Explanatory Note
As the
loose-leaf system of publication of laws is new to The Bahamas, it seems
desirable to provide a detailed Explanatory Note. The information contained in
this Note as to the scheme and system of presentation of the laws should
facilitate the public in the use of the new Edition.
Statutory
Authority for Publication of Laws
The Revised
Edition of the Statute Law and Subsidiary Legislation of The Bahamas (the Laws)
is published under the authority of the Law Reform and Revision Act (Ch. 3).
The Edition will be periodically (it is hoped annually) updated by the issue of
Supplements.
Leaflet
entitled "Supplement Key"
A leaflet
entitled "Supplement Key" will be issued with each Supplement
containing information relevant to the Supplement and to the use of the Laws
generally. This leaflet will be of vital importance to any person using the
Revised Edition and its Supplements. Among other things, it will contain a
table of Current Title Pages (referred to below in the section headed
"Determining authenticity of page of Laws") and instructions for the
incorporation of the Supplement of the Laws.
Table of
Contents
A general
picture of the scheme and content of the Revised Edition may be obtained from
the Table of Contents and reference may be made to the Table in order to
ascertain the location of any accessory item of the Laws (such as the
Explanatory Note, Classified Table of Chapters, List of Omitted Acts,
Chronological Table, etc.). For the location of particular Chapters the reader
should refer to the Classified Table of Chapters (where the Acts are classified
according to subject matter) or to the Alphabetical List of Published Acts.
Scheme of
the Revised Edition
The Edition
consists of-
(a) the
preliminary items specified in the Table of Contents;
(b) the
Constitution - as the supreme law of the land it is published first among the
substantive laws of the Edition, and not allotted a Chapter number;
(c) the
ordinary laws of the country (Acts and subsidiary legislation) set out in
numbered Chapters classified according to their subject matter.
Determining
authenticity of page of Laws
For a
loose-leaf edition to be practical it is essential to have a method whereby the
reader may ascertain quickly and easily the authenticity of any given page
appearing in the edition. The method used in this edition is based on the
following factors:
(a) the
original pages of this edition will be printed with the words "[Original
Service 2001]";
(b) by virtue
of section 7 of the Law Reform and Revision Act, Ch. 3, every subsequent page
of the Laws will be authorised by a Law Revision Order and a notation of that
Order will appear at the bottom of every page;
(c) the table
of Current Authorised Pages printed on the title page of every Chapter or other
item of the Laws set out with respect to each page of the Chapter or item of
the most up-to-date Law Revision Order authorising the inclusion of that page
in the Laws.
Thus to
determine whether any given page of the Laws is the page of that number
currently authorised to appear in a particular Chapter or item of the Laws, one
need only ascertain whether the Law Revision Order noted on that page is the
Law Revision Order specified in the table of Current Authorised Pages in
respect of that page.
Before using
a table of Current Authorised Pages printed on a particular title page, one
will have to ensure that the title page is the currently authorised title page.
Thus an up-to-date table of Current Authorised Title Pages will be regularly
issued in the leaflet entitled "Supplement Key" referred to above.
This Key will list the title pages (identified by their L.R.O. notations)
currently authorised to appear in the Edition.
Date of
Commencement of Acts
The date of
commencement of the principal Act of each Chapter is shown at the beginning of
the Act. Generally, this is the date of the publication in the Gazette. Where
the Act has been brought into force by Notice, a marginal reference to the
Statutory Instrument number is inserted.
Notation
of Amendments
A list of
the amendments to every Act is set out on the title page of the Chapter of that
Act.
Where a
section, regulation, etc., has been amended by any written law, a reference to
the amending law appears immediately below the marginal note to the section,
regulation, etc. The format of the references will be as follows:
"17 of
1991" means Act No. 17 of 1991; and
"37/1999"
means Statutory Instrument No. 37 of 1999.
Acts
omitted from publication
As is normal
in such publications, a number of Acts are omitted from publication in the
Laws. The grounds for omission are practical ones. Generally, Acts are omitted
because they have been repealed or have expired or have become spent. The
authority for such omission is to be found in section 7 of the Law Reform and
Revision Act, Ch. 3. That section authorises the omission of Appropriation
Acts, Supplementary Appropriation Acts and any Act of a temporary nature.
Section 9 provides for the omission of any other Acts on the authority of an
Order of the Minister or any Act containing only special provision in relation
to the pension of a person named therein. A list of the Acts omitted under the
authority of such an Order of the Minister is published in the List of Omitted
Acts. Thus, either the Classified Table of Chapters or the Alphabetical List of
Published Acts together with this List of Omitted Acts will constitute a complete
list of the Acts in force in The Bahamas on the relevant Revision Date.
It will be
noted that only published Acts are given Chapter numbers and placed in the
Classified Table of Chapters. The reference number of an Omitted Act must
continue to be its original number as published in the Gazette (its allotted
number in the annual series of Acts e.g. 21 of 1999).
Where
Omitted laws may be found
All Acts and
all Subsidiary Legislation of The Bahamas are required by law to be published
in the Gazette (Interpretation and General Clauses Act, Ch. 2, section 18) .
They are in the first place published in the Gazette and later, as soon as
practicable after the end of every year, the laws of that year are published in
an annual volume for that year. Thus, persons wishing to refer to the text of a
law omitted from the Revised Edition will find them in the Gazette or in the
relevant Annual Volume - both of which are on sale to the public at Government
Publications.
Mode of
Updating
There is a
standard method of updating a loose-leaf Edition. The updating is done by
inserting pages of new matter, by removing pages of repealed matter, and by
removing pages affected by amendments and replacing them with pages containing
the law as amended. Under this system, the process of revision is designed
primarily to keep the public supplied with up-to-date versions of the law. This
is the method which will be used to update the Laws.
Insertion
of new Acts and new Statutory Instruments
A new Act
forming part of a Supplement will be allotted a Chapter number (based on its
classification in the Classified Table of Chapters) and the new Chapter will be
inserted in its appropriate numerical order among the existing Chapters of the
Laws. New statutory instruments will necessarily be inserted among existing
statutory instruments, and the insertion of a new instrument in its appropriate
place will be based on the Chapter number under which it is made. The system of
pagination adopted will remain basically a simple and precise one to which
subscribers will readily become accustomed e.g. pages inserted between pages 18
and 19 will be numbered 18A, 18B, 18C, etc.
As with the
passage of time the amendments and insertions with respect to a particular
Chapter accumulate, a decision will be taken as to when, on practical grounds
of convenience, the time has come for a consolidation of the whole Chapter.
This will in effect constitute a new revision of the Chapter and will present a
fully updated version of the law.
Incorporation
of Supplement pages in the Laws
The
Supplement pages are issued in batches. Instructions for their incorporation in
the Laws will be given in the Supplement Key described at page 3 of this
Explanatory Note. Users are advised to incorporate the supplementary pages
promptly on their receipt. Pages ordered to be removed from the Laws, though no
longer forming part of the law of the country, should not be thrown away. It is
recommended that they be filed away systematically in folders so that the
history of the laws may be easily traced.
Use of
Volume Numbers
The Chapters
and other items of the Laws are presented in the order shown in the Table of
Contents and the Classified Table of Chapters. However, no scheme of
distribution among Volumes will be adopted as official and all references to
laws will be expressed in terms of their Chapter numbers and not of the Volumes
in which they appear.
In a
loose-leaf Edition it is not possible to fix permanently the distribution of
Chapters among Volumes as (with the insertion and removal of Chapters and other
pages incidental to updating) this distribution must necessarily change from
time to time.
Additional
Binders
As one would
expect, the number of leaves to be accommodated in the binders will increase
and at some time it may be necessary to make available additional binders so
that users of the laws will be able to accommodate new material.
Correspondence
with Commission
The
Commission would be grateful for suggestions as to the improvement of the Laws
and for information as to any errors or omissions discovered in the Laws.
All
correspondence with respect to the Laws should be addressed to-
The
Commissioner
Law Reform and Revision Commission
P.O. Box N-3007
Claughton House
Second Floor
Corner of Shirley and
Charlotte Streets
Nassau, Bahamas
F.H.M.