''Halsbury's Laws'' says that Statute Law Revision Acts are
law reform Acts. Under the standing orders of both Houses of Parliament,
Statute Law Revision Bills must be referred to the
Joint Committee on Consolidation etc. Bills. The
Statute Law Committee prepared the bills for Statute Law Revision Acts up to, and including, the Statute Law Revision Act 1966. The scope of Statute Law Revision Bills is confined to the repeal of obsolete,
spent, unnecessary or superseded enactments. The bill for the Statute Law Revision Act 1892 contains the following note, which describes the classes of enactments repealed by that act. Certain other Statute Law Revision Bills contain similar notes as they repealed similar classes of enactments. Enactments repealed by Statute Law Revision Acts include enactments which had become totally inoperative from having been
impliedly repealed. The following list includes any act the short title of which includes the words "statute law revision", without prejudice to suggestions that some of these acts are not actually Statute Law Revision Acts. • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1861 (
24 & 25 Vict. c. 101) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (
26 & 27 Vict. c. 125) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1867 (
30 & 31 Vict. c. 59) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1870 (
33 & 34 Vict. c. 69) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1871 (
34 & 35 Vict. c. 116) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (
35 & 36 Vict. c. 63) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1872 (No. 2) (
35 & 36 Vict. c. 97) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1873 (
36 & 37 Vict. c. 91) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (
37 & 38 Vict. c. 35) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1874 (No. 2) (
37 & 38 Vict. c. 96) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1875 (
38 & 39 Vict. c. 66) • The
Statute Law Revision (Substituted Enactments) Act 1876 (
39 & 40 Vict. c. 20) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1878 (
41 & 42 Vict. c. 79) • The
Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1881 (
44 & 45 Vict. c. 59) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1883 (
46 & 47 Vict. c. 39) • The
Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1883 (
46 & 47 Vict. c. 49) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1887 (
50 & 51 Vict. c. 59) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1888 (
51 & 52 Vict. c. 3) • The
Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888 (
51 & 52 Vict. c. 57) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1890 (
53 & 54 Vict. c. 33) • The
Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1890 (
53 & 54 Vict. c. 51) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1891 (
54 & 55 Vict. c. 67) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1892 (
55 & 56 Vict. c. 19) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1893 (
56 & 57 Vict. c. 14) • The
Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1893 (
56 & 57 Vict. c 54) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1894 (
57 & 58 Vict. c. 56) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1898 (
61 & 62 Vict. c. 22) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1908 (
8 Edw. 7. c. 49) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1927 (
17 & 18 Geo. 5. c. 42) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (
11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 62) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1950 (
14 Geo. 6. c. 6) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (
2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 5) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1958 (
6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 46) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1959 (
7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 68) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1960 (
8 & 9 Eliz. 2. c. 56) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1963 (c. 30) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1964 (c. 79) • The
Statute Law Revision (Consequential Repeals) Act 1965 (c. 55) • The
Statute Law Revision Act 1966 (c. 5)
Courtenay Ilbert said that the
Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856 (
19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) was the first Statute Law Revision Act. The
Promissory Oaths Act 1871 (
34 & 35 Vict. c. 48), the
Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879 (
42 & 43 Vict. c. 59), and the
Master and Servant Act 1889 (
52 & 53 Vict. c. 24) were expressed by their preambles to be passed for the purpose of statute law revision.
Scotland • The
Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1906 (
6 Edw. 7. c. 38) • The
Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1964 (c. 80)
Ireland (before 1922) • The
Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872 (
35 & 36 Vict. c. 98) • The
Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878 (
41 & 42 Vict. c. 57) • The
Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879 (
42 & 43 Vict. c. 24)
Northern Ireland • The
Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1952 (c. 1) (NI) • The
Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 (c. 1) (NI) • The
Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (c. 35) (NI) • The
Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1973 (c. 55) • The
Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 (c. 12) • The
Statute Law Revision (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 (c. 59)
The Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 and 1953 means the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1952 and the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.
The Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 to 1954 means the Statute Law Revision Acts (Northern Ireland) 1952 and 1953, and the Statute Law Revision Act (Northern Ireland) 1954. The
Short Titles Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 and the
Repeal of Unnecessary Laws Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 also contribute to the revision of the statute book in Northern Ireland.
Isle of Man The following act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom repealed enactments extending to the Isle of Man: • The
Statute Law Revision (Isle of Man) Act 1991 (c. 61)
The Westbury saving The
Westbury saving, named for its proponent
Lord Westbury, was an increasingly complex
saving provision that was included in all Statute Law Revision Acts from 1861 until 1953, and which reached its final standardised form in the
Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888. The reason for its inclusion was as a precautionary measure, intended to prevent any substantive changes to the law arising out of any repeals and to confine the acts to the administrative function of clearing dead wood from the statute book. As well as explicitly preventing any repeal from affecting the interpretation of any statute still in force, it also retained any right, benefit, claim, liability, principle of law and court jurisdiction that had previously arisen under a repealed act. {{Cquote|
The enactments described in the schedule to this Act are hereby repealed, subject to the provisions of this Act and subject to the exceptions and qualifications in the said schedule mentioned; and every part of a title, preamble, or recital specified after the words "in part, namely," in connexion with an Act mentioned in the said schedule may be omitted from any revised edition of the statutes published by authority after the passing of this Act, and there may be added in the said edition such brief statement of the Acts, officers, persons, and things mentioned in the title, preamble, or recital, as may in consequence of such omission appear necessary: :
Provided as follows:— :
The repeal of any words or expressions of enactment described in the said schedule shall not affect the binding force, operation, or construction of any statute, or of any part of a statute, whether as respects the past or the future; :
and where any enactment not comprised in the said schedule has been repealed, confirmed, revived, or perpetuated by any enactment hereby repealed, such repeal, confirmation, revivor, or perpetuation shall not be affected by the repeal effected by this Act; :
and the repeal by this Act of any enactment or schedule shall not affect any enactment in which such enactment or schedule has been applied, incorporated, or referred to; :
nor shall such repeal of any enactment affect any right to any hereditary revenues of the Crown, or affect any charges thereupon or prevent any such enactment from being put in force for the collection of any such revenues, or otherwise in relation thereto; :
and this Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect, or consequences of anything already done or suffered,—or any existing status or capacity,—or any right, title, obligation, or liability, already acquired, accrued, or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof,—or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim, or demand,—or any indemnity,—or the proof of any past act or thing; :
nor shall this Act affect any principle or rule of law or equity, or established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice, or procedure, or the general or public nature of any statute, or any existing usage, franchise, liberty, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office, appointment, payment, allowance, emolument, or benefit, or any prospective right, notwithstanding that the same respectively may have been in any manner affirmed, recognised, or derived by, in, or from any enactment hereby repealed; :
nor shall this Act revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, duty, drawback, fee, payment, franchise, liberty, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure, form of punishment, or other matter or thing not now existing or in force; :''and this Act shall not extend to repeal any enactment so far as the same may be in force in any part of His Majesty's dominions out of the United Kingdom, except where otherwise expressed in the said schedule.'' Although the
Interpretation Act 1889 greatly expanded the 1850 general saving provision, the
Westbury saving continued to be inserted into Statute Law Revision Acts, as the 1889 act did not provide that any principle of law or court jurisdiction arising under an act would be retained on its repeal. However, the
Westbury saving's complexity and wide reach gave it a reputation for making the law uncertain and inaccessible (due to the fact that the repealed provisions would not be included in any
revised edition of the statutes). As a result, it was not included in any act after the
Statute Law Revision Act 1953, as any extension beyond the provisions of the 1889 act was considered undesirable. ==Republic of Ireland==