The Indexer Vol 11 No 4 October 1979
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On citing Acts of Parliament and related law Richard Haig-Brown 1. All indexers are liable to come across Acts of 6. The sequential order of an Act varies but the Parliament when compiling indexes—there are tendency today is to standardize as far as possible other Acts like Acts of Convocation, Acts of God into this arrangement: and Acts of Grace. It is as well to know how an —the sections setting out the law, towards Act of Parliament is constructed, how it should the end of which follow: be cited and some of the snags which can be met. —the sections conferring enabling powers 2. During the passage through Parliament an Act (to make regulations or byelaws, or is known as a Parliamentary Bill, the numbered outlining the specific duties of a Govern aspects of it being referred to as Clauses. On ment Department or a particular body or receiving the Royal Assent a Bill becomes an Act person—'the authority', 'the authorized (sometimes called a statute or part of the person'). Statutory Law meaning approved by Parliament as opposed to Common Law). The words Acts —the sections dealing with enforcement. and Bills customarily carry initial capital letters. —the sections detailing offences and The same applies to Schedules (see below) and penalties for infringement. Treaties. Treaties have articles and may be —the interpretation section setting out the subject to Acts of Parliament. exact meanings of terms used in the Act, 3. The statements of the law (formerly Clauses of such as 'the Minister' or 'minimum ac the Bill) are then called sections (of the Act), ceptable flow' in an inland water, and numbered using Arabic numerals, which may or known as 'definitions' though sometimes may not have sub-sections, also numbered with (but wrongly) 'meanings'. (The word Arabic numerals but in parentheses; in addition 'meaning' generally indicates the meaning these sub-sections can be further broken down to given in a dictionary such as the Oxford paragraphs which are lettered in italic Roman English Dictionary, though others are also lower case, again in parentheses, i.e. considered in offices and court rooms.) s. 1 = (and referred to as) section one. —the section detailing repeals (of Acts s.l(l) = (and referred to as) section one, previously in force, or parts or sections of sub-section one. them; these may cease to be law from the s. 1 (1 )(a) = (and referred to as) section one, commencement date of the new Act, or on sub-section one, paragraph a. a date specified). 4. It sometimes happens that an Act of —the citation section (saying how the Act Parliament is subsequently amended by passing should be referred to). an amending Act, the ABC (Amendment) Act —commencement date provisions. 19 , which brings in new sections to the original Act. In such cases these new sections may 7. An Act may come into force immediately, that be referred to as (say) sections 14A and 14B of the is on receiving the Royal Assent. It may come ABC Act 19 , inserted by the DEF Act 19 , into force on an appointed day after the Royal but there is no hard and fast rule. (Note the Assent has been given, and this may be quite soon capital letter to avoid confusion with the lower or, as in the Equal Pay Act 1970, with delayed case used for paragraphs.) effect to 1975. It may also happen that different provisions become operative while others, such as 5. The sections within the Act are often split up in the Control of Pollution Act 1974 (at the time into Parts; these are numbered in Roman of writing), have not yet become law. Numerals (Part VIII), the Part being given a heading like 'Licences', shown in Roman 8. Other Acts have a restricted life written into capitals. An Act can consist of a single section or them absolutely—that is they lapse automatically several hundred, the Merchant Shipping Act on a stated day—or conditionally, i.e. unless they 1894, having over 700. are specifically renewed before expiry; the Armed The Indexer Vol. 11 No. 4 October 1979 205 Forces Acts are, for instance, renewable an first sight. We not only have the Agriculture Act nually. Certain Acts are created every year like 1957, and the Agriculture Act 1970, but the the Finance Acts and it does not follow that Acts Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 (note -al, not -ure of previous years are in any sense replaced, and no brackets), the Agricultural Holdings though the new Act may amend or repeal the Acts (Notice to Quit) Act 1977 (note -al again, the extra of previous years. The Finance Act 1965, which word 'Holdings' not bracketed, and the words in introduced Capital Gains Tax, demonstrates this brackets), the Agriculture (Ladders) Regulations aspect. 1957 (note -ure this time and the word in 9. Where an Act contains lengthy, complicated brackets), the Agriculture (Safety, Health and administrative or technical matter, it is more Welfare Provisions) Act 1956, and the often than not contained in a Schedule or a Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Act 1956, number of Schedules. These can also be in Parts both of which are totally different from each which are given Roman numerals similar to the other and from the Agriculture Act 1957, already Parts of an Act. The Schedule as a whole is given cited. an Arabic number, running, as in the case of the 12. The year of the Act is all important since for Local Government Act 1972, to 30 in number. Children and Young Persons, there is the C & YP Where there is only one Schedule, it is referred to Act 1933, the C & YP Act 1963, and the C & YP as 'The Schedule'. If more than one it is called (as Act 1969 (not to mention the Children Act 1948, the case may be) 'Schedule 4' (abbreviated to another in 1958, still another in 1972 as well as 'Sch.4') (note upper case 'S' and the full stop the Children Act 1975, the Indecency with after 'h' which distinguishes it from 's.' used for Children Act 1960, plus the Young Persons section) to the ABC Act 19 . Schedules have (Employment) Acts of 1938 and 1964 and other paragraphs, instead of the Acts' sections, and Acts still, starting with the word 'Infant'). The there may be paragraphs and sub-paragraphs. Index to Statutes is in two volumes of over 1,000 The Schedule itself can be set out as the Acts are, pages each. or it may appear as a table, or as an inventory; 13. Besides the citing of an individual Act as one the Act dealing with the protection of birds has entry in an index, it is possible to make any of four Schedules, each listing a number of species. these entries: 10. There are two vital points to remember about (I) Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Acts making index entries citing Acts and the 1951 and 1961 (meaning two different Regulations made under them (see below): First Acts passed with 10 years separating the exact wording of the title given in the text them). must always be used; you ought to be able to rely on the author quoting it correctly; second the (II) Finance Acts 1956-1961 (written in full) year must invariably be given. (Always pick up an (meaning the six Finance Acts passed author who is careless about either of these since within those years). you cannot talk about the Companies Act as such (Ill) Electricity (Supply) Acts 1882 to 1936 because there are, among others, a Companies (where a number of sets of Acts are Act 1948, and a Companies Act 1967; this collectively cited). convention can be overcome to save space if there The words have to be the same even though the is a note at the head of an index indicating—'In years differ. You would not be able to couple this index reference to "the Act" means the ABC together the Salmon Fisheries Act 1861, with Act 19 .' A typically misquoted Act is the the Salmon Fishery Act 1865. On occasions Trade Descriptions Act 1968, which people will Parliament at different times in the same year call the Trades Description Act 1968. Note too deals with different aspects of the same subject (because they are not the same thing)—it is the producing two Acts with the same title in the Solicitors Act 1974; it is not the Solicitors' Act same year, giving us the Education Act 1968, and 1974 and it is the Employers' Liability (Com the Education (No. 2) Act 1968. There probably pulsory Insurance) Act 1969. is, or has been, an ABC Act 19 , an ABC 11. To illustrate the care needed, there are at least (Amendment) Act 19 , and an ABC (Amend 25 Acts or sets of Regulations dealing with ment) (No. 2) Act 19 . Very occasionally old agriculture, all wholly or partly in force; Acts are met such as 'Statute—Quia Emptores variations in title are considerable, all entirely 1289' and the relatively recent 'Statute of logical but nevertheless apt to be perplexing at Westminster 1931*. 206 The Indexer Vol. 11 No. 4 October 1979 14. Four other methods are in use to describe therefore, an Act of Parliament. Despite this the Acts of Parliament: Index to Statutes starts at 1235 ad. (a) They are sometimes referred to by the name 16. It should be noted also that, from 1963, the of the introducer: examples are Fox's Act 1792 year of the Act is not preceded by a comma and (the Libel Act 1792), resulting from the Munius' ought never to be given in brackets; i.e.