Repeal of Statutes, and the Provisions Dealing with Repeal under the General Clauses Act

In one line

Repeal is the abrogation of a statute by a later one, and section 6 of the General Clauses Act 1897 exists so that a repeal wipes out the law for the future without wiping out everything done under it in the past.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 6 provides that where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of the General Clauses Act 1897 repeals any enactment, then, unless a different intention appears, the repeal shall not revive anything not in force or existing at the time at which the repeal takes effect; nor affect the previous operation of any enactment so repealed or anything duly done or suffered thereunder; nor affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under any enactment so repealed; nor affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed against any enactment so repealed; nor affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment; and any such investigation, legal proceeding or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment may be imposed, as if the repealing Act or Regulation had not been passed.

Why a statute about repeals is necessary

Because without one, every repeal would be a catastrophe.

At common law, repealing a statute destroyed it so completely that it was treated as though it had never existed. Prosecutions under it collapsed. Rights acquired under it evaporated. Proceedings pending under it abated. Every repealing Act therefore had to carry its own long saving clause, and if the draftsman forgot one, people lost accrued rights for no reason connected with the merits.

Section 6 supplies the saving clause once and for all. Its effect is that a repeal is presumed to operate prospectively, which is why this chapter follows [Prospective Application and Retrospective Effect]: section 6 is that presumption applied to repeals.

Kinds of repeal

Express repeal. The later Act says so: "The Indian Penal Code, 1860 is hereby repealed." Modern Acts do it in a repeal and savings section, usually near the end, and they very often add their own saving clause as well as relying on section 6.

Implied repeal. The later Act says nothing, but its provisions are so inconsistent with the earlier that the two cannot stand together. The maxim is leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant, later laws repeal earlier contrary laws, and it is worked in [Legal Maxims: the First Eight].

Two rules control implied repeal and both are asked. It is not favoured: a court will strain to read the two provisions together and will find an implied repeal only where they are irreconcilable. And generalia specialibus non derogant: a later general Act does not repeal an earlier special one, unless the intention to do so is clear.