ACT No. IX of 1980 AN ACT to provide for the preparation, printing and publication of revised editions of the laws of Malta, and for matters connected therewith or ancillary there to.

I assent.

(L.S.)

ANTON BUTTIGIEG

President

22nd February, 1980

ACT No. IX of 1980

AN ACT to provide for the preparation, printing and publication of

revised editions of the laws of Malta, and for matters connected

therewith or ancillary there to.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

This Act may be cited as the Statute Law Revisian Act,

1980.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"the Commission" means the Law Commission appointed

under section 3 of this Act;

"the Minister" means the Minister responsible for justice;

"revised edition" means an edition of the Laws of Malta

prepared under this Act;

"statute law" includes any instrmuent having the force of

law.

(1) For the purpose of preparing, from time to time at in­

tervals of not less than ten years, a revised edition of the statute

laws of Malta, and for the purpose of preparing a Maltese text of

all statute laws enacted or pub1ished without a Maltese text, the

Minister may appoint a Commissioner, or a body of Commissioners

consisting of such number of Commissianers as may for the time

being be in office, to be known in either case as the Law Commission

Provided that where Parliament has provided that a law

may be enacted or made in either the Maltese or the Eng1ish lang­

uage only, and is sa enacted or made, the Commission may prepare

the revised text of that law in that Ianguage only.

(2) When there is in office a body of Commissioners, the

Minister shaH appoint one of th e m to be the Chairman of the Com­

mission.

(3) A person appointed to b e a Commissioner may be ap­

pointed for such term and subject to such c o n d i t i o ns as may be de­

termined by the Minister; but a Commissioner may, at any time,

resign his office and may also, for a g o od cause, be removed from

office; and a person who c e a s c s to be a Commissioner shaH be eligible

for re-a ppoin tmen t.

(4) A person who holds judicial office may be appointed

as a Commissioner notwithstanding the provisions of s e c t io n 17 of

the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure but shall n o t un l e ss

,

otherwlse provided by th e terms of his appointment, he required to

pe r f or m his duties as a Judge or Magistrate while he rem a in s a

memb e r of t he Commission.

(5)

There shall be paid to the Commissioners such remu­

n e r a ti o n , if any,

as the Minister may, with the a pp r o val of the Mi­

nister responsible for finance, determine; and different re m uner a ti o n

may be paid to the Commissioners according to circumstances.

(6) It shall aIso be the function of the Commission to per­

form such other duties as may, after consultation with it, be as­

signed to lt by the Minister.

(1) In carrying out its functions under this Act, t h e Com-

mission shall have power

-

(a)

to omit -

(1) all statute Iaws or parts of statute laws which

have been expressly repealed, or which have expired, 01'

have become spent or have had their effect;

all r e p e a l i n g provisions co n t a ined in any st a tu te

(ii)

law;

(iii) all preambles to statute laws where such omis­

sion can, in the opinion of the C o m m is s i o n be conveniently

,

made;

(iv) all introductory w o r d s of enactment in any se c­

tion, regulation or paragraph of a statute law which con-

5ists of mcre than one section, r eg u l a t i o n or paragraph;

(v) all enactments prescribing the date on which a

st a tut e law is to come into force, wh e r e such omission can,

in the opinion of the Commissjon, be conveniently made;

(vi) all amending provisions contained in a statute

law where the amendments effected thereby and which are

still in force have been e m b o d i e d by the Commission in the

statute law to which t h e y relate;

to consolidate into one statute law any two Of more

(b)

statute laws in pari materia, making sllch verbal aIterations in

the consolidated Iaw as may thereby be c o m e necessary;

(c) to a1ter the order of sections or other sub-divisions of

statute law and, wherever necessary; to re-number those sec­

tions or other sub-divisions;

(d) to a lt e r the form or arrangement of any section or

other sub-division of a statue Iaw, either by combining it In

whole or in par t with another section or sub-division, or other

sections or sub-divisions, or by dividing it into two or more

parts or sub-divisions.

to divide any statute law, whether consoliclated or not,

(e)

into parts or oth e r divisions;

(f) to add a short title to any statute law w h ic h may, in

the opinion of the Commission, require it and, if necessary, to

alter the short title of any statute Iaw;

to supply or alter marginaI notes;

(g)

to shorten and simplify the phraseology of any statute

(h)

law;

(i)

to correet grammaticaI, typ:)graphieaI and o th er mis­

takes in the existing c o pie s of the statute laws, and for that pur­

pose to make verbaI additions, omissions or alterations not af­

fecting the meaning of any provision;

to do all oth e r things reiating to form and method

(j)

which may improve the revised edition.

(2) Where any statute law is to have effect or is to be

read or construed, or to be read and constru e d as p r ovid e d in an­

,

o t her statute ]aw, the Commission may treat such a provision in

the same m a nne r as an amendment of the former by the latter en­

actment.

(3) The powers conferred by this section shaH not be con­

strued as empowering the Commission to make any alteration or

amendment in the matter or substance of any statute law; but the

Commission shaH have power to make any alteration or amendment

which might be necessary to make the revised edition more faithful

to the original text.

Tt shaIl not be n e c e ss a ry for the Commission to incIude in

S.

a revised edition any statute Iaw omitted under the authority of the

Malta Statute Law Revision Ordinance, 1936; nor shalI it be neees­

sary for the Commission to inelude in a revised edi t i o n any law

which, though in force in Ma l t a immediately before 21st September,

1964. wa s so in force by virtue of or un d er any Act of the Parlia­

ment of t h e United Kingdom of Great Britain and N o r t h er n Ire!anc1;

but any sueh omissi o n shall not affeet the validity or operation of

any law sa omitted.

Il-Kummissjoni ti�l-C1' J1'E\ ddC1ħħaJx f' e di zz j o n i riveduta xi

liġi statutarja. li tkun tħ-:llliet b ar r a taħt l-Ordinanza ta' 1-1936 d w a r

ir-Reviljoni tal-Liġijiet Statutarii ta' Malta; iI-Kummissioni t i s ta '

wkoll ma ddaħħalx f'edizzjoni riveduta kull li ġ i li, g ħ al ke m m fis­

seħħ f'Malta minnufih qabel il-2] ta' Settembru, 1964, k i e n e t hekk

fi s- s e ħ ħ his-saħħa ta' iew taħt xi Att tal-Parlament t a r- R e nj u Unit

tal-Gran Brittanja u ta' l-Irlanda ta' Fuq; iż d a dan in - n uqq a s ta' dħul

ta' l i ġ ijie t ma j olq ot x il-validita jew it-tħaddim ta' d a w k il-liġijiet.

(1) A revis e d edition shaH be prepared in su e h order, form

and manner, and shall e o ntain sueh tables, indiees and other infor­

mation as the Commission may deem necessary or expedient.

(2) A revised edition shall be printed under sueh arrange­

ments as the Commission may, with the approva! of the Minister

1'esponsible for finance, approve.

Where in any enactment or in any document of whatever

kind, referenee is made to any enaetment affected by or under the

operation of this Act, or to any provision of such enactment, such

reference sha1l, where necessary and praeticable, extend and apply

to the eorresponding enactrnent, 01' provision thereof, in the revised

edition then in force.

(1) A revised edition shall come into force on such day as

the Minister may by notice in the Gazette appoint.

From the da te of the coming into force of a revised

(2)

edition, that edition shaH be without any question whatever in all

courts of justice and for all purposes whatsoever, the sole and only

proper and authentic text of the statute laws inc1uded in it as in

force on such da te as the Minister shaH by notice in the Gazette

specify, but subject to any amendments thereto 01' any repeal there-

of made after such date.

(3) If there is any confiict between the Maltese and the

English texts of any revised edition, the Maltese text sha11 prevail.

One copy of each volume of a revised edition shall be sign­ Copies to

ed by the Chairman of the Commission or, if there is only one Com­ be signed,

missioner, by that Commissioner, and shaH be sealed with the pub­ sealed and

lic Seal of Malta. Such copies shaH then be transmitted to the Re­

gistrar of the Superior Courts to be enrolled on record in his office.

This Act shaH be printed at the commencement of a re-

vised edition.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 360 of the 20th Feb­

ruary, 1980.

C. AGIUS

Speaker

c. MIFSUD

Clerk to the House of Representatives

-

f1-U.C.S.

C.O.S.

Stampat

Stamperija tal-Gvern

Printed at the

GDvemment Printing Press

-

-

-