Effect of repeal of a statute

Vande Matram! Interpretation of Statute is very important skill which every law professional must possess. Hence it is incorporated in the degree course of law. Let’s understand effect of repeal of a statute.

Effect of repeal of a statute:

Society is never static but always dynamic and change is the supreme law of every society. To keep pace with this trend, every legislature responds to changing social, economic, political and other conditions through the instrumentality of enacting new laws or repealing the existing laws with reference to change in the society. In India, the parliament is competent, in its plenary powers, not only to introduce a new law but also to repeal it by another enactment or to revive or re-enact legislation which had already expired by lapse of time.

Meaning of repeal:

Repeal is the abrogation or destruction of law by legislative enactment. Substitution of one legal provision by another is in fact repeal.

The repeal of an enactment may be partial or total. It is total repeal when a statute is abrogated in its entirety and partial when there is abrogation or modification of a provision of a statute only. Repeal may be either express or implied. It is express when declared in direct terms and implied when the intention to repeal is inferred from subsequent contradictory or inconsistent legislation.

The meaning of the word ‘repeal’ is extended to be comprehensive enough to include amendment, omission, insertion, substitution, addition and re-enactment.

Effect of repeal under the General Clauses Act:

Whenever there is a repeal of a statute, the consequences laid down in section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 shall follow unless a different intention can be presumed from the repealing statute. Section 6 of The General Clauses Act, 1897 is applicable whether it is repeal or amendment and there is no reason for giving any different effect to these two methods which achieve the same result.

A statute providing no fixed time for its duration is a perpetual statute. A perpetual statute is not perpetual in the sense that it cannot be repealed or amended by the legislature; it is perpetual in the sense that it is not decimated or abrogated by the expiry of time. As a result, whenever a perpetual statute is repealed, the effect as provided by sec. 6 of the General Clauses Act would follow.

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