Law Revision Act, 2013 by BVI Beacon

No.

of 2013 VIRGIN ISLANDS LAW REVISION ACT, 2013 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Short title and commencement. Interpretation. Preparation of revision. Powers of the Commissioner. No power to make alterations of substance. Bringing revised edition into force. Form and content of revised edition. Distribution. Interim revised edition. Periodic revision of enactments. Altered provisions authentic as if so enacted. Citation of revised enactments. Construction of references to provisions contained in a revision. Rectification of errors. Repeal and savings.

No.

of 2013

Law Revision Act, 2013

Virgin Islands

I Assent

Governor , 2013

VIRGIN ISLANDS No.

of 2013

A Bill for An Act to provide for the revision of the Laws of the Virgin Islands. [Gazetted

, 2013]

ENACTED by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands as follows:

Short title and commencement.

. Interpretation.

1. This Act may be cited as the Law Revision Act, 2013 and shall come into force on a date the Governor may, by Proclamation published in the Gazette, appoint. 2.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires “Commissioner” means the Attorney General; “enactment” means an Act or statutory instrument or any provision in an Act or statutory instrument;

“instrument” includes a proclamation, order or warrant (other than an order or warrant issued by a court), direction, notice, rule, regulation, form, bylaw or other instrument made under any law or other lawful authority and having legislative effect; “Legislature” means the Legislature as composed under section 62 of the Constitution and includes any predecessor of that Legislature; “revision date” means the date as at which the revised edition states the law;

“revised edition” means the revised edition of the laws of the Territory prepared under the authority of this Act; “revision” means a revision prepared under section 3 and “revised” shall be construed accordingly; “statutory instrument” means an instrument made under an Act. 3. (1)

The Commissioner may prepare (a)

a revision of all the enactments in force in the Virgin Islands before the prescribed revision date, by consolidating into one enactment, each such enactment and such amendments to the enactment as are in force on the prescribed revision date; or

(b)

a revision of a particular enactment, including its statutory instruments, in force in the Virgin Islands, by consolidating into one enactment, (i)

the particular enactment and such amendments to that enactment as are in force on a specified date; and

(ii)

each statutory instrument of the particular enactment and such amendments to the relevant statutory instrument as are in force on the date specified under subparagraph (i).

(2) The Commissioner may prepare a revision under this Act, in printed and in electronic form and in any other form as he may by order direct. (3) The Commissioner may, before the completion of a revision, prepare an edition of an enactment and its statutory instruments referred to in subsection (1), and publish the edition as an interim revised enactment and its statutory instruments if the Commissioner with the approval of the Cabinet, is of the opinion that resources are sufficient and the public would benefit from the early revision and publication. (4) Each enactment and its statutory instruments that is revised under subsection (1) shall set out, in a convenient place, the date required to be specified under that subsection and a list of each enactment and its statutory instruments included in the revision.

Preparation of revision.

Powers of the Commissioner.

4. In preparing a revision under this Act, the Commissioner may do any or all of the following: (a)

omit and provide for the repeal of any enactment or statutory instrument that is inoperative, obsolete, expired, spent, has had its effect or has been superseded by or is inconsistent with any later enactment or statutory instrument to be included in the revised edition;

(b)

omit without providing for the repeal of (i)

any enactment that provides for the appropriation of money for, or the borrowing of money by, the Government and that is not spent; or

(ii)

any enactment or statutory instrument mentioned in section 7(1)(d);

(c)

consolidate two or more enactments or statutory instruments into one, divide an enactment or statutory instrument into two or more enactments or statutory instruments and transfer provisions from one enactment to another, from one statutory instrument to another or from an enactment to a statutory instrument or a statutory instrument to an enactment;

(d)

alter the section numbering and internal arrangement of any enactment or a statutory instrument including consolidating two or more provisions of an enactment or a statutory instrument into one, dividing a provision in an enactment or a statutory instrument into two or more provisions and transferring words from one provision to another;

(e)

add, alter or omit any marginal note or head note;

(f)

add a title or heading to an enactment or a statutory instrument alter the title of or any heading in an enactment or a statutory instrument or omit any heading from an enactment or statutory instrument;

(g)

divide any enactment or statutory instrument into parts or other divisions and give each part or division a heading;

(h)

add, alter or omit anything that is necessary to bring out more clearly what is deemed to be the intention of the Legislature or to reconcile seemingly inconsistent enactments or statutory instruments;

(i)

alter the language so as to give simpler, shorter and better expression to the meaning of an enactment or a statutory instrument;

(j)

make any alterations in language and punctuation that are desirable to obtain uniformity of expression;

(k)

correct clerical, grammatical and typographical errors;

(l)

omit the preamble from an enactment or a statutory instrument;

(m)

make any amendment to a name, locality, office or other similar thing that may be necessary to make an enactment or statutory instrument conform to the circumstances in the Virgin Islands;

(n)

in the case of a general revision, arrange the enactments in any group or sequence that may be convenient, irrespective of the date of enactment, and assign such chapter or other reference number to each enactment as is considered fit;

(o)

include as a statutory instrument any document published in the Gazette that is a statutory instrument but is not so identified and exclude any document that is identified as a statutory instrument but is not;

(p)

adopt uniform terminology in describing statutory instruments made by an authority vested with the power to make same in order to facilitate the consolidation of statutory instruments into larger units;

(q)

add to, or alter the authority in, the statute under which a statutory instrument is made to clearly identify when an exercise of statutory power is a statutory instrument;

(r)

omit any forms or schedules contained in an enactment or a statutory instrument and add authority to an enactment for forms or schedules to be prescribed by statutory instrument;

(s)

add a table of contents when the length of an enactment or a statutory instrument makes it advisable; and

(t)

do any other thing that appears necessary or advisable to perfect the revision.

No power to make alterations of substance.

5. (1) The powers of the Commissioner contained in (a) and (c) to (t) of section 4 do not include a power to make an alteration or an amendment in the matter or substance of the law. (2)

Where the Commissioner considers that (a)

an alteration or amendment in the matter or substance of an enactment is desirable; or

(b)

an Act requires considerable alteration or amendment,

the Commissioner shall cause a Bill to be drafted setting out the alteration or amendment together with a report stating the reasons for the alteration or amendment. (3) Subject to the approval of the Cabinet, the Attorney General shall submit every Bill drafted pursuant to subsection (2) to the Legislature to be dealt with in accordance with normal procedure. Bringing revised edition into force.

6. (1) The Commissioner shall cause a revision, when completed, to be forwarded to the Governor who may certify the revision as a correct consolidation of the enactments contained therein. (2) A revision that is certified by the Governor under subsection (1) shall, as soon as practicable after being certified, (a)

be forwarded to the Clerk of the House of Assembly to be laid on the table of the House of Assembly; and

(b)

be forwarded to and lodged in the office of the Registrar of the High Court to be recorded and enrolled therein.

(3) The Clerk of the House of Assembly shall cause copies of a revision received by him or her under subsection (2)(a) to be published in the Gazette. Form and content of revised edition.

7. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the edition of the enactments revised under this Act shall contain (a)

the enactments or statutory instruments referred to in section 3, other than those omitted under section 4(a) and (b);

(b)

a schedule of the enactments or statutory instruments omitted from and repealed on the coming into force of the edition;

(c)

a schedule of enactments or statutory instruments consolidated in the edition;

(d)

a schedule of enactments or statutory instruments not repealed by the edition and an indication as to whether an enactment or statutory instrument is consolidated;

(e)

a schedule showing the disposal of enactments or statutory instruments that were in force on [insert Date] or were enacted after that date but before the revision date of the edition; and

(f)

any other tables, explanatory material or indexes the Commissioner considers desirable to include.

(2) The Commissioner shall cause the revised edition of every enactment to be published in the form of one or more separate booklets, each of which shall contain on the front page thereof the words “Revised Laws of the Virgin Islands” and “Revised Edition [insert Year]. Prepared Under the Authority Of The Law Revision Act 2013”. (3) The Commissioner shall cause the various booklets which have been compiled for the purposes of subsection (2) to be contained together in such number of volumes as is convenient. (4) A booklet shall be bound in such manner as will enable it to be easily removed from and replaced in a volume. (5) combined. 8. (1)

Two or more of the schedules referred to in subsection (1) may be

The revised edition shall be (a)

distributed to the persons, offices, departments and institutions within or outside the Virgin Islands as directed by the Cabinet; and

(b)

offered for sale to the public on such terms as authorised by the Cabinet.

Distribution.

(2) In subsection (1)(b), “sale” includes a contractual right of access by remote computer to an electronic version of the revised edition. 9. (1) This Act applies, with all necessary modifications, to an edition of an interim revised enactment and its statutory instruments prepared under section 3 (1)(b).

Interim revised edition.

(2) The edition of the interim revised enactment and its statutory instruments comes into force on the day specified in it as the day as at which it shows the law. (3) The day referred to in subsection (2) shall not be earlier than the day that copies of the edition of the interim revised enactments and its statutory instruments are ready for distribution to the public. Periodic revision of enactments.

10. (1) After the date that the revised edition comes into force, the Commissioner may in accordance with this section from time to time authorise the publication of a revised edition of any enactment or statutory instrument and the revised edition of the enactment or statutory instrument, if any, comes into force on the day specified in it as the day as at which it shows the law, and repeals the enactment or statutory instrument for which it is substituted. (2) Subject to subsection (3), in authorising the publication of a revised edition of any enactment or statutory instrument, the Commissioner may permit (a)

(b)

the omission of (i)

those parts of the enactment or statutory instrument that are inoperative, obsolete, expired or spent or have had their effect;

(ii)

any preamble, the long title and the words of enactment; and

(iii)

provisions providing for when or the manner in which an enactment or statutory instrument or part thereof comes into force; and

the exercise of any of the powers set out in section 3.

(3) The powers exercised under subsection (2) shall be exercised so as not to change the substance of the law. (4) The day referred to in subsection (1) shall not be earlier than the day that copies of the revised edition of the enactment or statutory instrument are ready for distribution to the public. (5)

A reference in (a)

an enactment or statutory instrument; or

(b)

any instrument or document,

to an enactment or statutory instrument that is repealed in a revised edition of the enactment or statutory instrument shall, after the revised edition of that enactment or statutory instrument comes into force, be held with respect to any subsequent transaction to be a reference to the enactment or statutory instrument in the revised edition having the same effect as the repealed enactment or statutory instrument. (6) The edition of the revised enactment and its statutory instrument certified by the Governor under section 6 is the original of the enactment and statutory instruments set out in it. (7) Subject to this section, the provisions of this Act applicable to the revised enactments and statutory instruments apply to the revised edition of a enactment or statutory instrument referred to in subsection (1). 11. Where, having regard to the Interpretation Act, the provisions of an enactment are altered in accordance with this Act, without affecting the substance of those provisions or the enactment as a whole, the altered provisions as published under this Act shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be the authentic version of the enactment as if they had been enacted in that form.

Cap. 136 Altered provisions authentic as if so enacted.

12. (1) On and after the date it comes into force, the edition of the revised enactments and statutory instruments shall be known under the designation “Revised Laws of the Virgin Islands”.

Citation of revised enactments.

(2) An enactment in the revised edition may be cited by its short title and the designation “Revised Laws of the Virgin Islands”. (3) A statutory instrument in the revised edition may be cited by its title and the designation “Revised Laws of the Virgin Islands Statutory Instruments”. 13. Where, in an enactment or other instrument or document, reference is made to all or any of the provisions of an enactment, the provisions of which have been included in a revision published under this Act, such reference shall, where necessary and practicable, be deemed to extend and apply to the corresponding provisions in that revision.

Construction of references to provisions contained in a revision.

14. (1) The Commissioner may, by Order, rectify in a manner consistent . Rectification of errors. with his or her powers under this Act, an error in a revision published under this Act. (2) An Order under subsection (1) shall have effect as of the date on which the revision was published under this Act. 15. (1)

The following enactments are repealed:

Repeal and savings.

No. 5 of 1991

(a)

the Revised Edition of the Laws Act, 1991;

No. 25 of 2005

(b)

the Statute Revision Act, 2005.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the repeals do not affect anything done under the authority of the repealed enactments.

Passed by the House of Assembly this

day of

, 2013.

INGRID MOSES-SCATLIFFE, Speaker.

PHYLLIS EVANS, Clerk of the House of Assembly.

OBJECTS AND REASONS The laws of the Territory were last revised in 1991, some twenty two years ago. This Bill seeks to authorise a revision of the laws of the Territory and will contain all the laws in force in the Territory from the 1st May, 1990 to the revision date which is 31st December, 2012. The Bill has a total of 15 clauses. Clauses 1 and 2 concern the short title and definitions of terms used in the Bill. By clause 3, the Commissioner is given the power to carry out a revision of the laws of the Territory in force from the 1st May, 1990 and, clause 4 would spell out the various things that the Commissioner can do in carrying out the revision. Under this clause, the Commissioner can (a) omit and provide for the repeal of any statute that is inoperative, obsolete, expired, spent, has had its effect or has been superseded by or is inconsistent with any later statute to be included in the edition of the revised statutes; (b) omit without providing for the repeal of any statute that provides for the appropriation of money for, or the borrowing of money by, the Government and that is not spent; (c) consolidate two or more statutes into one, divide a statute or statutory instrument into two or more statutes or statutory instruments and transfer provisions from one statute to another, from one statutory instrument to another or from a statute to an instrument or a statutory instrument to a statute and more. Clause 5 provides that the Commissioner has no power to make alterations of substance to a law. Clause 6 would prescribe the manner of bringing a revision into force upon its completion and clause 7 concerns the form and content of a revised edition. Cabinet may wish to note that by clause 7 (2), the Commissioner would cause the revised edition of every statute to be published in the form of one or more separate booklets, each of which shall be bound in such manner as would enable it to be easily removed from and replaced in a volume. This is to allow for easier revisions and updates of the laws in the future without having to print whole volumes. Clause 8 would provide for the manner of distribution of the revised edition of the laws and, by clause 9, the Bill would apply, with all necessary modifications, to an edition of an interim revised statute and its statutory instruments prepared under clause 3(b). Clause 10 would provide for the Commissioner to authorise, from time to time, the periodic revision and publication of a revised edition of any statute or statutory instrument and the revision powers to be exercised in preparing the periodic revision.

Clause 11 would provide for provisions altered in accordance with this Bill to be to be deemed to be the authentic version of the statute as if they had been enacted in that form and clause 12 would provide for the citation of the revised statutes. Clause 13 would provide for references in a statute or other instrument or document that have been included in the revision to be deemed to extend and apply to the corresponding provisions in that revision. Clause 14 would provide for the Commissioner to rectify, by Order, an error in a revision and for the rectification to take effect as of the date on which the revision was published. Clause 15 would repeal the Revised Edition of the Laws Act, 1991 and the Statute Revision Act, 2005 and provide for the saving of anything done under the authority of the repealed statutes.

Attorney General.