Consolidation Acts (English). Acts by which several Acts upon the same subject are reduced into one. Of such a character are the Larceny Act, 1861, now largely repealed and replaced by the Larceny Act, 1916, and other Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861, the Public Health Act, 1875, the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, the Sheriffs Act, 1887, the Arbitration Act, 1889, the Factors Act, 1889, the Lunacy Act, 1890, the Stamp Act, 1891, the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, the Coal Mines Act, 1911, the Forgery Act, 1913, the Companies Act,1929, the Poor Law Act, 1930, the Local Government Act, 1933, the County Court Act, 1934.
The (English) Interpretation Act, 1889 (see that title), by s. 38(1) enacts that--
Where this Act or any Act passed after the commencement of this Act repeals and re-enacts, with or without modification, any provisions of a former Act, references in any other Act to the provisions so repealed shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as references to the provisions so re-enacted.
This is a generalization of a modern common form in (English) Consolidation Acts: see, e.g., s. 13 of the (English) Public Health Act, 1875, and see also Stevens v. Gen. Steam Navigation Co., (1905) 1 KB 890.
Compare the title, CODE.