The Procurement Act 2023 (Specified International Agreements and Saving Provision) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Published: Thu 26th Mar 26

The Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2019 serves to formally remove enactments from the statute book that have become obsolete, spent, or unnecessary.

This legislation periodically cleanses the statute book by specifying which parts of previous Acts are repealed and clarifies the saving and transitional provisions related to those repeals, thereby ensuring the continuing legislation remains current while removing historical legal clutter.

Arguments For

  • Streamlines the statute book by removing outdated, spent, or unnecessary legislation, improving clarity and accessibility for legal professionals and the public.

  • Reduces the potential for confusion and error by eliminating obsolete laws that no longer serve a practical purpose.

  • Promotes good governance by ensuring that the body of law reflects current legal and societal needs.

  • Addresses historical legislative oversights where enactments have become redundant due to subsequent legislation or changes in circumstance.

Arguments Against

  • Risk of inadvertently repealing necessary but obscure provisions if scrutiny during the law revision process is insufficient.

  • Potential for disruption to legal precedents or subtle rights derived from the repealed statutes, even if those statutes are deemed obsolete.

  • The Act consolidates repeals over time, which can make tracking the full legislative history of a subject area more complex if not cross-referenced properly.

  • Legislative tidying exercises consume parliamentary and civil service time which could potentially be directed towards current policy.

Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2019

An Act to promote the revision of the statute law by repealing enactments which are obsolete, spent, or unnecessary, and for purposes connected therewith.

[26th March 2019]

Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

PART 1

REPEALS

1 Repeals within this Act

(1) The enactments specified in Schedule 1 are repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(2) The repeal of an enactment by virtue of this Act is subject to the saving and transitional provisions contained in Schedule 2.

2 Extent of Part 1

(1) Part 1 extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(2) Section 1 does not extend to the application of an enactment in relation to a disclosure under section 113B of the Police Act 1997 (protected information) made on or after the coming into force of section 32(2) of the Serious Crime Act 2015 to the extent that the enactment relates to the making of such a disclosure.

(3) Part 1 extends to Northern Ireland applications of an enactment where the enactment relates to a matter in respect of which a Secretary of State has the power to make an order under section 104(2) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978.

PART 2

GENERAL

3 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2019.

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 1

ENACTMENTS REPEALED

Session and Chapter | Short Title | Extent of Repeal

42 & 43 Vict. c. 49. | Petty Sessions Areas (Ireland) Act 1879. | The whole Act.


SCHEDULE 2

SAVING AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

1 General saving for enactments in this Act

The repeal of an enactment by virtue of this Act does not affect the operation of that enactment in respect of any period before the repeal comes into force, or any limitation on the effect of that enactment which was in force immediately before the repeal came into force.

2 Saving for repeal of repealing enactments

The repeal by this Act of an enactment which was repealed by an earlier enactment does not— (a) revive the earlier enactment, or (b) affect any repeal or saving made by the earlier enactment.

3 Saving for repeals of enactments which affect other enactments

The repeal by this Act of an enactment which amended, extended, restricted, modified or otherwise affected another enactment does not affect the operation of the other enactment except to the extent that the repeal of the first-mentioned enactment removes an amendment, extension, restriction, modification or other effect that amended, extended, restricted, modified or otherwise affected the other enactment.

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