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  Home > Law > Law glossary > Law glossary

Interpretation Act (1978)

Last modified: Thu Feb 23 16:37:37 2006

This Act provides general rules on the interpretation of statutory documents by the courts, etc. The most important include that, unless otherwise stated:

  • an Act comes into effect at the beginning of the day defined in the Act itself or, if no date is specified, on the day it receives the RoyalAssent;
  • masculine words imply feminine and vice versa; plurals imply singulars and vice versa;
  • a reference to `the Sovereign' is taken to refer to the current monarch;
  • if statute X repeals statute Y, and X is then repealed, Y remains repealed. That is, repealing a repeal does not cancel out the original repeal;
  • if more than one Act creates an offence with the same particulars, an offender may be punished under any relevant Act, but not more than one;
There are also definitions of phrases relating to serving documents by post, meanings of terms like `savings institution', and provisions for how measurements of distance and time are to be interpreted. This Act is binding on the Crown.

See: StatutoryInterpretation

LegislativeInstruments

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