repeal

A repeal may be express (the later Act says so) or implied (the later Act is so inconsistent with the earlier one that both cannot stand). Courts lean against implied repeal and try to harmonise the two first. A later general law does not normally repeal an earlier special law.

Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 saves the effects of a repealed Central Act unless a different intention appears: a repeal does not revive anything not in force, does not affect anything done or any right, liability or penalty already accrued, and does not affect pending proceedings. The BNS, BNSS and BSA each contain their own repeal and savings sections. A repealed Act is wiped out for the future; a law struck down as unconstitutional is void in a different sense. Distinguish repeal from amendment and from expiry of a temporary Act.

Example

Because the offence was committed before 1 July 2024, the trial continued under the IPC, saved by the BNS repeal and savings clause and s.6 of the General Clauses Act.

In Indian law

• Sections 6 and 24, General Clauses Act, 1897
• Section 358, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (repeal of the IPC and savings)

See also

statute · retrospective operation · leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant · generalia specialibus non derogant

Read more in the study notes

• Excessive delegation, conditional legislation and sub-delegation (Administrative Law)
• Arbitration: meaning, kinds and salient features of the 1996 Act (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Conciliation under industrial, family and marriage laws (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Criminal procedure: meaning, background and salient features of the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• From the IPC to the BNS: background, extent and key reforms (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Mob lynching, death by negligence and hit and run (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)