and as respects 
 any other British possession, shall include the 
 officer for the time being administering the govern- 
 ment of that possession. 
 
 (7) The expression " colonial legislature " and 
 the expression " legislature," when used with refer- 
 ence to a British possession, shall respectively mean 
 the authority, other than the Imperial Parliament 
 or her Majesty the Queen in Council, competent to 
 make laws for a British possession. 
 
 19. In this Act and in every Act passed after Meaning of 
 the commencement of this Act the expression ftSu^Acts? 
 " person " shall, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, include any body of persons corporate or 
 unincorporate.
 
 124 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Meaning of 
 " writing " 
 in past and 
 future Acts. 
 
 20. In this Act and in every other Act whether 
 passed before or after the commencement of this 
 Act expressions referring to writing shall, unless 
 the contrary intention appears, be construed as in- 
 cluding references to printing, lithography, pho- 
 tography, and other modes of representing or 
 reproducing words in a visible form. 
 
 Meaning of 21. In this Act, and in every other Act, whether 
 
 " statutory l i p n e 
 
 declaration" passed beiore or alter the commencement of this 
 
 future A<_ n ts. Act, the expression " statutory declaration " shall, 
 
 unless the contrary intention appears, mean a de- 
 
 s &6 wm. iv. claration made by virtue of the Statutory Decla- 
 
 c. 62. 
 
 rations Act, 1835. 
 
 Meaning of 
 " financial 
 year " in 
 future Acts. 
 
 22. In this Act and in every Act passed after 
 the commencement of this Act the expression 
 " financial year " shall, unless the contrary inten- 
 tion appears, mean as respects any matters relating 
 to the Consolidated Fund or moneys provided by 
 Parliament, or to the Exchequer, or to Imperial 
 taxes or finance, the twelve months ending the 
 thirty -first day of March. 
 
 Definition 
 of Lands 
 Clauses Acts. 
 
 8 & 9 Vict. 
 c. 18. 
 
 23 <Sc 21 Vict. 
 c. 10G. 
 
 32 & 33 Vict. 
 
 c. 18. 
 
 46 & 47 Vict, 
 c. 15. 
 
 23. In any Act passed after the commencement 
 of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears — 
 The expression "Lands Clauses Acts" shall 
 mean — 
 
 (a) as respects England and Wales, the Lands 
 Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, the Lands 
 Clauses Consolidation Acts Amendment Act, 
 18G0, the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 
 1869, and the Lands Clauses (Umpire) Act,
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 125 
 
 1883, and any Acts for the time being in 
 force amending the same ; and 
 
 (b) as respects Scotland, the Lands Clauses 8 k 9 Vict. 
 Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, and the 
 
 Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts Amend- 23 & 24 Vict. 
 ment Act, 1860, and any Acts for the time 
 being in force amending the same ; and 
 
 (c) as respects Ireland, the Lands Clauses Con- 8&9Vict. 
 solidation Act, 1845, the Lands Clauses Con- 23V24 Vict. 
 solidation Acts Amendment Act, 18G0, the c " 97 - 
 Railways Act (Ireland), 1851, the Railways H&isvkt. 
 Act (Ireland), 1860, the Railways Act (Ire- 27&'28Vict. 
 land), 1864, and the Railways Traverse Act, 31 & 32 vkt. 
 and any Acts for the time being in force c " '°" 
 amending the same. 
 
 24. In any Act passed before or after the com- Meaning of 
 mencement of this Act the expression "Irish tJonActs Ua 
 Valuation Acts " shall mean the Acts relating to 
 
 the valuation of rateable property in Ireland. 
 
 25. In this Act and in every other Act, whether Meaning of 
 passed before or after the commencement of this m ap." a " 
 Act, the expression " ordnance map" shall, unless 
 
 the contrary intention appears, mean a map made 
 under the powers conferred by the Survey (Great 
 Britain) Acts, 1841 to 1870, or by the Survey 
 (Ireland) Acts, 1825 to 1870, and the Acts amend- 
 ng the same respectively. 
 
 26. Where an Act passed after the commence- Meaning of 
 ment of this Act authorises or requires any P ost/" Ce J 
 document to be served by post, whether the ex- 
 pression " serve," or the expression " give " or
 
 126 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Meaning of 
 " committed 
 for trial." 
 
 11 & 12 Vict, 
 c. 42. 
 
 Meanings of 
 ' ' sheriff," 
 " felon)'," 
 and " mis- 
 demeanour " 
 in future 
 Scotch Acts. 
 
 " send," or any other expression is used, then, 
 unless the contrary intention appears, the service 
 shall be deemed to be effected by properly ad- 
 dressing, prepaying, and posting a letter contain- 
 ing the document, and unless the contrary is 
 proved to have been effected at the time at which 
 the letter would be delivered in the ordinary 
 course of post. 
 
 27. In every Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act, the expression " committed for 
 trial " used in relation to any person shall, unless 
 the contrary intention appears, mean, as respects 
 England and Wales, committed to prison with 
 the view of being tried before a judge and jury, 
 whether the person is committed in pursuance of 
 section twenty-two or of section twenty-five of 
 the Indictable Offences Act, 1848, or is committed 
 by a court, judge, coroner, or other authority 
 having power to commit a person to any prison 
 with a view to his trial, and shall include a person 
 who is admitted to bail upon a recognisance to 
 appear and take his trial before a judge and 
 
 j ui y- 
 
 28. In this Act and in every Act passed after 
 the commencement of this Act, unless the contrary 
 intention appears — 
 
 The expression " sheriff" shall, as respects 
 Scotland, include a sheriff substitute : 
 
 The expression " felony " shall, as respects 
 Scotland, mean a high crime and offence : 
 
 The expression " misdemeanour " shall, as re- 
 spects Scotland, mean an offence.
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 127 
 
 29. In every Act passed after the commence- Meaning of 
 ment of this Act, unless the contrary intention en,',','!''''),, 
 appears, the expression " county court " shall, as J^' n ' In8h 
 respects Ireland, mean a civil bill court within 
 
 the meaning of the County Officers and Courts 40& n Vict. 
 (Ireland) Act, 1877. 
 
 30. In this Act and in every other Act, whether Beferencee to 
 passed before or after the commencement of this e lov 
 Act, references to the Sovereign reigning at the 
 
 time of the passing of the Act or to the Crown 
 shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be 
 construed as references to the Sovereign for the 
 time being, and this Act shall be binding on the 
 Crown. 
 
 31. Where any Act, whether passed before or construction 
 after the commencement of this Act, confers power raie^&c." 
 to make, grant, or issue any instrument, that is 
 
 to say, any Order in Council, order, warrant, 
 scheme, letters patent, rules, regulations, or by- 
 laws, expressions used in the instrument, if it is 
 made after the commencement of this Act, shall, 
 unless the contrary intention appears, have the 
 same respective meanings as in the Act conferring 
 the power. 
 
 32. — (1) Where an Act passed after the com- Construction 
 
 , n , i • » / r> * of provisions 
 
 mencement of this Act comers a power or imposes as t0 exercise 
 a duty, then, unless the contrary intention ^duties. 
 appears, the power may be exercised and the duty 
 shall be performed from time to time as occasion 
 requires. 
 
 (2) Where an Act passed after the commence-
 
 128 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Provisions as 
 to offences 
 under two or 
 more laws. 
 
 Measurement 
 of distances. 
 
 Citation of 
 Acts. 
 
 ment of this Act confers a power or imposes a 
 duty on the holder of an office, as such, then, 
 unless the contrary intention appears, the power 
 may be exercised and the duty shall be performed 
 by the holder for the time being of the office. 
 
 (3) Where an Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act confers a power to make any 
 rules, regulations, or by-laws, the power shall, 
 unless the contrary intention appears, be construed 
 as including a power, exerciseable in the like 
 manner and subject to the like consent and condi- 
 tions, if any, to rescind, revoke, amend, or vary 
 the rules, regulations, or by-laws. 
 
 33. Where an act or omission constitutes an 
 offence under two or more Acts, or both under an 
 Act and at common law, whether any such Act 
 was passed before or after the commencement of 
 this Act, the offender shall, unless the contrary 
 intention appears, be liable to be prosecuted and 
 punished under either or any of those Acts or at 
 common law, but shall not be liable to be punished 
 twice for the same offence. 
 
 34. In the measurement of any distance for the 
 purposes of any Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act, that distance shall, unless the 
 contrary intention ajDpears, be measured in a 
 straight line on a horizontal j)lane. 
 
 35. — (l) In any Act, instrument, or document, 
 an Act may be cited by reference to the short 
 title, if any, of the Act, either with or without a 
 reference to the chapter, or by reference to the
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 129 
 
 regnal year in which the Act 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 Avhich the enactment is contained. 
 
 (2) Where any Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act contains such reference as afore- 
 said, the reference shall, unless a contrary inten- 
 tion appears, be read as referring, in the case of 
 statutes included in any revised edition of the 
 statutes purporting to be printed by authority, to 
 that edition, and in the case of statutes not so 
 included, and passed before the reign of King 
 George the First, to the edition prepared under 
 the direction of the Record Commission ; and in 
 other cases to the copies of the statutes purport- 
 ing to be printed by the Queen's Printer, or 
 under the superintendence or authority of her 
 Majesty's Stationery Office. 
 
 (3) In any Act passed after the commencement 
 of this Act a description or citation of a portion 
 of another Act shall, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, be construed as including the word, sec- 
 tion, or other part mentioned or referred to as 
 forming the beginning and as forming the end of 
 the portion comprised in the description or 
 citation. 
 
 36. — (1) In this Act, and in every Act passed "Commence- 
 either before or after the commencement of this
 
 130 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Exercise of 
 statutory 
 powers 
 between 
 passing and 
 commence- 
 ment of Act. 
 
 Effect of 
 repeal in 
 
 future Acts. 
 
 Act, the expression " commencement," when used 
 with reference to an Act, shall mean the time at 
 which the Act comes into operation. 
 
 (2) Where an Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act, or any Order in Council, order, 
 warrant, scheme, letters patent, rules, regulations, 
 or by-laws made, granted, or issued, under a 
 power conferred by any such Act, is expressed to 
 come into ojDeration on a particular day, the same 
 shall be construed as coining into operation im- 
 mediately on the expiration of the previous day. 
 
 37. Where an Act passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act is not to come into operation 
 immediately on the passing thereof, and confers 
 power to make any appointment, to make, grant, 
 or issue any instrument, that is to say, any Order 
 in Council, order, warrant, scheme, letters patent, 
 rules, regulations, or by-laws, to give notices, to 
 prescribe forms, or to do any other thing for the 
 purposes of the Act, that power may, unless the 
 contrary intention appears, be exercised at any 
 time after the passing of the Act, so far as may 
 be necessary or expedient for the purpose of bring- 
 ing the Act into operation at the date of the com- 
 mencement thereof, subject to this restriction, 
 that any instrument made under the power shall 
 not, unless the contrary intention appears in the 
 Act, or the contrary is necessary for bringing the 
 Act into operation, come into operation until the 
 Act comes into operation. 
 
 38. — (1) Where this Act or any Act passed 
 after the commencement of this Act repeals and
 
 INTERPRETATION ACT, 1889 131 
 
 re-enacts, with or without modification, any pro- 
 visions of a former Act, references in any other 
 Act to the provisions so repealed, shall, unless 
 the contrary intention appears, be construed as 
 references to the provisions so re-enacted. 
 
 (2) Where this Act or any Act passed after 
 the commencement of this Act repeals any other 
 enactment, then, unless the contrary intention 
 appears, the repeal shall not — 
 
 («) revive anything not in force or existing at 
 the time at which the repeal takes effect ; 
 or, 
 
 (b) affect the previous operation of any enact- 
 ment so repealed or anything duly done or 
 suffered under any enactment so repealed ; 
 or 
 
 (c) affect any right, privilege, obligation, or 
 liability acquired, accrued, or incurred under 
 any enactment so repealed ; or 
 
 (d) affect any penalty, forfeiture, or punishment 
 incurred in respect of any offence committed 
 against any enactment so repealed ; or 
 
 (e) affect any investigation, legal proceeding, or 
 remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, 
 obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture, or 
 punishment as aforesaid ; 
 
 and any such investigation, legal proceeding, or 
 remedy may be instituted, continued, or enforced, 
 and any such penalty, forfeiture, or punishment 
 may be imposed, as if the repealing Act had not 
 been passed.
 
 132 
 
 PRACTICAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Supplemental. 
 
 Definition of 39. In this Act the expression "Act" shall 
 Act. * include a local and personal Act and a private 
 
 Act. 
 
 Saving for 
 past Acts. 
 
 Repeal. 
 
 Commence- 
 ment of Act. 
 
 Short title. 
 
 40. The provisions of this Act respecting the 
 construction of Acts passed after the commence- 
 ment of this Act shall not affect the construction 
 of any Act passed before the commencement of 
 this Act, although it is continued or amended by 
 an Act passed after such commencement. 
 
 41. The Acts described in the Schedule to this 
 Act are hereby repealed to the extent appearing 
 in the third column of the Schedule. 
 
 42. This Act shall come into operation on the 
 first day of January one thousand eight hundred 
 and ninety. 
 
 43. This Act may be cited as the Interpretation 
 Act, 1889.
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 Enactments Repealed. 
 
 Section 41. 
 
 Session and 
 Chapter. 
 
 Title or Short Title. 
 
 Extent of Repeal. 
 
 7&8Geo.IV. 
 
 An Act for further improv- 
 
 Section fourteen. 
 
 c. 28. 
 
 ing the administration of 
 justice in criminal cases 
 in England. 
 
 
 9 Geo. IV. c. 
 
 An Act for improving the 
 
 Section thirty- 
 
 54. 
 
 administration of justice 
 in criminal cases in Ire- 
 land. 
 
 five. 
 
 7 Will. IV. & 
 
 An Act to interpret the 
 
 The whole Act. 
 
 1 Vict. c. 
 
 word " sheriff," " sheriff 
 
 
 39. 
 
 clerk," "shire," "sheriff- 
 dom," and " county," oc- 
 curring in Acts of Parlia- 
 ment relating to Scotland. 
 
 
 13 & 14 Vict. 
 
 An Act for shortening the 
 
 The whole Act. 
 
 c. 21. 
 
 language used in Acts of 
 Parliament. 
 
 
 29 & 30 Vict. 
 
 The Poor Law Amendment 
 
 Section eighteen, 
 
 c. 113. 
 
 Act of 1866. 
 
 from the be- 
 ginning to 
 " can be ap- 
 pointed, and." 
 
 42 & 43 Vict. 
 
 The Summary Jurisdiction 
 
 In section twenty 
 
 c. 49. 
 
 Act, 1879. 
 
 the sub - sec - 
 tions num- 
 bered (3) and 
 (6). 
 Section fifty. 
 
 
 
 47 & 48 Vict. 
 
 The Summary Jurisdiction 
 
 Section seven. 
 
 c. 43. 
 
 Act, 1884. 
 
 
 51 & 52 Vict. 
 
 The County Courts Act, 
 
 Section one hun- 
 
 c. 43. 
 
 1888. 
 
 d r e d and 
 eighty-seven 
 from the be- 
 ginning to " is 
 meant, and."
 
 INDEX 
 
 Act op Parliament, definition of term as used in work, 26 
 
 deemed to be always speaking, 83 
 Acts, simple and complex, definition of, 27 
 Adjustment of existing and new law, 97 
 
 Administration of the law, rule as to position in Act of pro- 
 visions relating to, 38 
 Alterations, during passage of Act, 101 
 American works on legal expression, 4 
 Arrangement of subject-matter of Act, Chap. II. 
 
 selection and statement of principles, 28, 37 
 
 illustrations, 30-37 
 
 general rules of, 38—45 
 
 summary of rules, 4T> 
 
 observations on reference from one part of an Act to 
 another, 48 
 
 division of Act into parts, and grouping under headings, 58 
 
 extent of, 93 
 
 commencement of, 94 
 
 construction of, 95 
 
 place of various provisions 96 
 Austin, Mr., views on technical and ethical legislation, 1, 3 
 
 Cairns, Lord, appoints Statute Law Committee, 10 
 Card well, Mr., Merchant Shipping Bill, 4 
 Case, mode of stating the, 63 
 
 and statutory declarations, 69 
 
 with subordinate clauses, 70 
 
 with several alternative cases, 71 
 
 general rule as to expression of, 72 
 
 with conditions, 73
 
 136 INDEX 
 
 Case law, distinction between leading cases and illustrative 
 
 cases, 23 
 Clearness, the object of Parliamentary drafting, 61 
 Code, remarks as to framing, 16 
 Codification, 10 
 
 meaning of term and remarks as to, 14 
 Colonial Bill for Sir W. Molesworth, 4 
 Commencement of Act, 94 
 Common law, advice as to studying the, 24 
 Composition of sentences, Chap. III. 
 Complex Acts, definition of, 27 
 Conditions, mode of stating, 73 
 
 mode of stating, where numerous, 74 
 Consolidation of law, 10-11 
 Consolidation Acts, incorporation of, 53 
 
 grouping sections in, 58 
 Construction of Act, 95 
 Coode's Legislative Expression, 61 n. 91 
 
 Darlington Improvement Act, cited, 3 
 Dates, care to be taken as to alteration of, 101 
 Defining clause, use of, with generic term, 50 
 Definitions, vise of, 95 
 
 place of in Act, 96 
 Disraeli, Mr., his methods, 6-7 
 Division of Acts into parts and headings, 58 
 Draftsman, mode in which he should prepare himself to draw 
 Act, 21 
 
 further advice to, 91 
 
 Enactments, definition of, 26 
 
 observations as to mode of framing principal and sub- 
 ordinate, 35, 42 
 
 simplest forms of, 61 
 
 mode of grouping independent, of a simple character, 64 
 
 mode of grouping a number of short, in one section, 65 
 
 summary of rules as to composition of, 
 English Acts, mode of applying to Scotland and Ireland, 
 English law, remarks as to substance and form of, 
 Enumeration of several persons or things enactment applying 
 to, 63
 
 INDEX 137 
 
 Enunciation of particulars, 89 
 " Except," use of the word, 70 
 Exceptions, mode of stating, 7(5 
 
 where numerous, 77 
 Exemptions and savings, 98 
 Exhaustive forms of expression, advice as to collecting and 
 
 arranging, 82 
 Existing and new law, adjustment of, 97 
 Extent of Act, 93 
 
 Formal Parts of Acts, Chap. IV. 
 Frauds, Statute of, cited, 3 
 
 General Observations, Chap. IV. 
 Generic terms, use of, 84 
 
 expressing and including a number of special predicates, 
 87 
 Gladstone, Mr., views on drafting, 5-6 
 
 quoted, 9 
 Grouping, legal subjects, and predicates, 63 
 
 independent enactments of a simple character, 64 
 
 a number of short enactments in one section, 65 
 
 clauses under headings, 58 
 
 Headings, division of Acts under, 58 
 
 " Herein-after," " Herein-before," objections to use of, 57 
 
 Hodgson's " Errors in the Use of English," 91 
 
 Illustrations of selection and statement of principles in 
 
 simple and complex Acts, 30-37 
 Incorporation of Consolidation Acts, 53 
 Independent enactments, mode of grouping, 64 
 Interpretation Act, 1889, the, 103 
 Introductory observations, Chap. I. 
 
 Lands Clauses Acts, incorporation of, 53 
 Langton, Stephen, as draftsman, 2 
 Law, method of getting up, 22 
 Legal subject and predicate, definition of, 61 
 Local and exceptional provisions, rule as to position of, in Act, 
 43
 
 138 INDEX 
 
 Marginal Notes, observations on, CO 
 
 Mathew, Lord Justice, extract from judgment in KaiU v. 
 
 Towse, 56 
 " May," use of the word, 62 
 Method of getting up statute law, 22 
 
 case law, 23 
 Molesworth, Sir Win., Colonial Bill, 4 
 
 New York code, 91 
 
 Nouns, to be used instead of pronouns, 82 
 
 Numbers, to be written at full length, 83 
 
 " Other." construction of, 83 
 
 Paley's " Moral Philosophy," 91 
 
 Particulars, enumeration of, 89 
 
 Parts and Headings, division of Acts into, 58 
 
 Preamble, object of, 92 
 
 Predicates, definition of, and mode of grouping legal, 61, 63 
 
 Principal enactments, mode of framing, 35 
 
 Principles, on which Act is based, selection and statement of, 28 
 
 illustrations in case of simple Acts, 30 
 
 in case of complex Acts, 33 
 Procedure, rule as to position in Act of provisions as to, 44 
 Proposition, rule as to position in Act of simple and complex, 
 
 less and greater, 41 
 Provisions declaring the law, rule as to position of, in Act, 38 
 
 relating to administration of the law, rule as to position 
 of, in Act, 38 
 
 local and exceptional, rule as to, 43 
 
 temporary, rule as to, 43 
 
 relating to repeal of Acts, rule as to, 43 
 
 referential, 48, 53, 56 
 Provisoes, use of, 80 
 
 Reddendo Singula Singulis, necessity for adoption of rule 
 
 to be avoided, 52 
 Referential provisions, observations on, where reference made 
 to another part of same Act, 48 
 observations on, where reference made to other Acts, 58 
 Lord Justice Mathew on, 56
 
 INDEX 139 
 
 Referential words, expressions to be avoided, 57 
 
 Reform Bill, the, of 1869, history of its preparation, 7 
 
 et seq. 
 Relative terms, advice as to collecting and arranging, 82 
 Repeal of Acts, and savings, 99 
 Repetition, better than ambiguity, 82 
 Rules of arrangement of an Act, 
 
 Rule I., 38 
 
 Rule II., 41 
 
 Rule III., 42 
 
 Rule IV., 43 
 
 Rule V., 44 
 
 summary of, 45 
 as to mode of stating the case, 68 
 as to selection of words and other matters, 81 
 
 Savings, sections containing, its 
 
 in repeal clause, 99 
 Schedules, proper use of, 100 
 Selection and statement of principles on which Acts are based 
 
 28, 37 
 Selection of words and other matters, 81 
 Sentences, composition of, Chap. III. 
 " Shall," use of the word, 62 
 Short title, expediency of, 93 
 Simple Acts, definition of, 27 
 Statement of case, 68 
 
 of conditions, 73 
 
 of exceptions, 76 
 Statutory declarations, with various forms of cases, 69 
 Stephen, Mr. Justice, on drafting, 9 
 Subject-matter of Act, arrangement of, Chap. II. 
 Subject and Predicate, definition of, 61 
 
 grouping legal subjects and predicates, 63 
 Subordinate enactments, mode of framing, 35 
 Subordinate subject, rule where provisions of principal subject 
 are wholly or partially applicable to, 48 
 
 Summary of general rules of arrangement of an Act, and 
 observations, 38-45 
 
 of rules as to enactments, 80
 
 J 40 INDEX 
 
 Technical Phraseology, how far admissible, 81 
 Temporary Act, provision as to offences committed and obliga- 
 tions incurred before expiration of, 100 
 Temporary provisions, rule as to position of, in Act, 43 
 Terms used in work, explanation of certain, 26 
 Titles of Acts, citation of, 83 
 short, 93 
 
 Wales, included in England by statute, 94 
 
 Westcott, Dr. (Bishop of Durham), on verbal criticism, 1 
 
 Words, selection of, 81 
 
 1 Printed by Bai lantvne, Hanson &* Co. 
 London 6° Edinburgh
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 m 27134b 
 
 MR 2 4 I960 
 
 m L-9 
 -12,'30(33S8)
 
 JN 
 
 608 Thring - 
 
 T41p Practical legis- 
 
 1902 lation. 
 
 UCLA-Young Research Library 
 
 JN608 T41p 1902 
 
 L 009 608 077 5 
 
 608 
 T41p 
 1902 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 352 846 8