The Laws Revision Act
The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may or must prepare and submit draft legislation to the Minister in specified revision-related situations, and omitted laws are not invalid just because they were omitted.
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- The Laws Revision Act
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About this statute
The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may or must prepare and submit draft legislation to the Minister in specified revision-related situations, and omitted laws are not invalid just because they were omitted. This section says the Act does not allow changing the text of certain agreements, treaties, or other documents, and it allows some listed materials to be included in the Revised Edition without becoming part of it. This provision sets formatting rules for a Revised Edition and annual supplements, including chapter numbering and references to superseded booklets. The President may issue a proclamation fixing the commencement date of the Revised Edition. The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may publish Gazette notices giving directions to fix clerical, printing, literary, or similar errors in the Revised Edition or annual supplements.
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Provisions of The Laws Revision Act
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- 9
The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may or must prepare and submit draft legislation to the Minister in specified revision-related situations, and omitted laws are not invalid just because they were omitted.
9.-(1) Nothing in the provisions of section 5, 6, 7 or 8 shall be construed as implying any power in the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman to make any alteration in the matter, substance or effect of any law, but this provision is directory only. (2) Any law omitted under the authority of this Act from the Revised Edition or any annual supplement shall not be deemed to be without force and validity by reason only of its omission. (3) Where the preparation of the Revised Edition, alterations not otherwise authorised by this Act should be made, the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may cause a Bill or other appropriate draft law to be prepared, setting out those alterations, which shall be submitted to the Minister and be dealt with in the ordinary way. it appears desirable that, in (4) Where it appears desirable for the purposes of the preparation and perfecting of the Revised Edition, or for any purpose associated with it, that further or other legislative provision be made, the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman shall cause a Bill or other appropriate draft law 11 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] Text of documents included in laws to be prepared, which shall be submitted to the Minister and be dealt with in the ordinary way. (5) A Bill or other draft law prepared pursuant to subsection (3) or (4) may provide for either or both of the following- (a) that it shall apply to the Revised Edition as if it had come into force immediately before the effective date; or (b) that it shall not be included in the Revised Edition. - 10
This section says the Act does not allow changing the text of certain agreements, treaties, or other documents, and it allows some listed materials to be included in the Revised Edition without becoming part of it.
10.-(1) Where any law to which this Act applies sets out the text of any agreement, treaty or other document, nothing in this Act allows any alteration to the text of that agreement, treaty or other document. (2) There may be included in the Revised Edition or in any annual supplement, in a convenient form- (a) any laws which were in force in or in relation to the country or a part of the country before Independence; (b) any foreign laws; or (c) any other documents or materials, that are, in the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman, of sufficient constitutional or other importance to warrant the inclusion, but they do not form part of the Revised Edition for the purposes of this Act. (3) There may be included in the Revised Edition- (a) any laws made before, but not yet in force on the effective date; and (b) any laws made after the effective date, in such manner and with such annotations as the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman thinks necessary or desirable in order to explain their actual or prospective effect, and to conform with the requirements of the Revised Edition. The provisions of this Act, with such modifications as are necessary, apply to and in relation to laws to which subsection (3) of this section applies in the same manner as they apply to laws to which this Act applies. (4) 12 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] Records of number, date, arrangement, etc., of laws - 11
This provision sets formatting rules for a Revised Edition and annual supplements, including chapter numbering and references to superseded booklets.
11. In the preparation of a Revised Edition and each annual supplement, the following provisions shall apply, that is to say- Bringing into force and validity and effect of Revised Edition (a) the number and year of each Act shall be set out at the head thereof, and when another law is incorporated in it, the number and year of the principal Act and of each amending or incorporated law shall be set out in the margin at the beginning of the Act; (b) the date on which an Act came into operation shall be set out immediately below the long title of the Act; (c) each Act, other than an amending Act, shall form a separate Chapter, and the Chapters shall be numbered, and arranged under such titles as the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman thinks fit; and (d) every booklet which supersedes an earlier booklet shall contain a reference to the booklet which it supersedes. - 12
The President may issue a proclamation fixing the commencement date of the Revised Edition.
12.-(1) The President may immediately after completion of the revision of laws carried out under section 4(2), issue a proclamation specifying the date of commencement of the Revised Edition. (2) From the date specified in the proclamation, the Revised Edition described in such proclamation shall, subject to the provisions of section 13, be deemed to be and shall be noted, in all courts of law, as the proper law of Tanzania in respect of the laws included therein. (3) Except in so far as it concerns any law omitted from the Revised Edition under section 6 on and after the date referred to in subsection (1), the Revised Edition is the authoritative text of the laws of Tanzania according to the respective tenors- (a) in the case of a law to which this Act applies, or of a law included in accordance with paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 10 of this Act, as at the effective date but subject to the effect of any law included 13 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] Rectification of errors under paragraph (b) of that subsection; and (b) in the case of a law included in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section 10 of this Act, as at the effective date. (4) Nothing in this Act gives to subsidiary legislation included in the Revised Edition any validity other than that which it would have had if it had been made by the appropriate authority on the date referred to in subsection (1). - 13
The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may publish Gazette notices giving directions to fix clerical, printing, literary, or similar errors in the Revised Edition or annual supplements.
13.-(1) For the purpose of rectifying any clerical, printing or other literary error appearing in the Revised Edition or in any annual supplement or for the purpose of rectifying, in a manner not inconsistent with his powers under this Act, any other error so appearing, the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may from time to time, by notice published in the Gazette, give directions as to the rectification of any such error. (2) Any notice issued under the authority of this section shall have effect from the date on which the law to which it relates had effect as part of the Revised Edition or as an annual supplement, as the case may be, under the provisions of section 12 and that law shall be read and construed accordingly. Continuance in force of certain subsidiary enactments - 14
This section says subsidiary legislation is treated as having been in force on the effective date, as if it had been made under the corresponding provision in the Revised Edition.
14. On the date referred to in section 12, all subsidiary legislation- (a) made under a law to which this Act applies; (b) in force immediately before the effective date; Effect of annotations or (c) omitted from the Revised Edition under section 6 or 7 of this Act, shall be deemed to have been in force on the effective date as if it had been made under the corresponding provision in the Revised Edition. - 15
An annotation in the Revised Edition stating a factual matter about a law covered by the Act is, unless the contrary intention appears, prima facie evidence of that fact.
15. Where any factual statement is made in relation to any law to which this Act applies in any annotation in the Revised Edition, that statement is, unless the contrary intention appears, prima facie evidence of the fact so stated. 14 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] Construction of reference to repealed, etc., laws Sealed copies to be deposited Distribution of Revised Edition - 16
References to a repealed or otherwise affected law are, where necessary and practicable, treated as references to the corresponding law in the Revised Edition or annual supplement, and affected cross-references are read with needed modifications.
16. Where, in any law or in any document of whatever kind, reference is made to any law repealed or otherwise affected by or under the operation of this Act, such reference shall, where necessary and practicable, be deemed to extend and apply to the corresponding law in the Revised Edition or annual supplement, as the case may be and all cross-references in any laws shall, where such cross references are affected by the operation of this Act, be read and construed with such modifications as circumstances may require. - 17
The President must date, sign, and seal three bound copies of each volume of the Revised Edition.
17.-(1) Three bound copies of each volume of the Revised Edition shall be dated and signed by the President and shall be sealed with the Public Seal of the United Republic. (2) One of the sealed copies shall be deposited with the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, one shall be held in the record of the National Assembly and one shall be held in such custody as the President directs. - 18
The Minister may direct how copies of the Revised Edition, supplements, and booklets are distributed, priced, and subscribed to. A subscriber may request a copy of published booklets, which the Government Printer or an authorised person must supply.
18.-(1) Copies of the Revised Edition and annual supplements of any booklet shall be distributed among such persons, officers, departments and institutions and upon such conditions as the Minister may direct. (2) There shall be offered to the public such number of copies of the Revised Edition and each annual supplement and of any booklet at such prices as the Minister may direct. (3) Any person may become a subscriber to the Revised Edition or the annual supplements, or both, on payment of such fee or annual fee, or both, as the Minister may direct. (4) The Government Printer or other person authorised by the Minister shall, on the application of a subscriber, supply him with a copy of all booklets which have been published in the year of application. 15 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] Replacements and additional material Judicial notice of Revised Edition - 19
The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman must issue replacement sheets and new law texts for the Revised Edition from time to time, and those materials must state their preparation date and where they fit or what they replace.
19.-(1) The Chief Parliamentary Draftsman shall, from time to time, cause to be issued- (a) replacement sheets any amendments to the text of laws included in the Revised Edition; incorporating (b) directions for the removal of provisions that have been repealed or have expired, have had their effect or have been superseded, or that otherwise might have been omitted from the Revised Edition under section 7; and (c) the text of new law to be incorporated in the Revised Edition. (2) Each replacement sheet, and the text of each new law, shall- (a) specify the date as at which it was prepared; and (b) state the part of the Revised Edition that it replaces, or where it should be inserted in the Revised Edition, and shall form part of the Revised Edition as if the date specified under paragraph (a) of this subsection were the effective date. (3) In preparing a replacement sheet or the text of a new law to be incorporated into the Revised Edition, the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman may exercise, as appropriate, all or any of the powers conferred by section 7, 8 or 9 of this Act. - 20
Courts and people acting judicially must take notice of laws in the Revised Edition, and certain copies or volumes can serve as evidence of those texts.
20.-(1) All courts and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the text of the laws to which this Act applies as included in the Revised Edition. (2) Except where this Act specifically provides to the contrary, no footnotes or other annotations, and no explanatory matter, printed in the Revised Edition in relation to any provision shall be deemed to form part of that provision or be judicially noticed. (3) The mere production of a volume purporting to be a volume of the Revised Edition and to have been printed by a Government Printer is, in all courts and before all persons acting judicially, prima facie evidence 16 Laws Revision Act [CAP. 4 R.E. 2020] that the volume is a volume of the Revised Edition. (4) The copies of the Revised Edition sealed under section 17, and copies of replacement sheets and new laws prepared under section 19 and certified by the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman to be such copies, as affected by any rectification under section 13, are for all purposes conclusive evidence of the texts of the laws to which they relate. (5) A law that is not included in the Revised Edition may be provided in any way in which it might have been proved immediately before the effective date. (6) The provisions of this section are in addition to and not in derogation of any other law relating to evidence or judicial notice. - 21
Including or excluding a law from the Revised Edition does not affect civil or criminal proceedings already started under that law.
21. The inclusion of a law in, or the exclusion of a law from, the Revised Edition does not affect any civil or criminal proceedings previously commenced under that law, but every such proceeding may be continued and everything in relation to it may be done in all respect as if the law had not been so included or excluded. - 22
Acts made under section 9 must be included near the start of the Revised Edition, section 7 does not apply to printing those Acts, and notices under section 6(1) must be printed with those Acts.
22.-(1) This Act and any Act made in accordance with section 9 shall be included at or about the beginning of the text of the Revised Edition. (2) Section 7 of this Act does not apply to or in relation to the printing of an Act in accordance with the preceding provisions of this section. (3) All notices under subsection (1) of section 6, shall be printed with the Acts referred to in subsection (1) of this section. - 23 Verify source ↗
Short title
This section repeals the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Ordinance, and it says that, unless this Act provides otherwise, the former Revised Laws text is replaced by the texts in the Revised Edition and annual supplements prepared under this Act.
23.-(1) [Repeals the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Ordinance.] (2) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the text of the laws in the former Revised Laws shall be superseded by the respective texts of the laws contained in the Revised Edition and annual supplements prepared under this Act. _________________ 17 Continuance of text of Revised Laws for certain purposes Place of this Act in Revised Edition Repeal of R.L. Cap.356 G.N.No.312 of 2004
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