Interpretation Act 1978

The Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act makes provision for the interpretation of acts of Parliament, Measures of the General Synod of the Church of England, Measures of the Church Assembly, subordinate legislation, "deeds and other instruments and documents", acts of the Scottish Parliament and instruments made thereunder (added 1998), and Measures and acts of the National Assembly for Wales and instruments made thereunder. The act makes provision in relation to: the construction of certain words and phrases, words of enactment, amendment or repeal of Acts in the Session they were passed, judicial notice, commencement, statutory powers and duties, the effect of repeals, and duplicated offences.

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies in the same way to Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Section 7

Section 7 of the act, concerned with service of documents by post, replaced section 26 of the Interpretation Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63). It states that

Interpretation of the words ''unless the contrary is proved'' is discussed in the case of ''Calladine-Smith v Saveorder Ltd'', as to whether the "contrary" means the contrary of the allegation that the letter was properly addressed, prepaid and posted, or whether it refers to the contrary of the deeming provision that the letter in question was delivered in the ordinary course of post. In this particular case, a letter was shown to have been properly addressed, pre-paid and posted, but not received. On a balance of probabilities the court accepted that the "contrary" to the deemed provision had been proved, the letter was not received, and therefore the deemed provision could not hold.

Section 16 – General savings

The following cases are relevant to this section:
*''Hough v Windus'' (1884) 12 QBD 224, CA
*''R v Fisher (Charles)'' 9691 WLR 8, CA
*''R v West London Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Simeon'' 983AC 234, HL

Section 18 – Duplicated offences

Section 18 of the act provides:

This section replaces section 33 of the Interpretation Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63). Humphreys J. said that that section did not add anything to the common law, or detract anything from it.

"... shall not be liable to be punished more than once for the same offence"

The words "same offence" at the end of section 18 of the act do not mean "same act" or "same cause". A person may be punished more than once for the same act. Two prosecutions for a single false statement in a brochure is not oppressive.''R v Thomson Holidays Ltd'' 974QB 592, 9742 WLR 371, 9741 All ER 823, 58 Cr App R 429, CA

See also ''Williams v Hallam'' (1943) 112 LJKB 353, (1943) 59 TLR 287, (1943) 41 LGR 165.

Notes

References

*Halsbury's Statutes. Fourth Edition. 2008 Reissue. Volume 41. Page 796.
*Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice. 1999. Appendix A.
*Current Law Statutes Annotated 1978

External links

*
The Interpretation Act 1978
as amended from the National Archives.
The Interpretation Act 1978
as originally enacted from the National Archives.
* Hutton, Sir Noe
THE BRITISH INTERPRETATION ACT

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United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1978
Constitution of the United Kingdom
Ex post facto law
Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom