STATUTE LAW REVISION ACT 2015

An Act to promote the revision of statute law by revoking, with the exception of certain instruments, every instrument made before 1 January 1821, to identify those instruments that are not being revoked by this Act, to assign citations to those instruments so as to facilitate their citation, to amend the Statutory Instruments Act 1947, to provide a means by which prima facie evidence of certain instruments may be given, to transfer certain functions under the Statute Law Revision Act 2007 and to provide for related matters. [18th July, 2015.]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

1. Interpretation

1. In this Act—

“Act of 2005” means the Interpretation Act 2005;

“instrument” means—

• (a) an order, regulation, rule, bye-law, scheme or proclamation,

• (b) any similar instrument (including a warrant, licence, certificate, direction, notice or guideline) of a regulatory, general or public nature, howsoever described, other than a charter or letters patent, or

• (c) any instrument referred to in Schedule 2,

which was made in exercise of a power conferred by or under a statute, instrument, charter, administrative authority or executive authority including a prerogative power, or which was published in, or notice of the making of which was published in, the Dublin Gazette or the London Gazette;

“made” includes issued, granted or otherwise created;

“Minister” means the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform;

“statute” includes, where the context allows, a royal ordinance, charter or similar document that—

• (a) is of a public and general nature, and

• (b) by virtue of its antiquity and having been granted or otherwise made before or during the development of the parliamentary system, is judicially noticed as having the force and effect of an Act of Parliament.

2. General statute law revision revocation and saver

2. (1) Subject to subsection (2), all instruments made before 1 January 1821 that are in force in the State immediately before the passing of this Act are revoked.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to—

• (a) the instruments specified in Schedule 1, or

• (b) any saving, or any transitional or continuing matter, provided for or in respect of an instrument revoked by or under—

• (i) any instrument made, or

• (ii) any statute passed,

before the passing of this Act.

• (3) Subsection (2)(b) is without prejudice to section 27 of the Act of 2005 and section 5.

• (4) The inclusion of an instrument in Schedule 1 shall not confer any statutory effect on the instrument or restrict the exercise of any power to amend or revoke that instrument.

• (5) An instrument specified in column (3) of Schedule 1, opposite a reference number specified in column (1) of that Schedule, may be revoked by an order made by the Minister of the Government specified in column (5) of that Schedule opposite that reference number.

• (6) Subsection (5) is without prejudice to any other power of revocation, including section 22(3) of the Act of 2005.

• (7) An order under subsection (5) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if either such House, within the next 21 days on which the House sits after the order is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the order, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under it.

3. Specific revocations

3. (1) For ease of reference, there is set out in Schedule 2 a list of instruments made before 1 January 1821 which—

• (a) were not wholly revoked before the passing of this Act, and

• (b) are not saved by virtue of section 2(2)(a),

and for the purposes of this subsection “wholly revoked” includes an instrument to which section 2(2)(b) relates.

• (2) The fact that an instrument, other than an instrument to which section 2(2)(a) relates, is not referred to in Schedule 2 shall not be read as saving or continuing such instrument for any purpose other than as provided for by or referred to in section 2(2)(b).

• (3) The inclusion of an instrument in Schedule 2 shall not be taken as evidence that the instrument, or any provision of it, was of full force and effect immediately before the passing of this Act.

4. Assignment of citations

4. In respect of each instrument specified in column (1) in any Part of Schedule 1, each such instrument may be cited by the citation assigned to it in column (4) of the Part concerned opposite the mention of that instrument in column (3).

5. Savings

5. (1) This Act does not affect any existing principle or rule of law or equity or any established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure or any existing trust, notwithstanding that it may have been in any manner derived from, affirmed or recognised by any instrument revoked by this Act.

• (2) Where any instrument not revoked by this Act, or statute, has been commenced, applied, confirmed, revived or perpetuated by a revoked instrument, such commencement, application, confirmation, revival or perpetuation is not affected by the revocation.

6. Amendment of sections 2 and 3 of Statutory Instruments Act 1947

6. The Statutory Instruments Act 1947 is amended—

• (a) in section 2—

• (i) by inserting after subsection (2) the following:

• “(2A) Statutory instruments made under any of—

  • (a) sections 17, 21 to 23, 25 to 27, 29, 33, 35, 36(3) as respects revocation orders, 37 to 49, 53, 55, 56, 60 to 68, 70, 72, 73, 75, 80 to 82, 84, 86 to 88, 90, 92 to 94, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 114 to 117, 180, 182, 184, 243, 244, 246, 290 and 292 of the Defence Act 1954, or

  • (b) sections 2 and 5 of the Defence (Amendment) Act 1990,

  shall not be instruments to which this Act primarily applies.”,

• (ii) by repealing subsections (3) and (4), and

• (iii) in subsection (5) —

• (I) in paragraph (a), by deleting “or direction”, and

• (II) in paragraph (b), by deleting “or direction” in both places where it occurs,

and

• (b) in section 3(1) (as substituted by section 1 of the Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Act 1955) in paragraph (a), by deleting all the words beginning with “, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce” down to and including “the Galway Chamber of Commerce”.

7. Evidence of certain instruments and designation of specified institution

7. (1) In addition to the provisions of the Evidence Act 1845, the Documentary Evidence Act 1868 and the Documentary Evidence Act 1882 (in so far as they relate to the publications set out in paragraph (a)), prima facie evidence of an instrument (including, if required, an instrument revoked by section 2) may be given in all courts and in all legal proceedings—

• (a) by producing a copy of the instrument as published in one of the following publications:

• (i) the Dublin Gazette (in the Schedules referred to as “D.G.”);

• (ii) the London Gazette (in the Schedules referred to as “L.G.”);

• (iii) Iris Oifigiúil;

• (iv) the annual volumes of Statutory Rules and Orders, published by authority from 1894 to 1922;

• (v) the Statutory Rules and Orders Revised, published by authority in 1889;

• (vi) the Statutory Rules and Orders Revised, published by authority in 1903;

• (vii) the Statutory Rules and Orders and Statutory Instruments Revised, third edition, published by the H.M.S.O. in 1948 (in Schedule 2 referred to as “Rev. 1948”);

• (viii) “Proclamations of Ireland”, edited by James Kelly with Marian Lyons, published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 2014 (in the Schedules referred to as “P.O.I.”);

• (ix) “A Bibliography of Proclamations 1485-1910”, Volume I, edited by Robert Steele and published in 1910 (in the Schedules referred to as “Steele Vol. 1”);

• (x) “A Bibliography of Proclamations 1485-1910”, Volume II, edited by Robert Steele and published in 1910 (in the Schedules referred to as “Steele Vol. 2”);

• (xi) “A Bibliography of Proclamations 1485-1910”, Volume III, edited by Robert Steele and published in 1910;

• (xii) “A Bibliography of Proclamations 1485-1910”, Volume IV, edited by Robert Steele and published in 1913 (in the Schedules referred to as “Steele Vol. 4”);

• (xiii) “Tudor Royal Proclamations”, Volume I, edited by Paul Hughes and James Larkin and published in 1964 (in the Schedules referred to as H. & L.T. Vol. 1);

• (xiv) “Tudor Royal Proclamations”, Volume II, edited by Paul Hughes and James Larkin and published in 1969 (in the Schedules referred to as H. & L.T. Vol. 2);

• (xv) “Tudor Royal Proclamations”, Volume III, edited by Paul Hughes and James Larkin and published in 1969 (in the Schedules referred to as H. & L.T. Vol. 3);

• (xvi) “Stuart Royal Proclamations”, Volume I, edited by Paul Hughes and James Larkin and published in 1973 (in the Schedules referred to as H. & L. S. Vol. 1);

• (xvii) “Stuart Royal Proclamations”, Volume II, edited by James Larkin and published in 1983 (in the Schedules referred to as Larkin S. Vol. 2),

or

• (b) by producing a copy taken from the copy of the instrument as published in any publication referred to in paragraph (a), where the copy so taken is certified by an official of a specified institution to be a true and accurate copy of the instrument as appears in the publication concerned; and any document purporting to be a copy so taken (however expressed) shall be received in evidence without proof of the official position or handwriting of the person signing the certificate, or of his or her authority to do so.

• (2)
• (a) In subsection (1)(b) “specified institution” means the National Library of Ireland, or such other library or archive as may be designated in writing by the Minister under paragraph (b).

• (b) The Minister may designate a library or archive for the purposes of this section and, except where otherwise provided for by the designation, the designation shall be deemed to be made in respect of all of the publications referred to in subsection (1)(a).

• (c) A designation under paragraph (b) may be revoked by the Minister.

• (d) Notice of the making of a designation or a revocation under this subsection shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as practicable after it has been made.

• (3) A specified institution may impose a charge or charges for the purpose of covering the costs incurred by it in providing, under this section, a copy of an instrument, including costs relating to retrieving and copying from the publication concerned and checking and certifying the copy of the instrument.

8. Transfer of functions under section 8 of Statute Law Revision Act 2007

8. The functions of the Taoiseach under section 8 of the Statute Law Revision Act 2007 are transferred to the Minister.

9. Short title and collective citations

9. (1) This Act may be cited as the Statute Law Revision Act 2015.

• (2) The Short Titles Acts 1896 to 2012, section 4, this subsection and, in so far as it relates to section 4, Schedule 1 may be cited together as the Short Titles Acts 1896 to 2015.

• (3) The statutes specified in the Table to this section and this Act may be cited together as the Statute Law Revision Acts 1861 to 2015.

Table

List of Prior Statutes included in Collective Citation provided by subsection (3)

Statute Law Revision Act 1861

Statute Law Revision Act 1867

Statute Law Revision Act 1870

Statute Law Revision Act 1871

Statute Law Revision Act 1872

Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (No. 2)

Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872

Statute Law Revision Act 1873

Statute Law Revision Act 1874

Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (No. 2)

Statute Law Revision Act 1875

Statute Law Revision (Substituted Enactments) Act 1876

Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878

Statute Law Revision Act 1878

Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879

Statute Law Revision Act 1883

Statute Law Revision Act 1887

Statute Law Revision Act 1888

Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888

Statute Law Revision Act 1890

Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1890

Statute Law Revision Act 1891

Statute Law Revision Act 1892

Statute Law Revision Act 1893

Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1893

Statute Law Revision Act 1894

Statute Law Revision Act 1898

Statute Law Revision Act 1908

Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962

Statute Law Revision Act 1983

Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Act 2005

Statute Law Revision Act 2007

Statute Law Revision Act 2009

Statute Law Revision Act 2012

SCHEDULE 1 Instruments Retained in Force

Part 1 Irish Instruments 1169 to 1800

Part 2 Instruments of England 1066 to 1707

Part 3 Instruments of Great Britain 1707 to 1800

Part 4 Instruments of the British Government in Ireland 1801 to 1820

Part 5 United Kingdom Instruments 1801 to 1820

SCHEDULE 2 Instruments Revoked

Part 1 Irish Instruments 1169 to 1800