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Legal Language · Unit 10

Statutes - Meaning, Classification, Parts, Commencement and Repeal

Unit 10 of Legal Language including Legal Writing and General English (syllabus: Module 10). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.

What this unit covers

  • What is a statute, and what turns on the class it belongs to?
  • How do you identify the parts of an Act from the printed extract?
  • From what date does a statute operate, and when may it reach backwards?
  • What survives the repeal of an Act?

Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.

Provisions

  • General Clauses Act 1897, s. 3(19)
  • Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, s. 1(3)
  • General Clauses Act 1897, s. 5
  • General Clauses Act 1897, s. 6

Leading cases

  • H.V. Kamath v Ahmad Ishaque (SC
  • Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 (Act No. 10 of 1994)
  • Hitendra Vishnu Thakur v State of Maharashtra (SC
  • State of Punjab v Mohar Singh

Exam questions on this unit