General Rules of Construction under the General Clauses Act

(e) affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment as aforesaid;

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.

The three things to notice. The opening qualification, so the repealing Act's own provisions come first. The three verbs in clause (c), acquired, accrued or incurred, which save liabilities as well as rights. And the closing words of clause (e), which permit a proceeding to be instituted after the repeal in respect of something done before it.

Section 6A: repeal of an Act making a textual amendment

Where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act repeals any enactment by which the text of any Central Act or Regulation was amended by the express omission, insertion or substitution of any matter, then, unless a different intention appears, the repeal shall not affect the continuance of any such amendment made by the enactment so repealed and in operation at the time of such repeal.

In plain terms: repealing a spent amending Act does not undo the amendment. Once the amending Act has done its work the amendment lives in the principal Act, and repealing the amending Act is housekeeping.

Section 7: revival of repealed enactments

Section 7(1). In any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, it shall be necessary, for the purpose of reviving, either wholly or partially, any enactment wholly or partially repealed, expressly to state that purpose.

Section 7(2) extends the rule to all Central Acts made after 3 January 1868 and all Regulations made on or after 14 January 1887.

Read it with section 6(a) and the position is complete: a repeal does not revive, and a revival must be express. Revival by implication does not exist.

Section 8: construction of references to repealed enactments

Section 8(1). Where this Act, or any Central Act or Regulation made after its commencement, repeals and re-enacts, with or without modification, any provision of a former enactment, then references in any other enactment or in any instrument to the provision so repealed shall, unless a different intention appears, be construed as references to the provision so re-enacted.

Section 8(2) applies the same rule where, before 15 August 1947, a United Kingdom Act repealed and re-enacted a provision, so that references in a Central Act, Regulation or instrument to the repealed provision are read as references to the re-enacted one.

This is the provision that keeps the statute book coherent when a Code is replaced. Its condition is repeal and re-enactment: where a provision is repealed and nothing takes its place, there is nothing for the reference to be redirected to.

Sections 9 and 10: the computation of time

Two different problems, and students merge them.

Section 9: the words "from" and "to". In any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "from", and, for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "to". Sub-section (2) applies the rule to Central Acts made after 3 January 1868 and Regulations made on or after 14 January 1887.

So "within thirty days from the date of the order" excludes the day of the order and counts the thirty days after it. "From the 1st to the 15th" includes the 15th.

Section 10: what happens when the office is shut. Where, by any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken in any court or office on a certain day or within a prescribed period, then, if the court or office is closed on that day or on the last day of the prescribed period, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards on which the court or office is open. A proviso excludes acts and proceedings to which the law of limitation applies, that law making its own provision. Sub-section (2) applies the section to Central Acts and Regulations made on or after 14 January 1887.

The two together answer nearly every question about a period: section 9 tells you when the period starts and ends, and section 10 tells you what happens if the last day is a holiday.

Section 11: measurement of distances

In the measurement of any distance for the purposes of any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, that distance shall, unless a different intention appears, be measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane.

Short, and it decides real cases: a prohibition on selling liquor within five hundred metres of a school is measured as the crow flies and not along the road, unless the Act says otherwise.

Section 12: duty to be taken pro rata

Where, by any enactment now in force or hereafter to be in force, any duty of customs or excise, or in the nature thereof, is leviable on any given quantity, by weight, measure or value of any goods or merchandise, then a like duty is leviable according to the same rate on any greater or less quantity.

In plain terms: a rate fixed for one quantity applies proportionately to a larger or smaller one, so a duty of ten rupees per kilogram is five rupees on half a kilogram without the Act having to say so.

Section 13: gender and number

In all Central Acts and Regulations, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, (1) words importing the masculine gender shall be taken to include females; and (2) words in the singular shall include the plural, and vice versa.

Two consequences worth stating. A statute drafted in the masculine applies to women, so "he" in a penal provision covers a woman accused. And a provision expressed in the singular applies to several, so "a document" covers documents.

Section 13A is printed as repealed, having dealt with references to the Sovereign.

A worked example

A fictitious Central Act, the Public Nuisance (Amendment) Act 2026, does four things.

1. It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may by notification appoint.

3. The Public Nuisance Act 1990 is hereby repealed.

4. No person shall keep livestock within one hundred metres of a drinking water source, and an application for exemption shall be made within thirty days from the commencement of this Act.

8. The Public Nuisance (Amendment) Act 2004, by which section 9 of the principal Act was substituted, is hereby repealed.

A notification brings the Act into force on Monday 5 October 2026. Sunday 4 November 2026 is the last day of the thirty-day period and offices are closed. Vasant had been prosecuted in 2025 under the 1990 Act. Kavita's house is one hundred and twenty metres from a well by road and eighty metres in a straight line.

When does the Act come into force? Section 5(1) does not apply, because the Act is expressed to come into force on an appointed date. Section 5(3) does apply: the Act is in force from the first moment of 5 October 2026.

When does the thirty-day period start and end? Section 9: "from the commencement" excludes the day of commencement, so time runs from 6 October. Section 10: if the last day falls when the office is closed, the application is in time if made on the next day the office is open.

Vasant's prosecution. Section 6(c) and (d) save the liability and the punishment incurred under the repealed Act, and section 6(e) allows the proceeding to be continued, and indeed to be instituted, as if the repealing Act had not been passed. The 1990 Act governs his conduct.

Kavita's house. Section 11: distance is measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane unless a different intention appears. Eighty metres, so she is caught, and the road distance is irrelevant.

Section 8 of the amending Act. Repealing the 2004 amending Act does not restore the old section 9 of the principal Act. Section 6A provides that the repeal shall not affect the continuance of an amendment made by the enactment repealed and in operation at the time of the repeal. Section 6(a) and section 7 confirm it: a repeal does not revive, and revival must be express.

And a reference in another Act. If a 1998 Act refers to "section 4 of the Public Nuisance Act 1990", and the 2026 Act repeals and re-enacts that provision, section 8(1) reads the reference as a reference to the re-enacted provision.

Distinctions table

What these do NOT mean

Section 5(1) is not the general rule of commencement. It is the default where the Act is silent.

Section 6 is not immune from the repealing Act. "Unless a different intention appears" means the repealing Act's own saving or transitional provision governs first.

Section 6(a) does not mean a repealed Act can never be revived. It means a repeal does not revive it, and section 7 requires any revival to be express.

Section 8 does not help where nothing was re-enacted. It requires repeal and re-enactment.

Section 10 does not extend a period of limitation. The proviso excludes acts and proceedings to which the law of limitation applies, and that law contains its own provision for the same problem.

Section 13 does not apply where the context is repugnant. A provision that plainly concerns only women, such as one about maternity, is not extended to men by the masculine-includes-feminine rule read in reverse.

Limits and criticism

"Unless a different intention appears" is where the litigation is. Almost every serious argument about section 6 is about whether the repealing Act shows a different intention, and that is a question of construction on which reasonable people differ.

"Acquired, accrued or incurred" is not defined, and the line between an accrued right and a mere expectation has been drawn case by case for more than a century.

Section 12 is a nineteenth century provision addressed to customs and excise, and it reads oddly in a statute book where duties are levied under detailed modern tariff legislation that says the same thing for itself.

Quick revision

s.5(1): where a Central Act is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day, it comes into operation on the day of assent. s.5(3): unless the contrary is expressed, an Act comes into operation immediately on the expiration of the day preceding its commencement. s.5A repealed.

s.6, unless a different intention appears: no revival; previous operation and things duly done or suffered unaffected; rights, privileges, obligations and liabilities acquired, accrued or incurred unaffected; penalties, forfeitures and punishments incurred unaffected; investigations, proceedings and remedies unaffected and may be instituted, continued or enforced, and punishment imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been passed.

s.6A: repealing an Act that amended a text by omission, insertion or substitution does not affect the continuance of the amendment. s.7: revival must be expressly stated. s.8: references to a repealed provision are read as references to the re-enacted provision, where there was repeal AND re-enactment.

s.9: "from" excludes the first day, "to" includes the last. s.10: if the court or office is closed on the day or the last day, the next open day will do; not where limitation applies. s.11: distance in a straight line on a horizontal plane. s.12: duty pro rata on a greater or lesser quantity. s.13: masculine includes feminine; singular includes plural and vice versa. s.13A repealed.

Test yourself

1. State section 5 and explain why it is a default rather than a general rule.

Section 5(1) provides that where a Central Act is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day, it shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the assent of the President, or, for an Act made before the Constitution, of the Governor General; and section 5(3) provides that unless the contrary is expressed an Act shall be construed as coming into operation immediately on the expiration of the day preceding its commencement. It is a default because it applies only where the Act itself is silent, and most modern Acts fix their own commencement, either by naming a date or by providing for a date to be appointed by notification.

2. Set out the five clauses of section 6.

Unless a different intention appears, a repeal shall not (a) revive anything not in force or existing at the time the repeal takes effect; (b) affect the previous operation of the repealed enactment or anything duly done or suffered under it; (c) affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under it; (d) affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of an offence committed against it; or (e) affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any of those, and any such investigation, proceeding or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been passed.

3. What is the effect of sections 6(a) and 7 read together?

That a repealed enactment cannot be revived by implication. Section 6(a) provides that a repeal does not revive anything not in force or existing when the repeal takes effect, so repealing a repealing Act does not bring the original back. Section 7(1) provides that, in any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of the General Clauses Act, it is necessary for the purpose of reviving an enactment wholly or partially repealed to state that purpose expressly. Revival is therefore always express.

4. Explain sections 9 and 10 with an example.

Section 9 provides that it is sufficient, for excluding the first in a series of days, to use the word "from", and, for including the last, to use the word "to". So a period of thirty days "from" an order excludes the day of the order. Section 10 provides that where an act is directed to be done in a court or office on a certain day or within a prescribed period, and the court or office is closed on that day or on the last day, the act is in due time if done on the next day the court or office is open, with a proviso excluding acts to which the law of limitation applies. So an application due on a Sunday may be made on the Monday.

5. How is distance measured under the Act?

Section 11 provides that in the measurement of any distance for the purposes of a Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of the General Clauses Act, that distance shall, unless a different intention appears, be measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane. So a restriction expressed in metres from a school or a water source is measured as the crow flies, and not along the road or by the path a person would actually walk, unless the Act provides otherwise.

6. What does section 13 provide, and what is its qualification?

That in all Central Acts and Regulations words importing the masculine gender shall be taken to include females, and words in the singular shall include the plural and vice versa. The qualification is that this applies "unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context", so the rule yields where the provision plainly concerns one gender or one thing only. Its practical effect is that a statute drafted in the masculine applies to women, and that a provision expressed in the singular is not confined to a single instance.