1992 Legislative Session: 1st Session, 35th Parliament
FIRST READING


The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.


ATTORNEY GENERAL

BILL 44 -- 1992

STATUTE REVISION ACT

Contents

Section  

1 

Preparation of revision

2 

Revision powers

3 

Revision to be submitted to committee of Legislative Assembly

4 

Approved revision to be deposited as official copy

5 

How revision comes into force

6 

Title and publication of revision

7 

Repeal of previous version of statutes

8 

Legal effect of revision

9 

How references are to be interpreted

10 

Interim corrections to revision

11 

Interpretation Act applies

12 

Repeal of former Act

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Preparation of revision

1 The Chief Legislative Counsel may prepare

(a) a general revision consisting of the public Acts enacted before a date chosen by the Chief Legislative Counsel together with those other Acts considered advisable, or

(b) a limited revision consisting of an Act or a portion of an Act.

Revision powers

2 (1) In preparing a revision, the Chief Legislative Counsel may do any or all of the following:

(a) combine Acts or provisions of them;

(b) alter the numbering and the arrangement of Acts or provisions;

(c) rename an Act or portion of an Act;

(d) alter language and punctuation to achieve a clear, consistent and gender neutral style;

(e) make minor amendments to clarify the intent of the Legislature, to reconcile inconsistent provisions or to correct grammatical or typographical errors;

(f) for a limited revision, make minor amendments to other Acts required to reconcile them with a revised Act as if the minor amendments were consequential amendments to the revised Act;

(g) include in the revision a supplement containing those Acts or provisions that, although enacted, have not been brought into force, and indicate how they are to come into force;

(h) omit Acts or provisions that are spent, are repealed or have no legal effect;

(i) omit Acts or provisions that do not apply throughout British Columbia;

(j) omit forms or schedules from an Act.

(2) If a form or schedule is omitted under subsection (1) (j), a power to prescribe the form or schedule by regulation may be added to the appropriate Act.

(3) A form or schedule omitted from a revision is repealed on the coming into force of the revision.

(4) A regulation prescribing a form or schedule may be enacted before a revision comes into force but the regulation has no effect until the revision comes into force.

Revision to be submitted to committee of Legislative Assembly

3 The Chief Legislative Counsel must give a revision to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly for presentation to a select standing committee of the Legislative Assembly designated by the Legislative Assembly to examine the revision.

Approved revision to be deposited as official copy

4 (1) If the select standing committee approves a revision and recommends that it be brought into force, the Lieutenant Governor may direct that a copy of the revision be deposited with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly as the official copy of the revision.

(2) The official copy must be signed by the Lieutenant Governor and countersigned by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

How revision comes into force

5 (1) The Lieutenant Governor may specify by regulation when a revision deposited under section 4 (1) comes into force.

(2) A revision comes into force for all purposes as if it were expressly included in and enacted by an Act.

(3) A provision in a supplement to a revision comes into force as provided in the supplement.

(4) From the time a revision comes into force, the official copy deposited with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly must be considered to be the original of the statutes of British Columbia replaced by the revision.

(5) The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly must keep the official copy of the most recent Revised Statutes of British Columbia until the next general revision comes into force.

Title and publication of revision

6 (1) A general revision may be published with the title Revised Statutes of British Columbia and may include in the title the year of its publication.

(2) A limited revision may be given a chapter number as if it were enacted in the current session of the Legislature or, if the Legislature is not then in session, in the next session, and the limited revision may be published in the volume of Acts enacted in that session.

Repeal of previous version of statutes

7 (1) When a general revision comes into force,

(a) the existing Revised Statutes of British Columbia, and

(b) all other Acts and provisions that are included in the general revision but were not included in the existing Revised Statutes of British Columbia

are repealed to the extent that they are incorporated in the general revision.

(2) When a limited revision comes into force, the Acts or provisions it replaces are repealed to the extent that they are incorporated in the limited revision.

Legal effect of revision

8 (1) A revision does not operate as new law but has effect and must be interpreted as a consolidation of the law contained in the Acts and provisions replaced by the revision.

(2) If a revised provision has the same effect as a provision replaced by the revision, the revised provision

(a) operates retrospectively as well as prospectively, and

(b) is deemed to have been enacted and to have come into force on the day on which the provision replaced by the revision came into force.

(3) If a revised provision does not have the same effect as a provision replaced by the revision,

(a) the provision replaced by the revision governs all transactions, matters and things before the revision comes into force, and

(b) the revised provision governs all transactions, matters and things after the revision comes into force.

How references are to be interpreted

9 (1) A reference in any of the following to an Act or provision included in a revision must be interpreted, in relation to any transaction, matter or thing after the coming into force of the revision, as a reference to the revised Act or provision having the same effect as the Act or provision replaced by the revision:

(a) an Act or provision that was enacted before the coming into force of the revision and that is not included in the revision;

(b) a regulation or other instrument enacted before the coming into force of the revision;

(c) a document existing before the coming into force of the revision.

(2) A reference in any of the enactments or documents referred to in subsection (1) (a) to (c) to the Revised Statutes of British Columbia must be interpreted, in relation to any transaction, matter or thing after the coming into force of a general revision, as a reference to the new Revised Statutes of British Columbia.

Interim corrections to revision

10 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations to correct, in a manner consistent with the powers of revision in this Act, any error in a revision.

(2) A regulation under this section may be made retroactive to the coming into force of the revision.

(3) A regulation under this section ceases to have effect after the last day of the next session of the Legislature after the regulation is made.

Interpretation Act applies

11 The Interpretation Act applies to a revision as it applies to other enactments.

Repeal of former Act

12 The Statute Revision Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 394, is repealed.


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