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LAWS OF GHANA (REVISED EDITION)
ACT, 1998 (ACT 562)
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Appointment of Law Revision
Commissioner
2. Functions and powers of the
Commissioner
3. No power to make alteration of
substance
4. Power to omit specific
enactments
5. Omission of maps, charts
6. Form of publication
7. Maintenance of a Cumulative
Edition of the Laws of Ghana
8. Effective date of Revised
Edition
9. Saving of Subsidiary
Legislation
10. Revision of Subsidiary
Legislation
11. Effective date of Revised
Edition of Subsidiary Legislation
12. Complimentary matters
13. Construction of references
14. Signed copies
15. Sale of Revised Edition
16. Expenses of the revision
17. Printing of this Act with the
first Revised Edition
18. Interpretation
THE FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SECOND
ACT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF GHANA
ENTITLED
THE LAWS OF GHANA (REVISED
EDITION) ACT, 1998
AN ACT to provide for the
preparation and publication of a
Revised Edition of the
Laws of Ghana and to provide for
related matters.
DATE OF ASSENT: 30TH DECEMBER,
1998.
BE IT ENACTED by Parliament as
follows—
Section 1—Appointment of Law
Revision Commissioner.
(1) The President in consultation
with the Council of State and the
Minister for Justice shall appoint
a Commissioner to be known as the
statute Law Revision Commissioner
to prepare a Revised Edition of—
(a) all Acts in force on 1st
January, 1999; and
(b) all subsidiary legislation in
force on 1st January, 1999.
(2) Where the Commissioner is for
any reasonable and just cause
unable to perform the functions
assigned him under this Act, the
President may in accordance with
the advice of the Minister for
Justice appoint another person
qualified to be Commissioner
during the period of absence of
the Commissioner.
Section 2—Functions and Powers of
the Commissioner.
(1) In the preparation of the
Revised Edition the Commissioner—
(a) shall omit—
(i)
all Acts or parts of Acts which
have been expressly or
specifically repealed or which
have expired, become spent or
ceased to have effect;
(ii) all repealing enactments
contained in Acts and tables and
all lists of repeated enactments
whether contained in Schedules or
otherwise,
(iii) all preambles to Acts where
the Commissioner considers that
the omission can conveniently be
made;
(iv) all enactments prescribing
the date on which an Act or part
of an Act is to come into force
where the Commissioner considers
that the omission can conveniently
be made;
(v) all amending Acts or parts of
amending Acts where the
Commissioner has incorporated the
amendments in the Acts to which
the amendments relate;
(vi) all enacting clauses;
(b) shall make adaptations of and
amendments to Acts in order to
bring those Acts into conformity
with the Constitution of Ghana,
1992;
(c) may arrange any Act in such
groups and sequence that may be
convenient irrespective of the
date of enactment;
(d) may alter—
(i)
the order of sections in any Act
and renumber the sections;
(ii) the form or arrangement of
any sections by transferring
words, by combining any sections
or other sections or by dividing
any sections into two or more
subsections;
(e) may transfer an enactment
contained in an Act from that Act
to any other Act to which that
enactment more properly belongs;
(f) may omit a chart, map or plan
annexed to an Act;
(g) may divide Acts into parts or
other suitable divisions;
(h) may alter the short title of
an Act or add a short title to an
Act which may require a short
title;
(i)
may redesignate Legal Notices as
statutory instruments;
(j) may supply or add head notes;
(k) shall convert marginal notes
to head notes;
(l) shall correct all grammatical,
typographical and similar errors
in the Acts and for that purpose
the Commissioner may effect such
alterations that are necessary
whilst not affecting the meaning
of any Act;
(m) may alter names, localities,
offices, forms and methods in
order to bring an Act into
conformity with the circumstances
of the country or the
Commonwealth; and
(n) may do all other things
relating to form and method that
the Commissioner considers
necessary to make perfect the
Revised Edition.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)
of section 1, the Commissioner may
omit from the Revised Edition any
Act which is in force on 1st
January, 1999, but which is
repealed before the coming into
force of the Revised Edition.
Section 3—No Power to Make
Alteration of Substance.
(1) The functions of the
Commissioner contained in section
2 does not include any power to
make alteration or amendment in
the matter or substance of an Act.
(2) Where the Commissioner
considers—
(a) that an alteration or
amendment in the matter or
substance of an Act is desirable;
or
(b) that an Act requires
considerable alteration or
amendment involving the entire
recasting of the Act, the
Commissioner shall prepare a Bill
setting out the alteration or
amendment or the recasting of the
Act for introduction into
Parliament.
Section 4—Power to Omit Specific
Enactments.
The Commissioner may where he
considers it appropriate exclude
from the Revised Edition—
(a) any Act of a personal nature;
(b) any Act of a temporary nature
which can in the opinion of the
Commissioner be conveniently
omitted.
Section 5—Omission of Maps,
Charts.
(1) Where a chart, map or plan
annexed to an Act is omitted in
the Revised Edition of the Acts
under paragraph (f) of subsection
(1) of section 2 of this Act, the
Commissioner shall deposit a duly
authenticated copy of the chart,
map or plan with the appropriate
authority, for inspection, without
the payment of a fee, by a person
who desires to inspect the chart,
map or plan.
(2) A person may obtain a copy of
a chart, map or plan deposited
pursuant to subsection (1) of this
section upon the payment of the
fee normally demanded by the
appropriate authority for such a
copy.
Section 6—Form of Publication.
(1) The Revised Edition shall—
(a) be printed and published in
loose-leaf form; and
(b) be issued in such number of
volumes with binders as the
Commissioner shall determine.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)
(a) the Commissioner shall cause
such number of copies of the
Revised Edition as he considers
necessary for signature in
accordance with section 14 and for
record purposes to be bound as
volumes in book form.
(3) Subject to the provisions of
this section any other particulars
relating to form of publication of
the Revised Edition shall be
determined by the Commissioner in
consultation with the Minister.
Section 7—Maintenance of a
Cumulative Edition of the Laws of
Ghana.
(1) There shall be maintained
after the publication of the
Revised Edition a Cumulative
Edition of the Laws of Ghana in
accordance with the provisions of
this section.
(2) The Minister shall as soon as
practicable after the 31st
December of the year in which the
Revised Edition comes into force
and after 30th June and 31st
December of each succeeding year
cause to be revised the enactments
in the Revised Edition.
(3) For the purposes of subsection
(2), the Minister shall authorize
the inclusion in the Revised
Edition of amendments and the
deletion of repeals on a printed
page referred to in this Act as "a
replacement page" and the Revised
Edition as from time to time
revised shall constitute the
Cumulative Edition.
(4) A replacement page may—
(a) replace any affected page;
(b) indicate a complete repeal of
an enactment in which event the
repealed enactment shall be
removed from the Cumulative
Edition;
(c) replace an enactment in the
Revised Edition or Cumulative
Edition as amended.
(5) Pages replaced in the
Cumulative Edition may be kept
separately for record purposes.
(6) Any inclusion or deletion
effected under this section shall
have stated on the replacement
page, or the reprint, the short
title, date and number of the
amending enactment incorporated or
effecting the repeal.
(7) Where amendments are made to
the enactments in the Cumulative
Edition, the provisions of this
section shall apply as
appropriate.
Section 8—Effective date of
Revised Edition.
(1) As soon as practicable after
the completion of the Revised
Edition, the Commissioner shall
submit a set in bound book form to
the Minister who shall lay it
before Parliament.
(2) Parliament shall on a
resolution passed for the purpose
and supported by the votes of the
majority of the members present
and voting approve the Revised
Edition to come into force on such
date as the President may by
legislative instrument published
in the Gazette specify.
(3) From the date specified as the
date of the coming into force of
the Revised Edition under
subsection (2) of this section,
the Revised Edition shall have the
force of law as the sole Statute
Book of Ghana in respect of the
Acts in force on 1st January,
1999.
Section 9—Saving of Subsidiary
Legislation.
(1) Any subsidiary legislation
made under an Act included in the
Revised Edition of the Acts and in
force on the day the Revised
Edition of the Acts comes into
force, shall continue in force
until otherwise dealt with.
(2) A reference in any subsidiary
legislation mentioned in
subsection (1) of this section to
the Act under which it is made or
to any part of it, or to any
enactment, shall, where necessary,
be construed as a reference to the
corresponding provision in the
Revised Edition of the Acts.
Section 10—Revision of Subsidiary
Legislation.
In the preparation by the
Commissioner of the Revised
Edition of subsidiary legislation,
the provisions of this Act, unless
otherwise provided, shall apply to
subsidiary legislation as they
apply to Acts with such
modifications as may be necessary.
Section 11—Effective date of
Revised Edition of Subsidiary
Legislation.
(1) The President may, by
legislative instrument, specify
the date on which the revised
edition of subsidiary legislation
shall come into force.
(2) From the date specified under
subsection (1) of this section,
the Revised Edition of subsidiary
legislation shall, for all
purposes, have the force of law as
the sole and only set of
subsidiary legislation which was
in force on 1st January, 1999,
under the Statute Book of Ghana.
Section 12—Complimentary Matters.
The Revised Edition may contain a
reprint of historical and
constitutional documents,
including in particular Imperial
statutes, Orders-in-Council, Royal
Instructions and other instruments
as the Commissioner may determine.
Section 13—Construction of
References.
Where in an enactment or in any
document a reference is made to an
enactment affected by or under the
operation of this Act, that
reference shall, where necessary,
be construed as a reference to the
corresponding enactment in the
Revised Edition of the Acts or the
Revised Edition of the subsidiary
legislation.
Section 14—Signed Copies.
One copy of each set of bound
volumes of the Revised Edition of
the Acts and of the Revised
Edition of subsidiary legislation
shall be signed by the President,
the Speaker and the Commissioner
and shall be deposited with the
President, the Speaker, the Chief
Justice and the Public Records and
Archives Department.
Section 15—Sale of Revised
Edition.
Copies of the Revised Edition of
the Acts and of subsidiary
legislation shall be available for
sale to the public as a government
publication.
Section 16—Expenses of the
Revision.
The expenses of, and incidental
to, the preparation and
publication of the Revised Edition
shall be a charge on the
Consolidated Fund.
Section 17—Printing of this Act
with the first Revised Edition.
This Act shall be printed at the
commencement of the Revised
Edition.
Section 18—Interpretation.
In this Act unless the context
otherwise requires—
"Act" includes Ordinance, Decree
and Law;
"Commissioner" means the Statute
Law Revision Commissioner
appointed under section 1 of this
Act;
"Cumulative Edition" means the
Revised Edition as revised from
time to time in accordance with
section 7;
"Minister" means the Minister
responsible for Justice;
"Revised Edition" means the
written laws of Ghana as revised
and published under the authority
of this Act;
"subsidiary legislation" includes
Proclamations, Orders,
Regulations, Rules and Legal
Notifications made or issued under
the authority of an Act.
Date of Gazette Notification: 5th
February, 1999.
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