Repeal - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition repeal

Definition :

Repeal, a revocation or abrogation. Repeal of one act of Parliament by another is either express or implied, the rule being that a later Act repeals a former one if contradictory thereto, Leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant. By s. 11 of the Inter-pretation Act, 1889, re-enacting s. 5 of Lord Brougham's Act (13 Vict. c. 21), where an Act passed after 1850 repeals a repealing enactment, it does not revive any enactment previously repealed. And by s. 38 of the same Act, where any Act passed after January 1st, 1890, repeals and re-enacts any provisions of a former Act, references in any other Act to the provisions so repealed are to be construed as references to the provisions so re-enacted, as had been already specially provided in the consolidating Public Health Act, 1875, by s. 313, and Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, by s. 102, and see R. v. Minister of Health, Ex p. Villiers, (1936) 2 KB 29.

Abrogation of an existing law by legislative act, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1301.

Express Repeal.--Repeal effected by specific declara-tion in a new statute, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1301.

Implied Repeal.--The effect of an implied repeal is the same as that of an express repeal; but the leaning of the courts is against implied repeal. See West Ham v. Fourth City Mutual Building Society, (1892) 1 QB 654, and other cases cited in Mew's Digest, vol. 19, p. 842, tit. 'Statute.'

A repeal may be brought about by repugnant legislation, without even any reference to the Act intended to be repealed, for once legislative competence to effect a repeal is posited, it matters little whether this is done expressly or inferentially or by the enactment of repugnant legislation, State of Orissa v. M.A. Tulloch and Co., AIR 1964 SC 1284: (1964) 4 SCR 461.

The word 'repeal' connotes abrogation or obliteration of one statute by another, from the statute book as completely 'as if it had never been passed'; when an Act is repealed, 'it must be considered (except as to transactions past and closed) as if it had never existed', India Tobacco Co. Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer, AIR 1975 SC 155: (1975) 3 SCC 512 (517): (1975) 2 SCR 612. (General Clauses Act, 1897, s. 6) Repeal, in Parliament of India, the repealing clause embodies both repeal and savings. When an enactment is repealed, all rules made thereunder are ipso facto repealed. However the repeal does not affect anything done under the repealed Act; it does not affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired or incurred under the repealed Act, or any investigation, legal proceedings or remedy in respect thereof, Practice and Procedure of Parliament, M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakdher, 5th Edn., 2001, p. 540.

Means the revocation or abrogation of one written law by another, A Dictionary of Law, Willium C. Anderson, 1889, p. 879.

Means to withdraw officially or formally, Webster American Dictionary, p. 1233.

Repeal, the saving clause is inserted in the Statute in order to protect or save a person as regards rights which he may have acquired under the law repealed, Practice and Procedure of Parliament, M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakdher, 5th Edn., 2001, p. 540