Keeping Statutes Law Up to Date

Not all statutes ever passed by parliament are still in force. As time progresses the laws that were once needed can become unnecessary or irrelevant and others may actually be counterproductive. Sometimes where an act of parliament has become outdated parliament itself will take action. A new act will amend and sometimes supersede the old act with law that is more appropriate. For example there have been several different Criminal Justice Acts and yet not all of the previous sections of the older acts have been replaced by the most recent, the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

New laws can work in tandem with older laws. However in cases where a new law directly contradicts an old law it is the new law that has effect. This means that the new law is the one that applies to new situations and the old law is no longer in force having been replaced. In circumstances where laws have not been updated or replaced, but are no longer considered necessary parliament can remove the outdated law from the statute book by repealing it. This means that the old law ceases to be in force without being replaced.

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