Statute Revision Act
R.S.C., 1985, c. S-20
An Act to provide for a continuing revision and consolidation of the statutes and regulations of Canada
Short Title
Marginal note:Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the Statute Revision Act.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 1
Interpretation
Marginal note:Definitions
2 In this Act,
Commission
Commission
Commission means the Statute Revision Commission established by section 3; (Commission)
Minister
ministre
Minister means the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; (ministre)
revision
révision
revision means the arrangement, revision and consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada authorized under Part I. (révision)
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 2
Statute Revision Commission
Marginal note:Commission established
3 (1) There is hereby established a Statute Revision Commission consisting of three employees of the Department of Justice appointed thereto by the Minister.
Marginal note:Chairman
(2) The Minister shall designate one of the members of the Commission to be Chairman thereof.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 3
Marginal note:Duties
4 The Commission shall, under the direction of the Minister, perform the duties imposed on the Commission under this Act.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 4
PART IPublic General Statutes
Revision
Marginal note:Revision of statutes
5 The Commission shall, from time to time, arrange, revise and consolidate the public general statutes of Canada.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 5
Marginal note:Powers of Commission
6 In preparing a revision, the Commission may
(a) omit therefrom all Acts or parts thereof that have expired, have been repealed or suspended, or have had their effect;
(b) omit therefrom all Acts or parts thereof that, although enacted as or in public Acts, have reference only to a particular country, province, locality, place or body politic, or otherwise have no general application;
(c) include therein Acts or parts thereof that, although enacted as or in private Acts, or although deemed to be local Acts or enactments, are of such a character that they impose duties or obligations on, or limit the rights or privileges of, the public;
(d) alter the numbering and arrangement of the statutes and of the different Parts, sections and other divisions thereof;
(e) make such alterations in the language of the statutes as may be required to preserve a uniform mode of expression, without changing the substance of any enactment;
(f) make such minor improvements in the language of the statutes as may be required to bring out more clearly the intention of Parliament, or make the form of expression of the statute in one of the official languages more compatible with its expression in the other official language, without changing the substance of any enactment;
(g) make such changes in the statutes as are required to reconcile seemingly inconsistent enactments; and
(h) correct editing, grammatical or typographical errors in the statutes.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 6
Marginal note:Parliamentary examination
7 (1) During the progress of the preparation of a revision or on the conclusion thereof, or both during the progress and on the conclusion thereof, the Minister shall cause drafts of the statutes so revised to be laid for examination and approval before such Committee of the House of Commons and such Committee of the Senate, or such Committee of both Houses of Parliament, as may be designated for the purpose of the examination and approval.
Marginal note:Enactment of Revised Statutes
(2) When drafts of all the statutes included in a revision have been examined and approved by the Committee or Committees referred to in subsection (1), the Minister shall cause to be prepared and introduced in Parliament a bill substantially in accord with the model bill set out in the schedule, or to the like effect.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 7
Consolidation
Marginal note:Consolidation of statutes
8 (1) The Commission may prepare, maintain and keep up to date a consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada, and indices and appendices thereto, and may make such arrangements in respect of matters incidental thereto as may be required for that purpose.
Marginal note:Powers of Commission
(2) Paragraphs 6(a) to (c) and (h) apply in respect of a consolidation of the public general statutes.
Marginal note:Manner of updating
(3) The Commission may keep the consolidation referred to in subsection (1) up to date by means of electronic data processing, microfilm, print or any other technique, as it considers suitable.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 8
Marginal note:Edition in loose-leaf form
9 (1) The Commission may cause to be published an edition of the consolidation referred to in subsection 8(1) in what is commonly known as a loose-leaf form, that is, a form in which the separate pages or separate chapters, as the case may be, are not bound together but are punched so that they may be conveniently held together by a separate fastening, and removed, replaced or added to from time to time.
Marginal note:Selected statutes
(2) The Commission may cause to be published, in the form described in subsection (1), an edition of a portion of the consolidation referred to in subsection 8(1) containing statutes selected by the Commission for the convenience of those who wish to subscribe to a service providing only certain statutes.
Marginal note:Subscription service
(3) The Minister may enter into arrangements to provide copies of consolidations of the statutes or selected statutes to persons who wish to be supplied with those statutes at prices established in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by the Treasury Board.
Marginal note:Editions not evidence
(4) Section 19 of the Canada Evidence Act does not apply to an edition of the consolidation published under subsection (1) or to an edition thereof made available under section 10.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 9
Marginal note:Distribution without charge
9.1 (1) Copies of pages issued by the Commission to be added to, or to replace pages of, as well as the binders to be used for, an edition of the consolidation published pursuant to section 9 shall be distributed without charge to such persons or classes of persons as the Governor in Council, by order, directs.
Marginal note:Annual statutes
(2) Directions made under section 10 of the Publication of Statutes Act do not entitle persons referred to in subsection (1) to receive copies of the annual statutes of Canada.
- 1992, c. 1, s. 132
Marginal note:Other publication
10 The Commission may cause an edition of the consolidation published pursuant to section 9 to be made available
(a) in microfilm form directly from the printed edition or by electronic data processing; or
(b) by electronic data processing for visual display, photocopying or automated typing at such locations as, in the opinion of the Commission, will best serve the convenience of the public.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 10
PART IIRegulations
Consolidation of Regulations
Marginal note:Consolidated Regulations
11 (1) The Commission shall prepare, maintain and keep up to date a consolidation of the regulations of Canada (in this Part called the “Consolidated Regulations”).
Marginal note:Powers of Commission
(2) In preparing and maintaining the Consolidated Regulations and in keeping the Consolidated Regulations up to date, the Commission may exercise, in respect of the regulations, like powers to those that it has under section 6 in respect of a revision.
Marginal note:Definition of “regulations”
(3) In this Part, regulations means
(a) statutory orders and regulations published in the 1955 Consolidation of Statutory Orders and Regulations;
(b) regulations, statutory instruments and other documents published in Part II of the Canada Gazette since the publication of the Consolidation referred to in paragraph (a);
(c) regulations not exempted from publication pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 20(c) of the Statutory Instruments Act and registered with the Clerk of the Privy Council pursuant to section 32 of the Statutory Instruments Act, chapter 38 of the Statutes of Canada, 1970-71-72; and
(d) any other regulations, statutory instruments or documents that, in the opinion of the Commission, are of continuing effect or apply to more than one person or body and that are not exempted from publication pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 20(c) of the Statutory Instruments Act.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 11
Marginal note:Deposit of consolidation
12 (1) On receipt of a written report from the Commission in respect of the completion of all or any part of the Consolidated Regulations, the Governor in Council may cause a printed Roll thereof, attested under the signature of the Minister and the President of the Privy Council, to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Privy Council, and the Roll shall be held to be the original of the regulations included therein.
Marginal note:Schedule
(2) There shall be appended to each Roll a schedule similar in form to Schedule A appended to the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and the Commission may include in the schedule a list of all regulations and parts thereof that, although not expressly revoked, are superseded by the regulations included in the Roll, or are inconsistent therewith, and a list of all regulations and parts thereof that were for a temporary purpose the force of which is spent.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 12
Marginal note:Coming into force date
13 (1) The Governor in Council, after deposit of a Roll in accordance with subsection 12(1), may by order declare the day on which the Roll shall come into force and have effect as law.
Marginal note:Effect
(2) On the day referred to in subsection (1) in respect of any Roll, the regulations included in that Roll shall accordingly come into force and have effect as law as part of the Consolidated Regulations to all intents as if each such regulation had been made by the appropriate regulation-making authority and all the requirements with respect to the making of that regulation had been complied with.
Marginal note:Revocation
(3) On the day referred to in subsection (1), all regulations and parts thereof listed in the schedule to the Roll are revoked to the extent mentioned in that schedule.
Definition of regulation-making authority
(4) In this section and section 22, regulation-making authority means, in relation to any regulation, the authority authorized to make the regulation.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 13
Marginal note:Notice in Canada Gazette
14 The Commission may cause to be published in the Canada Gazette a notice of the regulations contained in any printed Roll deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Privy Council in accordance with subsection 12(1).
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 14
Marginal note:Loose-leaf edition
15 The Commission may cause to be published in one or more volumes in a loose-leaf form as described in subsection 9(1) in respect of a revision so much of the regulations as have been consolidated and deposited from time to time in the office of the Clerk of the Privy Council in accordance with subsection 12(1).
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 15
Marginal note:Selected regulations
16 (1) The Commission may cause to be published, in the form referred to in section 15, an edition of a portion of the Consolidated Regulations containing regulations selected by the Commission for the convenience of those who wish to subscribe to a service providing only certain regulations.
Marginal note:Subscription service
(2) The Minister may enter into arrangements to provide copies of consolidations of the regulations or selected regulations to persons who wish to be supplied with those regulations at prices established in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by the Treasury Board.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 16
Marginal note:Bound volumes
17 Where the Commission has, as of a day selected by it, consolidated all the regulations of Canada that it is required to consolidate under section 11 to that day, the Commission shall cause the Consolidated Regulations to be published in the form of bound volumes, and the regulations to be included therein shall be those that have been consolidated as of that day, and that day shall be indicated in each of the volumes.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 17
Marginal note:Old regulations not revived
18 (1) The repeal of the regulations and parts thereof listed in the schedule appended to a Roll does not
(a) revive any regulation or part thereof revoked by them;
(b) affect any saving clause in the regulations or parts thereof so revoked; or
(c) prevent the application of any of those regulations or parts thereof, or of any regulation or part thereof formerly in force, to any transaction, matter or thing anterior to the revocation to which they would otherwise apply.
Marginal note:Not new law
(2) A regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations shall not be held to operate as a new regulation, but shall be construed and have effect as a consolidation and as declaratory of the law as contained in the regulation and parts thereof as consolidated, and for which the regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations is substituted.
Marginal note:Where consolidation differs
(3) Where, on any point, the provisions of a regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations are not in effect the same as those of the revoked provisions for which they are substituted, in respect of all transactions, matters and things subsequent to the time when the regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations takes effect, the provisions contained in that regulation prevail, but in respect of all transactions, matters and things anterior to that time, the revoked provisions prevail.
Marginal note:Construction of references
(4) A reference in any regulation remaining in force and unconsolidated, or in any instrument or document, to any regulation or part thereof revoked under subsection 13(3) by inclusion in the Consolidated Regulations shall, after the regulation in the Consolidated Regulations takes effect, be deemed, in respect of any subsequent transaction, matter or thing, to be a reference to the regulation or part thereof in the Consolidated Regulations having the same effect as the revoked regulation or part thereof.
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Marginal note:Effect of inclusion in schedule
19 (1) The inclusion of any regulation or part thereof in the schedule appended to a Roll shall not be considered to be a declaration that the regulation or part thereof was or was not in force immediately before the coming into force of the portion of the Consolidated Regulations that includes that regulation or part thereof.
Marginal note:Subsection 16(3) Statutory Instruments Act
(2) The whole or any part of the Consolidated Regulations shall be construed to be a consolidation of regulations within the meaning of subsection 16(3) of the Statutory Instruments Act.
Marginal note:Scrutiny Committees of Parliament
(3) A regulation that is included in the Consolidated Regulations stands permanently referred to any Committee or Committees of Parliament established under section 19 of the Statutory Instruments Act.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 19
Marginal note:Citation of Consolidated Regulations
20 (1) Any regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations may be cited and referred to in any Act, regulation, proceeding, instrument or document whatever either by its short or long title as a regulation or by using the expression “Consolidated Regulations of Canada, chapter
”, or “Consolidated Regulations, chapter ”, or “Chapter of the Consolidated Regulations”, or the abbreviation “C.R.C., c. ”, adding in each case the number of the particular chapter.Marginal note:Idem
(2) The citation of any chapter of the Consolidated Regulations in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to include any amendments made thereto after the publication of that regulation in the Consolidated Regulations.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 20
Marginal note:Other publication
21 The Commission may cause an edition of the Consolidated Regulations published pursuant to section 15, 16 or 17 to be made available
(a) in microfilm form directly from a volume in loose-leaf form or a bound volume edition or by electronic data processing; or
(b) by electronic data processing for visual display, photocopying or automated typing at such locations as, in the opinion of the Commission, will best serve the convenience of the public.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 21
Marginal note:Request to remake regulations
22 (1) Where the Clerk of the Privy Council, after consultation with the Deputy Minister of Justice, is of the opinion that any particular regulations should be remade by the regulation-making authority instead of being consolidated under this Act, he may request that authority or any person acting on behalf of that authority to make new regulations.
Marginal note:Failure to comply with request
(2) Where any authority or person referred to in subsection (1) fails to comply within a reasonable time with a request made pursuant to that subsection, the Governor in Council may, by order, direct that authority or person to comply with the request within such period of time as he may specify in the order.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 22
Marginal note:Indices
23 The Commission may cause indices to the Consolidated Regulations to be prepared and published for the convenience of the public.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 23
PART IIIOther Duties
Annual Statutes
Marginal note:Annual statutes
24 (1) The Commission shall obtain a copy of every Act of Parliament as soon as it has received Royal Assent and make such arrangements as may be required with the Clerk of the Parliaments, designated as such under the Publication of Statutes Act, the Queen’s Printer and departments of the Government of Canada to assist in the distribution of such Acts to the public.
Marginal note:Making its services available
(2) The Commission may make its services available to other departments of the Government of Canada in order to expedite the publication and distribution of the chapters of the annual statutes of Canada.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 25
Other Statutory Material
Marginal note:Tables of other statutes
25 (1) The Commission may prepare and cause to be printed tables of Acts of Parliament that are not public general Acts or tables of public general statutes or portions thereof that have been omitted from, but not repealed by revisions of the public general statutes of Canada.
Marginal note:Compiling certain statutes
(2) The Commission may compile and prepare special editions of constitutional or quasi-constitutional statutes or instruments, and may compile and prepare special editions of local or private statutes.
Marginal note:Microfilming
(3) The Commission may preserve the statutes compiled pursuant to subsection (2) in microfilm form without having those statutes reprinted.
Marginal note:Consolidation
(4) A special edition described in subsection (2) may for convenience be prepared in the form of a consolidation.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, s. 26
SCHEDULE(Section 7)Model Bill
An Act to bring into force the Revised Statutes of Canada,
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 (here specify the Committees of the House of Commons and of the Senate or the Joint Committee of the House and Senate, as the case may be, designated for the purpose), 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 volumes, has been prepared, attested at the beginning of each volume under the signature of His 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 the day of , 19;
And Whereas the Statute Revision Commission has recommended that the Acts and portions of Acts listed in the schedule entitled Schedule I, attached to the Statute Roll, be repealed on the coming into force of the Revised Statutes of Canada, ;
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, , subject to the limitations stated in this Act;
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
Marginal note:Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the Revised Statutes of Canada (year) Act.
Marginal note:Confirmation of Statute Roll
2 (1) Subject to this section and to the exceptions or limitations mentioned in this Act, the Statute Roll deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments on the
day of , 19 and the several parts and sections therein contained, being comprised within the chapters numbered from to as therein set out, are hereby declared to be, and are, law by the designation of the “Revised Statutes of Canada, ” in English and « Lois révisées du Canada de » in French, to all intents and purposes as though the Statute Roll and those statutes therein contained, and the several chapters, parts and sections thereof, were expressly embodied in and enacted by this Act.Marginal note:Commencement of Revised Statutes
(2) Subject to this Act, the Revised Statutes of Canada,
(in this Act called the “Revised Statutes”) come into force, and have operation and effect as law, as provided in this Act, on the day of , 19.Marginal note:Acts to be proclaimed
(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 day to be fixed by proclamation, that Act or that portion thereof shall not be deemed to be in force solely by reason of subsections (1) and (2), but the Act or portion thereof comes into force only on the day fixed by proclamation for the coming into force thereof, or of that portion thereof, as provided in that Act.
Marginal note:Regulation-making power
(4) Where an Act included in the Revised Statutes, or any provision thereof, confers power to make regulations or to prescribe forms, that power, for the purpose of making the Act or the provision effective at the date of its coming into force, may be exercised at any time after this Act comes into force, but any regulation or form so made or prescribed does not come into force or have effect until the Act conferring the power comes into force.
Marginal note:Enactments repealed
3 On the
day of , 19, all the provisions in the several Acts and parts of Acts listed in Schedule I to the Statute Roll are repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of that Schedule.Marginal note:Dead law not revived
4 The repeal of the Acts and parts of Acts listed in Schedule I to the Statute Roll does not
(a) revive any Act or provision of law repealed by them;
(b) affect any saving clause in the Acts or parts of Acts so repealed; or
(c) prevent the application of any of those Acts or parts of Acts, or of any Act or provision of law formerly in force, to any transaction, matter or thing anterior to the repeal to which they would otherwise apply.
Marginal note:Operation of Revised Statutes
5 The Revised Statutes shall not be held to operate as new law, but shall be construed and have effect as a consolidation and as declaratory of the law as contained in the Acts and parts of Acts repealed by section 3, and for which the Revised Statutes are substituted.
Marginal note:References to repealed enactments
6 A reference in any Act enacted before the coming into force of the Revised Statutes and remaining in force after that time, or in any instrument or document, to any Act or enactment repealed under section 3, shall, after the Revised Statutes take effect, be deemed, in respect of 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 enactment.
Marginal note:Effect of inclusion in Schedule I
7 The inclusion of any Act in Schedule I to the Statute Roll shall not be considered as a declaration that the Act or any part of it was or was not in force immediately before the coming into force of the Revised Statutes.
Marginal note:Publication of Statutes Act
8 (1) The Publication of Statutes Act does not apply to the Revised Statutes.
Marginal note:Printing and distribution of Revised Statutes
(2) The Revised Statutes shall be printed and bound in such style or form as the Statute Revision Commission deems best suited to the Revised Statutes and copies of the Revised Statutes shall be distributed without charge to such persons or classes of persons as the Governor in Council directs.
Marginal note:Citation of Revised Statutes
9 A chapter of the Revised Statutes may be cited and referred to in any Act, regulation, proceeding, instrument or document whatever either by its short or long title as an Act or by using the expression “Revised Statutes, 19
, chapter ”, or “Chapter of the Revised Statutes”, or the abbreviation “R.S.C. 19, c. ”, or “R.S., c. ”, adding in each case the number of the particular chapter.Marginal note:Publication of this Act
10 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 at the session of Parliament in which this Act is passed.
Marginal note:Publication of appendices, etc.
11 (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 Statute Revision 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 Statute Revision 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.
Marginal note:Constitutional 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.
Marginal note:Supplements
12 (1) After the completion of the Revised Statutes, the Statute Revision Commission may, if the convenience of the public will be served thereby, 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 the completion of the Statute Roll 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,
and the provisions of this Act applicable to or in respect of the Revised Statutes apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to and in respect of those supplements.
Marginal note:Part of Revised Statutes
(2) 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.
Marginal note:Notes and tables
13 (1) Any explanatory notes and tables inserted by the Statute Revision Commission in the Revised Statutes form no part of those statutes and shall be held to have been inserted for convenience only.
Marginal note:Text of orders
(2) The texts of orders in council inserted by the Statute Revision Commission in the Revised Statutes shall be held to have been inserted for convenience only and shall not be held to have affected the authority to revoke or replace the orders in council so inserted.
- 1974-75-76, c. 20, Sch
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