Contents
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Statute Revision Act, the Statute Revision Commission has, under the direction of the Minister of Justice, prepared a revision of the public general statutes of Canada, which revision has been examined and approved by the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and the Standing Committee on Justice and Solicitor General of the House of Commons, both designated for the purpose of examining and approving the work of the Statute Revision Commission;AND WHEREAS a Statute Roll, in the form of a printed copy of the revision in eight volumes, has been prepared, attested at the beginning of each volume under the signature of Her Excellency the Governor General, countersigned by the Minister of Justice and certified correct by the Chairman of the Statute Revision Commission, and deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments on November 27, 1987;AND WHEREAS the Statute Revision Commission has recommended that the Acts and portions of Acts listed in the schedule attached to the Statute Roll be repealed immediately before the coming into force of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985;AND WHEREAS it is expedient to confirm the Statute Roll and to give the statutes set out therein the force and effect of law as the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, subject to the limitations hereinafter stated;NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Short Title
1Short title#
This Act may be cited as the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985 Act.
Confirmation, Commencement and Repeal
2Confirmation of Statute Roll#
(1)Subject to this Act, the Statute Roll deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments on November 27, 1987 and the statutes contained therein bearing chapter numbers A-1 to Y-4 are hereby declared to be law by the designation of the “Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985” as though the Statute Roll and those statutes were expressly embodied in and enacted by this Act.
(2)Subject to this Act, the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, in this Act referred to as the “Revised Statutes”, come into force and have operation and effect as law on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
(3)Where an Act included in the Revised Statutes contains a provision stating that the Act or any portion thereof is to come into force on a specified day or on a day to be fixed by proclamation,
(a)subsection (2) applies only in respect of the coming into force of that Act or portion if the specified day or the day fixed by proclamation occurred on or before the day referred to in that subsection; and
(b)if the specified day or the day fixed by proclamation occurs after the day referred to in subsection (2), the Act or portion comes into force on the specified day or the day fixed by proclamation.
Effects of Revision and Repeal
4Operation of Revised Statutes#
The Revised Statutes shall not be held to operate as new law, but shall be construed and have effect as a consolidation of the law as contained in the Acts and portions of Acts repealed by section 3 and for which the Revised Statutes are substituted.
5References to repealed enactments and terminology#
Where a reference is made in any Act, regulation or other instrument, document or text to any Act or portion thereof repealed by section 3, or to any expression used therein, the reference shall, after the Revised Statutes take effect, be deemed as regards any subsequent transaction, matter or thing to be a reference to the enactment in the Revised Statutes having the same effect as the repealed Act or portion thereof, or to the corresponding expression used therein.
Publication, Citation and Appendices
8Publication of Statutes Act not to apply#
(1)The Publication of Statutes Act does not apply to the Revised Statutes.
(2)The Revised Statutes shall be printed and bound in such style and form as the Statute Revision Commission deems most suitable for the purpose and copies of the Revised Statutes shall be distributed without charge to such persons or classes of persons as the Governor in Council directs.
9Citation of Revised Statutes#
A chapter of the Revised Statutes may be cited and referred to in any Act, regulation, proceeding, instrument or document either by its short or long title as an Act or by using the expression “Revised Statutes, 1985, chapter ......”, or “chapter ...... of the Revised Statutes”, or the abbreviation “R.S.C., 1985, c. ......” or “R.S., c. ......”, adding in each case the number of the particular chapter.
10Publication of this Act#
A copy of this Act may be included in one of the volumes that contain the Revised Statutes in addition to being printed and published with the statutes enacted during the year in which this Act is assented to.
11Appendices, schedules, index#
(1)The Statute Revision Commission may cause to be printed, and included in the volumes that contain the Revised Statutes,
(a)appendices prepared by the Commission containing statutes of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and of the Parliament of Canada and other documents relating to the Constitution of Canada or of any of its provinces or territories;
(b)schedules prepared by the Commission of similar character to those published with the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, with any alterations or additions that seem proper; and
(c)an index to the Revised Statutes.
(2)The Statute Revision Commission may cause a public general statute of Canada that is of a constitutional or quasi-constitutional nature to be printed with the appendices referred to in subsection (1) and may thereupon omit any such statute from the volumes of the Revised Statutes.
(3)The statutes and documents referred to in paragraph (1)(a) and subsection (2) may for convenience be prepared in the form of consolidations.
Supplements
12Supplements#
The Statute Revision Commission may prepare, under and in accordance with the Statute Revision Act, supplements to the Revised Statutes showing, as amendments or additions to the Revised Statutes,
(a)the public general statutes of Canada passed after December 31, 1984 but before the coming into force of the Revised Statutes;
(b)any other public general statutes of Canada not included in the Statute Roll that the Commission may consider advisable to add thereto; and
(c)any corrections required to be made to the Statute Roll by reason of any omission or error in its preparation, editing or printing.
13Deposit with Clerk of the Parliaments#
(1)When the Statute Revision Commission reports in writing the completion of a supplement to the Revised Statutes, the Governor General may cause a printed copy of the supplement, including a schedule similar in form to the schedule referred to in section 3, attested under the signature of the Governor General, countersigned by the Minister of Justice and certified correct by the Chairman of the Statute Revision Commission, to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments and that copy shall be held to be the original of the enactments contained in the supplement.
(2)The Governor in Council, after deposit of a supplement in accordance with subsection (1), may by order declare the day on and from which the supplement shall come into force and have operation and effect as law as though the enactments contained therein were expressly embodied in and enacted by an Act of Parliament.
(3)Where an Act included in a supplement contains a provision stating that the Act or any portion thereof is to come into force on a specified day or on a day to be fixed by proclamation or order of the Governor in Council,
(a)subsection (2) applies only in respect of the coming into force of that Act or portion if the specified day or the day so fixed occurred on or before the day declared by the Governor in Council pursuant to that subsection; and
(b)if the specified day or the day so fixed occurs after the day declared by the Governor in Council pursuant to subsection (2), the Act or portion comes into force on the specified day or the day so fixed.
(4)Immediately before the coming into force of the supplement, the several Acts and portions of Acts listed in the schedule to the supplement are repealed to the extent mentioned in the schedule.
14Deemed part of Revised Statutes#
A supplement to the Revised Statutes shall be deemed to be included in and to be part of the Revised Statutes, and the citation of any chapter of the Revised Statutes in accordance with section 9 shall be deemed to include any amendments thereto contained in a supplement.
General
16Amendments apply to Revised Statutes#
An amendment made by an enactment passed after December 31, 1984 to or in terms of an enactment that is repealed by this Act and replaced by the Revised Statutes shall be deemed to have been made to or in terms of the enactment in the Revised Statutes that is substituted for the repealed enactment.
Federal laws of Canada reproduced under the Reproduction of Federal Law Order (SI/97-5); not the official version. Source: Justice Laws Website.