"I read the title [to the Act of 56 & 57 Vict. c. 61 (Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893)] advisedly, because now, and for some years past, the title of an Act of Parliament has been part of the Act. In old days it used not to be so, and in the old law books we were told not so to regard it; but now the title is an important part of the Act, and is so treated in both Houses of Parliament."-Fielding v. Morley Corporation, [1899] 1 Ch. 1, at pp. 3, 4; 67 L. J. Ch. 611, at p. 612, Lindley, M. R. (delivering the judgment of the Court, Lindley, M. R. Chitty and Collins, L. JJ) (cited by Kekewich, J., in Attorney-General v. Company of Proprietors of Margate Pier and Harbour, [1900] 1 Ch. 749, at p. 754; 69 L. J. Ch. 331, at p. 335).

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Date and Commencement.

Prior to the 8th of April, 1793, every statute in which the commencement thereof was not directed to be from a specific time commenced for the first day of the session of Parliament in which such statute was passed.

The indorsement, immediately after the title, of the day, month, and year when the statute passed and received the royal assent was (after 8th April, 1793) part of the statute, and the date of its commencement when no other commencement was therein provided.

After 1st January, 1890, “commencement" means the time at which the statute comes into operation.

A statute passed after 1st January, 1890, expressed to come into operation on a particular day, comes into operation immediately on the expiration of the previous day.

These arguments were urged at the bar of the House of Lords in the case of The Att.-Gen. and Panter [(1772), 6 Bro. P. C. 553]; but the House, by the unanimous opinion of the judges, determined that the rule of law that, where no specific day is mentioned in an Act of Parliament from which it is to take effect, it commences by legal relation from the first day of the sessions, had been so long settled that it could not be shaken."-Latless v. Holmes (1792), 4 T. R. 660, at p. 661, per cur.

An Act to prevent Acts of Parliament from taking Effect from a Time prior to the passing thereof. 33 Geo. III. c. 13 (The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act, 1793).

"Whereas every Act of Parliament in which the commencement thereof is not directed to be from a specific time doth commence from the first day of the session of Parliament in which such Act is passed: And whereas the same is liable to produce great and manifest injustice: For remedy whereof be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the Clerk of the Parliaments shall indorse (in English) on every Act of Parliament which shall pass after the 8th day of April, 1793, immediately after the title. of such Act, the day, month, and year when the same shall have passed and shall have received the royal assent; and such indorsement shall be taken to be a part of such Act, and to be the date of the commencement where no other commencement shall be therein provided."

"At the time when that resolution was come to [viz., in the case of Att.-Gen. v. The Chelsea Water Works Co. (1731), Fitzgibbon, 195], if two Acts of Parliament, passed in the same session, were repugnant, it was not possible to know which of them received the royal assent first, for there was then no indorsement on the roll of the day on which bills received the royal assent, and all Acts passed in the same session were considered as having received the royal assent on the same day, and were referred to the first day of the session. Now, however, it is known on what day each bill receives the royal assent, it being provided by the 33 Geo. III. c. 13 (The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act, 1793), that a certain parliamentary officer [the Clerk of the Parliaments] shall indorse [in English] on every Act of Parliament [which shall pass after the 8th day of April, 1793, immediately after the title of such Act] 'the day, month, and year when the same shall have passed and shall have received the royal assent; and such indorsement shall be taken to be a part of such Act, and to be the date of its commencement where no other commencement shall be therein provided.'”— The King v. The Justices of Middlesex (1831), 2 B. & Ad. 818, at

p. 821, Lord Tenterden, C. J., delivering the judgment of the Court.

"The last section of the Act (30 & 31 Vict. c. 142, the County Courts Act, 1867), which is in the usual form, prevents the Act having any operation till after the 1st of January, 1868. The sections are all framed as if it would come into operation at once, because the last thing settled is when it shall come into operation, but they are all to be considered as speaking from the date so fixed, and are all governed by the last section."-Wood v. Riley (1867), L. R. 3 C. P. 26, at p. 27, Bovill, C. J.

"At common law all statutes passed in a session of Parliament had relation back to the first day of the session, unless some other day was appointed for the Act coming into operation. This relation was productive of most serious consequences, many instances of which are found in the books; and in the thirty-third year of the reign of George III. an Act was passed which required the Clerks of the Parliaments to indorse on every Act the day, month, and year when the same received the royal assent, and enacted that such indorsement should be taken as part of the Act, and should be the date of its commencement where no other commencement was provided an Act which comes into operation on a given day becomes law as soon as the day commences.' "-Tomlinson v. Bullock (1879), 4 Q. B. D. 230, at p. 232; 48 L. J. M. C. 95, at p. 96, Lush, J.

Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) [30th August, 1889].

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"Commencement."

Sect. 36. (1) In this Act, and in every Act passed either before or after the commencement of this Act [1st January, 1890], the expression commencement,' when used with reference to an Act, shall mean the time at which the Act comes into operation.

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"(2) Where an Act passed after the commencement of this Act [1st January, 1890], or any Order in Council, order, warrant, scheme, letters patent, rules, regulations, or byelaws made, granted, or issued, under a power conferred by any such Act, is expressed to come into operation on a particular day, the same shall be construed as coming into operation immediately on the expiration of the previous day."

The coming into operation of instruments made under a power conferred by a statute which is not to come into operation immediately on the passing thereof.

Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) [30th August, 1889].

Sect. 37. "Where an Act passed after the commencement of this Act [1st January, 1890], is not to come into operation immediately on the passing thereof, and confers power to make any appointment, to make, grant, or issue any instrument, that is to say, any Order in Council, order, warrant, scheme, letters patent, rules, regulations, or bye-laws, to give notices, to prescribe forms, or to do any other thing for the purposes of the Act, that power may, unless the contrary intention appears, be exercised at any time after the passing of the Act, so far as may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of bringing the Act into operation at the date of the commencement thereof, subject to this restriction, that any instrument made under the power shall not, unless the contrary intention appears in the Act, or the contrary is necessary for bringing the Act into operation, come into operation until the Act comes into operation."

Time.

Greenwich or Dublin Mean Time.

Statutes (Definition of Time) Act, 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 9) [2nd August, 1880].

Sect. 1. "Whenever any expression of time occurs in any Act of Parliament, deed, or other legal instrument, the time referred [sic] shall, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, be held in the case of Great Britain to be Greenwich mean time, and in the case of Ireland, Dublin mean time."

Meaning of Expression "Month."

"In all Acts of Parliament where months' are spoken of, without the word 'calendar,' and nothing is added from which a clear inference can be drawn that the legislature intended calendar months, it is understood to mean lunar months.'"-Lacon v. Hooper (1795), 6 T. R. 224, at p. 226; 1 Esp. 246, at p. 249, Kenyon, C. J.

Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63).

Sect. 3. "In every Act passed after the year 1850, whether before or after the commencement of the Act, the following expressions shall, unless the contrary intention appears, have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them; namely, the expression 'month' shall mean calendar month."

Preamble.
Defined.

A preamble of a statute is a recital of some inconveniences for which a remedy is given.

"There was a time when statutes were made without preambles; and the preamble of a statute is no more than a recital of some inconveniences, which does not exclude any other, for which a remedy is given by the enacting part of the statute." --7 Bac. Abr. Statute (I.) 2.

Enacting Part and Preamble.

The preamble may sometimes be usefully looked at as a guide to ascertain the subject-matter, scope and object of the statute. Where the enacting part is clear and unambiguous, the preamble cannot be resorted to to control, cut down or restrict it.

Where the enacting part is ambiguous, the preamble can be resorted to to explain it.

"The rehearsal or preamble of the statute is a good meane to find out the meaning of the statute, and as it were a key to open the understanding thereof."-Co. Litt. 79a, 4 Inst. 330.

"The preamble of a statute is to be considered, which Dyer termed a key to open the minds of the makers of the Act, and the mischiefs which they intended to redress.'"-Stowel v. Lord Zouch (1562-3), 1 Plowd. 353, at p. 369.

"The preamble of the Act has been always thought material in the construction of it; and by the Lord Coke it is called the key of the Act of Parliament, to open and explain the meaning thereof." -Copeman v. Gallant (1716), 1 P. Wms. 314, at p. 317, Lord Cowper, L. C.

“It is laid down [1 Jo. 163; Palmer, 485], on the construction of the statute of the 13 Eliz., that the preamble shall not restrain the enacting clause. But I take it to be agreed that, if not