Reprints Act 1984

 

Reprints Act 1984

Contents

1.Short title1

2.Commencement1

3.Application1

4.Interpretation1

5.Attorney General may direct reprinting2

6.Annotations to be included in reprint3

7.Amendments of a formal nature3

7A.Delegation8

8.Proof of written law as reprinted9

9.Repeals and savings9

Notes

Compilation table10

Defined terms

 

Reprints Act 1984

An Act to make provision for the reprinting of Acts of Parliament, and subsidiary legislation made thereunder, and to provide for the incorporation of certain formal amendments in reprints.

1.Short title

This Act may be cited as the Reprints Act 1984 1.

2.Commencement

This Act shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation 1.

3.Application

A written law may be reprinted under this Act whether that written law came into operation before or after the commencement of this Act.

4.Interpretation

(1)In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears — 

authorised officer means a person who is empowered under section 5(3) to sign a statement under section 5(2);

referential expression means an expression in or to the effect of the words — 

(a)“of this Act”;

(b)“to this Act”;

(c)“of this Schedule”;

(d)“of this Part”;

(e)“of this Division”;

(f)“of this section”;

(g)“of this subsection”;

(h)“of this paragraph”;

(i)“of this subparagraph”;

(j)“of this clause”;

(k)“of this subclause”;

(ka)“of this definition”;

(l)“of this item”;

(m)“before‑mentioned” or “afore‑mentioned”;

(n)“hereof ”;

(o)“hereto”; or

(p)“said”, “the said”, “aforesaid” or “the aforesaid”,

and corresponding expressions appearing in subsidiary legislation, occurring in conjunction with a number or a letter or both to designate a provision of the written law in which the expression appears;

written law or law includes any portion of a written law or law.

(2)For the purposes of this Act, “written law” includes rules made under the Royal Prerogative.

[Section 4 amended: No. 15 of 1994 s. 4; No. 10 of 1998 s. 61(1); No. 74 of 2003 s. 102(2); No. 47 of 2011 s. 27.]

5.Attorney General may direct reprinting

(1)The Attorney General may, in writing — 

(a)direct the Government Printer to reprint any written law;

(b)revoke or amend a direction given under paragraph (a).

(2)A direction under subsection (1)(a), or an amendment to such a direction, shall be accompanied by — 

(a)a copy of the written law in the form in which it is required to be so reprinted; and

(b)a statement that such form has been prepared in the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.

(3)A statement under subsection (2)(b) shall be signed by the Parliamentary Counsel, a Deputy Parliamentary Counsel, or an Assistant Parliamentary Counsel of the State, or by some other person employed in the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office who is nominated by the Parliamentary Counsel and authorised in writing by the Attorney General to sign such a statement 2.

(4)The Government Printer shall comply with any direction given to him under this section.

[Section 5 amended: No. 31 of 1993 s. 61; No. 15 of 1994 s. 5.]

6.Annotations to be included in reprint

(1)Where a written law is reprinted under this Act there shall appear on the first page of the reprint a statement that it is reprinted under this Act.

(2)There shall also appear, in conjunction with the statement required under subsection (1), a reference to the date as at which the written law is reprinted.

(3)A reprint of a written law may include such other notes or information as the Attorney General may direct or as may be expedient to show the manner in which the reprint has been compiled.

7.Amendments of a formal nature

(1)An authorised officer may exercise any of the powers conferred by this section in respect of a written law that is reprinted under this Act.

(2)The exercise of a power conferred by this section shall not have effect to alter or otherwise affect the substance or operation of any written law.

(3)An authorised officer may substitute — 

(a)for words that designate cardinal numbers, figures that designate the same numbers;

(b)for words that designate ordinal numbers, figures and letters that designate the same numbers;

(c)for words that designate a sum of money, figures, together with the appropriate symbol, that designate the same sum;

(ca)for words, or words and figures, that designate a distance, weight, size, volume or other physical quantity, an expression that designates the same quantity by means of figures followed by an abbreviation of the relevant unit of measurement;

(d)for words, or words and figures, that designate a date, an expression that designates the same date by means of — 

(i)the number designating the day of the month;

(ii)the name of the month; and

(iii)where required, the year expressed in figures;

(da)for figures that designate a year of the 20th century for the purposes of a formality (e.g. as part of the date of completing a form), figures that designate a year of the 21st century for those purposes;

(e)for words, or words and figures, that designate a time of day, an expression that designates the same time by means of figures followed by the abbreviation “a.m.” or “p.m.” as the case may require;

(ea)for “per centum”, or “percent” or “per cent”, the symbol “%”;

(f)for a reference to His Majesty the King or Her Majesty the Queen, a reference to the Crown or the Sovereign;

(g)for a reference to a written law or a law made by or under the authority of any legislature outside the State, a reference to any other written law or law so made if the effect of — 

(i)the Interpretation Act 1984; or

(ii)any other written law,

is that the former is to be read, or to be taken to be amended to read, as the latter;

(ga)for a reference to a provision of a written law that was renumbered under an Act repealed by section 9(1), a reference to the provision as renumbered;

(gb)for a written law’s short title or other mode of citation which has been changed, a reference to the title or mode of citation as changed;

(h)for a name, style or title of a person, office, officer, authority, department, place, locality, or thing which has been changed, the name, style or title as changed;

(i)for a reference to — 

(i)a subsection of a section of an Act or a subclause of a clause of a Schedule to an Act; or

(ii)any lesser subdivision of a section or clause; or

(iii)any corresponding provision of subsidiary legislation,

which is expressed in the long form (e.g. subparagraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (1) of section 4), a reference to that provision expressed in the short form (e.g. section 4(1)(a), (b) or (c)).

(4)An authorised officer may omit — 

(a)any referential expression;

(b)words of enactment, and in the case of subsidiary legislation, words of attestation or authentication of its making, and any signature of the maker or makers;

(c)a provision as to the commencement of a written law;

(d)a provision that consists only of a statement showing the manner in which a written law is arranged into Parts or other divisions;

(e)a provision that has expired or become spent or had its effect;

(f)any repealing provision, including any list of repealed laws;

(g)any saving, transitional or validation provision which can conveniently be omitted by reason of its having application only to a time or events which have passed.

(4A)If in a series of 3 paragraphs in a written law —

(a)“and” or “or” (the relevant conjunction) appears after the second paragraph; and

(b)there is no conjunction after the first paragraph,

an authorised officer may insert the relevant conjunction after the first paragraph.

(4B)If in a series of 4 or more paragraphs in a written law —

(a)“and” or “or” (the relevant conjunction) appears after the paragraph that is next before the last paragraph; and

(b)there is no conjunction after any preceding paragraph,

an authorised officer may insert the relevant conjunction after each preceding paragraph.

(4C)For the purposes of subsections (4A) and (4B), 2 paragraphs that are separated by text other than a paragraph of the same kind may be regarded as not being in the same series of paragraphs even if their designations are sequential.

(4D)In subsections (4A) to (4C) —

paragraph includes a subparagraph, item, subitem and any other similar provision.

(5)An authorised officer may — 

(a)make any amendment necessary to give effect to a provision in a written law whereby other written laws are to be deemed to be amended, or to have effect or be construed as if they had been amended, in a specified manner;

(aa)amend a list of definitions in a written law by changing the sequence in which the definitions are listed;

(ab)amend an address, a telephone number or other contact details in a written law to reflect changes or additions to those details;

(b)correct any error in — 

(i)spelling;

(ii)grammar;

(iii)punctuation;

(iv)the use of upper or lower case; or

(v)the typing or printing,

in or of a written law;

(ba)correct any inconsistency within a written law in respect of any matter mentioned in paragraph (b);

(c)correct any error or anomaly in — 

(i)the way in which a written law is referred to; or

(ii)the way in which a provision is designated;

(d)where in a provision a term that is being defined appears in bold italic text and begins with a definite or indefinite article, amend the provision to —

(i)delete the article; or

(ii)change the appearance of the text so that the article is not in bold or italics.

(5a)For the purposes of subsection (5) an authorised officer may make any amendment not affecting the meaning of the written law.

(5b)Despite anything in subsection (2) or (5a), an authorised officer may make a clerk’s amendment to an Act even if the amendment affects the operation or meaning of the Act.

(5c)In subsection (5b) clerk’s amendment means an amendment of a reference in a provision of an Act to another provision of the Act, being an amendment in respect of which the Clerk of the Parliaments has issued a certificate to the Attorney General to the effect that the amendment — 

(a)is one that should have been made as a clerical amendment before an Act received the Royal Assent in consequence of other amendments made to the Act during its passage through Parliament as a Bill; and

(b)is necessary in order to enable an Act to have the operation and meaning that Parliament intended it to have.

(6)The Attorney General may, when issuing a direction to the Government Printer under section 5(1) or at any time subsequently, issue a certificate to the effect that an amendment specified in the certificate has been effected in accordance with this section and such a certificate shall be evidence for all purposes, and be admissible in all courts, that the amendment has been lawfully made in accordance with this section.

[Section 7 amended: No. 15 of 1994 s. 6; No. 10 of 1998 s. 61(2); No. 24 of 2000 s. 38; No. 74 of 2003 s. 102(3); No. 31 of 2010 s. 9.]

7A.Delegation

The Attorney General may, by instrument in writing, delegate to the Parliamentary Counsel the functions and powers conferred on the Attorney General under sections 5(1) and (3), 6(3) and 7(6).

[Section 7A inserted: No. 10 of 1998 s. 61(3).]

8.Proof of written law as reprinted

(1)A reprint of any written law under this Act or under an Act repealed by section 9, shall be judicially noticed by all courts and persons acting judicially.

(2)Where any paper purporting to be — 

(a)a copy of a written law, or a written law as amended; and

(b)a reprint made under this Act, or an Act repealed by section 9,

is produced to a court or person acting judicially it shall be taken, unless the contrary is shown, that the paper is a correct copy of that written law, or that written law as so amended.

9.Repeals and savings

(1)The following Acts are repealed — 

(a)the Statutes Compilation Act 1905;

(b)the Amendments Incorporation Act 1938;

(c)the Reprinting of Acts Authorization Act 1953; and

(d)the Reprinting of Regulations Act 1954.

[(2)Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(f).]

(3)The repeal of an Act by subsection (1) shall not affect the reprinting thereunder of any written law where the reprint was authorised by the Attorney General before such repeal; and any such written law may be reprinted as if subsection (1) had not been passed.

 

Notes

1This is a compilation of the Reprints Act 1984 and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.

Compilation table

Short title

Number and year

Assent

Commencement

Reprints Act 1984

13 of 1984

31 May 1984

1 Feb 1985 (see s. 2 and Gazette 11 Jan 1985 p. 175)

Acts Amendment (Ministry of Justice) Act 1993 Pt. 16 3

31 of 1993

15 Dec 1993

1 Jul 1993 (see s. 2)

Reprints Amendment Act 1994

15 of 1994

22 Apr 1994

22 Apr 1994 (see s. 2)

Reprint of the Reprints Act 1984 as at 18 Sep 1996 (includes amendments listed above)

Statutes (Repeals and Minor Amendments) Act (No. 2) 1998 s. 61

10 of 1998

30 Apr 1998

30 Apr 1998 (see s. 2(1))

Statutes (Repeals and Minor Amendments) Act 2000 s. 38

24 of 2000

4 Jul 2000

4 Jul 2000 (see s. 2)

Statutes (Repeals and Minor Amendments) Act 2003 s. 102

74 of 2003

15 Dec 2003

15 Dec 2003 (see s. 2)

Reprint 2: The Reprints Act 1984 as at 19 Mar 2004 (includes amendments listed above)

Interpretation and Reprints Amendment Act 2010 Pt. 3

31 of 2010

25 Aug 2010

26 Aug 2010 (see s. 2(b))

Statutes (Repeals and Minor Amendments) Act 2011 s. 27

47 of 2011

25 Oct 2011

26 Oct 2011 (see s. 2(b))

2The positions of Senior Parliamentary Counsel and Senior Assistant Parliamentary Counsel have been authorised under section 5(3).

3The Acts Amendment (Ministry of Justice) Act 1993 Pt. 19 reads as follows: 

Part 19 — Savings and transitional

68.Savings

If this Act is not passed until after 1 July 1993, anything done after that day but before this Act is passed that would have been in accordance with law if this Act had not come into operation but as a result of the coming into operation of this Act is contrary to law, is deemed to be in accordance with law.

69.Transitional

Unless the contrary intention appears, a reference, however expressed, in any law or document to the former Department of Corrective Services or Crown Law Department, the chief executive officer of either of those departments, or an office or organizational unit within either of those departments, is to be read as a reference to the Ministry of Justice, the chief executive officer of the Ministry of Justice, or the corresponding office or unit within the Ministry of Justice, as is appropriate.

”.

 

 

Defined terms

 

[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]

Defined termProvision(s)

authorised officer4(1)

clerk’s amendment7(5c)

law4(1)

paragraph7(4D)

referential expression4(1)

relevant conjunction7(4A), 7(4B)

written law4(1)