Legal Definitions - repealing clause

Repealing Clause

A repealing clause is a specific section or provision included within a new piece of legislation (a statute or law) that explicitly cancels, revokes, or nullifies an existing, older law or a part of an existing law. Its primary function is to remove outdated, conflicting, or redundant legal provisions from the statute books, ensuring that the legal framework remains clear, consistent, and up-to-date.

Here are a few examples to illustrate how a repealing clause works:

• Example 1: Replacing Outdated Regulations

  Imagine a country passes a new, comprehensive "Clean Air Act" designed to address modern pollution challenges. This new act might include a repealing clause that states: "The Air Quality Standards Act of 1975 is hereby repealed." This clause ensures that the older, less stringent 1975 law, which is now considered insufficient or contradictory to the new act's goals, is formally removed from legal effect, preventing confusion about which standards apply.

• Example 2: Resolving Legal Conflicts

  Consider a state that enacts a new "Digital Privacy Protection Law" to regulate how companies handle personal data online. There might be an older, less comprehensive "Information Security Statute" from a decade ago that touches on similar issues but with different requirements. To avoid legal ambiguity and ensure the new, stronger privacy protections take precedence, the new Digital Privacy Protection Law would contain a repealing clause stating: "Sections 3 through 7 of the Information Security Statute (Chapter 123, Acts of [Year]) are hereby repealed." This explicitly nullifies the conflicting parts of the older law.

• Example 3: Consolidating Multiple Laws

  A government decides to streamline its tax system by combining several individual tax laws – such as the "Income Tax Act," the "Corporate Tax Act," and the "Sales Tax Act" – into a single, unified "National Tax Code." The new National Tax Code would feature a comprehensive repealing clause at its beginning or end, listing all the specific older tax statutes that are now being replaced and absorbed into this new, consolidated code. For instance, it might state: "The Income Tax Act of [Year], the Corporate Tax Act of [Year], and the Sales Tax Act of [Year] are hereby repealed." This action ensures that only the new, unified code governs taxation.