Long title | An Act to make provision with respect to the operation, interpretation and citation of Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and of instruments made thereunder. |
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Citation | 1954 c. 33 (N.I.) |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 21 December 1954 |
Other legislation | |
Relates to | Interpretation Act 1978 |
Status: Amended | |
Revised text of statute as amended |
The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (c. 33 (N.I.)) is an act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. The Act makes provision for the interpretation of Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. [2] The Act is known as a "Interpretation Act". [3]
The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 binds the Crown. [2]
Originally the Act did not apply to delegated legislation, but this was changed by the Statutory Rules Act (Northern Ireland) 1958, which amended the Act to apply to all secondary legislation. [2]
Even during Direct Rule in Northern Ireland, the Interpretation Act continued to bind Orders in Council for Northern Ireland [4]
The Act requires any binding of the royal prerogative can only occur if it is explicitly named. The act clarifies that references to the Crown refer to the Sovereign. Amendments to the act describe how to interpret legislation relating to the EU, legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and legislation passed in Stormont. The Act describes how to interpret enactments. [2] [5]
The Act describes how to interpret an offence involving two or more statutory provisions, and regulates how courts interpret legislation. The Act explains how to interpret legislation relating to the servicing of documents. [2]
The Act requires that interpretation of "oath" and "affidavit" to include affirmations and declarations, and that "swear" includes "affirm" and "declare". [2]
The Act describes how legislation is to be published by the Queen's Printer and the duties of the Presiding Officer in this process. [2]
The Act describes how usage of genderedness of pronouns must be ignored and that the status of a word as plural or singular must be ignored. [2]
The Act sets out the statutory period for consideration of statutory rules. [6]
Definitions of the Act are used to define Areas of Special Scientific Interest [7]
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
A statutory instrument (SI) is the principal form in which delegated legislation is made in Great Britain.
The law of the Republic of Ireland consists of constitutional, statutory, and common law. The highest law in the State is the Constitution of Ireland, from which all other law derives its authority. The Republic has a common-law legal system with a written constitution that provides for a parliamentary democracy similar to the British parliamentary system, albeit with a popularly elected president, a separation of powers, a developed system of constitutional rights and judicial review of primary legislation.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and a straightforward meaning. But in many cases, there is some ambiguity in the words of the statute that must be resolved by the judge. To find the meanings of statutes, judges use various tools and methods of statutory interpretation, including traditional canons of statutory interpretation, legislative history, and purpose. In common law jurisdictions, the judiciary may apply rules of statutory interpretation both to legislation enacted by the legislature and to delegated legislation such as administrative agency regulations.
In law, coming into force or entry into force is the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this transition. The point at which such instrument comes into effect may be set out in the instrument itself, or after the lapse of a certain period, or upon the happening of a certain event, such as a proclamation or an objective event, such as the birth, marriage, reaching a particular age or death of a certain person. On rare occasions, the effective date of a law may be backdated to a date before the enactment.
The law of Northern Ireland is the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a distinct jurisdiction in 1921. Before 1921, Northern Ireland was part of the same legal system as the rest of Ireland.
Citation of United Kingdom legislation includes the systems used for legislation passed by devolved parliaments and assemblies, for secondary legislation, and for prerogative instruments. It is relatively complex both due to the different sources of legislation in the United Kingdom, and because of the different histories of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom.
A Scottish statutory instrument is subordinate legislation made by the Scottish Ministers, as well as subordinate legislation made by public bodies using powers provided to be exercisable by Scottish statutory instrument. SSIs are the main form of subordinate legislation in Scotland, being used by default to exercise powers delegated to the Scottish Ministers, the Lord Advocate, the High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session, and the King-in-Council.
An act of the Northern Ireland Assembly is primary legislation made by the Northern Ireland Assembly. The power to create acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 5 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 following the successful 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
The Interpretation Act 1978 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes provision for the interpretation of Acts of Parliament, Measures of the General Synod of the Church of England, Measures of the Church Assembly, subordinate legislation, "deeds and other instruments and documents", Acts of the Scottish Parliament and instruments made thereunder, and Measures and Acts of the National Assembly for Wales and instruments made thereunder. The Act makes provision in relation to: the construction of certain words and phrases, words of enactment, amendment or repeal of Acts in the Session they were passed, judicial notice, commencement, statutory powers and duties, the effect of repeals, and duplicated offences.
In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation.
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster, London.
The Interpretation Act 1889 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated enactments relating to statutory construction and provided definitions to shorten the language used in acts of Parliament.
Parliamentary sovereignty is an ancient concept central to the functioning of the constitution of the United Kingdom but which is also not fully defined and has long been debated. Since the subordination of the monarchy under parliament, and the increasingly democratic methods of parliamentary government, there have been the questions of whether parliament holds a supreme ability to legislate and whether or not it should.
Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is a provision of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998 that requires courts to interpret both primary and subordinate legislation so that their provisions are compatible with the articles of the European Convention of Human Rights, which are also part of the Human Rights Act 1998. This interpretation goes far beyond normal statutory interpretation, and includes past and future legislation, therefore preventing the Human Rights Act from being impliedly repealed by subsequent contradictory legislation.
The Statutory Instruments Act 1946 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which governs the making of statutory instruments.
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A Welsh statutory instrument is subordinate legislation made by the Welsh Ministers, as well as subordinate legislation made by public bodies using powers provided to be exercisable by Welsh statutory instrument. WSIs are the main form of subordinate legislation in Wales, being used by default to exercise powers delegated to the Welsh Ministers, the Counsel General, and the King-in-Council.