Revised Statutes

Revised Statutes
Name	Revised Statutes
Subject	Codification of statutes
Jurisdiction	Various national and subnational legal systems
First issued	Varies by jurisdiction
Language	Primarily English, with translations in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German

Revised Statutes are consolidated collections that restate, organize, and codify the positive laws enacted by legislatures such as the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the United States Congress, the Parliament of Canada, the Dáil Éireann, the Bundestag, and the Oireachtas. They aim to reconcile amendments, repeals, and new enactments into a coherent statutory code used by courts, administrative tribunals, legal scholars, and practitioners associated with institutions like the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Canada, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the Senate of Canada, and the European Court of Justice. Revised statutes interact with foundational documents and instruments such as the Magna Carta, the United States Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Treaty of Lisbon, and the Treaty of Paris in determining legal effect and interpretation.

Definition and Purpose

Revised statutes serve as authoritative compilations that restate enacted law from sources including the Statute Law Revision Act 1861, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007 (Ireland), the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and other codifying enactments like the Codex Justinianus in historical analogues. They provide clarity by reconciling provisions from instruments such as the Civil Code of Quebec, the Criminal Code (Canada), the Judiciary Act 1789, and the Judicature Acts with later amendments from parliaments and senates, thereby aiding interpretation under authorities such as the Restatement (Second) of Contracts and decisions of the High Court of Australia. Revised statutes facilitate accessibility for bodies like the Law Commission (England and Wales), the Supreme Court of India, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and the International Court of Justice.

History and Development

The practice traces to early codification efforts including the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Napoleonic Code, and the reforms of figures like Justinian I and Napoleon Bonaparte. Modern statutory revision evolved alongside parliamentary reforms exemplified by the Reform Act 1832, the Representation of the People Act 1918, the Constitution Act, 1867, and processes instituted after events like the Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century legal modernization—driven by commissions such as the Law Commission (England and Wales), the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, and reformers like Sir James Mackintosh—prompted systematic consolidation projects, mirrored by codifications like the German Civil Code and the Japanese Civil Code during Meiji-era reforms under figures such as Emperor Meiji.

Structure and Organization

Revised statutes are typically arranged into titles, chapters, parts, and sections comparable to structures in codes such as the United States Code, the Criminal Code (United Kingdom), the Civil Code of France, and the Indian Penal Code. They incorporate cross-references to subsidiary enactments such as the Administrative Procedure Act, the Social Security Act, and statutory instruments like the Statutory Instruments Act 1946. Organizational models vary: some jurisdictions use subject-based titles like the Internal Revenue Code, the Companies Act 2006, and the Income Tax Act 1985, while others preserve historical chaptering seen in the Statute Law Revision Act 1898 and the Interpretation Act. Editorial devices include marginal notes, editorial annotations, and tables of precedence used by courts including the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation for statutory interpretation.

Publication and Legal Status

Publication practices differ: revised statutes appear as official printed volumes, online databases maintained by agencies such as the Government Publishing Office, the Canada Gazette, and the Legislation.gov.uk service, and annotated commercial editions from publishers like West Publishing, LexisNexis, and Thomson Reuters. Their legal status ranges from prima facie evidence of law to authoritative texts depending on enabling enactments such as the Statute Law (Repeals) Act series and constitutional provisions like Article III of the United States Constitution or Section 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Courts frequently adjudicate the weight accorded to consolidated texts in cases before bodies like the European Court of Human Rights, the High Court of Justice (England and Wales), and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Revision Processes and Authorities

Revision is undertaken by legislatures, executive agencies, and specialized bodies including the Law Commission (England and Wales), the Statute Revision Commission (New Zealand), the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and parliamentary drafting offices associated with the Cabinet Office (United Kingdom), the Department of Justice (United States), and the Ministry of Justice (Japan). Techniques include repeal exercises such as those promoted by the Red Tape Reduction Commission, consolidation statutes like the Statute Law (Consolidation) Act, and recodification projects exemplified by the Restatement of Contracts and the Uniform Commercial Code. Revision interacts with international obligations arising from instruments like the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Examples by Jurisdiction

Common examples include the Revised Statutes of Canada (RSC) 1985, the United States Code (U.S.C.) consolidations, the Statutes Revised 2006 (Singapore), the Statutes Revised (Hong Kong), and the Revised Statutes of Ontario. Other notable compilations are the Revised Statutes of Alberta, the Revised Statutes of British Columbia, the Revised Statutes of New South Wales, the Compilation of the Acts of the Oireachtas, and the consolidated codes maintained by the Bundesgesetzblatt system in Germany.

Category:Statutory law