New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
| Public Act | 1920 No 46 |
| Date of assent | 5 November 1920 |
This Act is administered in the Parliamentary Counsel Office
An Act to provide for the establishment of a Parliamentary Counsel Office, and for the appointment of a Chief Parliamentary Counsel, a Compiler of Statutes, and other officers
The Long Title was substituted, as from 21 November 1973, by section 2(1) Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973 (1973 No 102).
This Act may be cited as the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Act 1920.
(1) There shall be an office of Parliament to be called the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
(2) The Parliamentary Counsel Office shall be under the control of the Attorney-General. If during any period there shall be no Minister of the Crown who is Attorney-General, the office shall during such period be under the control of the Prime Minister.
The words “Parliamentary Counsel Office”
were substituted, as from 21 November 1973, for the words “Law Drafting Office”
by section 2(2)(a) of the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973 (1973 No 102).
There shall be 2 Departments of the Parliamentary Counsel Office—namely, the Bill Drafting Department and the Compilation Department.
The words “Parliamentary Counsel Office”
were substituted, as from 21 November 1973, for the words “Law Drafting Office”
by section 2(2)(a) of the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973 (1973 No 102).
(1) The duties of the officers of the Bill Drafting Department shall be—
(a) To draft such Government Bills as the Ministers of the Crown may direct to be prepared for the consideration of Parliament, and such amendments of such drafts as may from time to time be required by Ministers of the Crown during the passage of such Bills in Parliament:
(b) To supervise the printing of such Bills and amendments:
(c) To examine all local Bills and to report to the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General whether and to what extent the provisions of any local Bill affect the rights of the Crown or of the public, or repeal, extend, or amend the provisions of any public statute, and generally as to the form and effect of each local Bill:
(d) If and when so directed by the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General, to report as to the form and effect of any Bills other than local Bills introduced by private members into the House of Representatives:
(e) Such other duties relating to the drafting and preparation of statutes and regulations to be made under the authority of statutes as the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General may from time to time assign to be performed by the Bill Drafting Department.
(2) In addition to the duties hereinbefore referred to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel shall, if and when so directed by the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General upon the request of a local authority, revise any local Bill proposed to be promoted by such local authority.
(3) In respect of such revision by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel of any Local Bill there shall be payable by the local authority such fees as may be prescribed by regulations under this Act.
(4) All fees under this section shall be paid into the Public Account and form part of the Consolidated Account.
In subsection (1)(d) the reference to “the House of Representatives”
was substituted for a reference to either House of Parliament by section 2(4) Legislative Council Abolition Act 1950.
In subsections (2) and (3) the words “Chief Parliamentary Counsel”
were substituted for the words “Law Draftsman”
by section 2(2)(b) Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973.
In subs. (4) the reference to the “Consolidated Account”
was substituted for a reference to the Consolidated Revenue Account (as substituted for a reference to the Consolidated Fund by section 4(4) Public Revenues Amendment Act 1963) by section 114(6) Public Finance Act 1977. The terms Public Account and Consolidated Account were abolished by section 83(1) Public Finance Act 1989 and should now be read as a reference to the Crown Bank Account.
The duties of the officers of the Compilation Department shall be—
(a) As and when directed by the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General, to compile, with their amendments, statutes, amendments whereof have been enacted, and to supervise the printing of such compilations:
(b) To report to the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General upon verbal or technical alterations of language which may be adopted for the purpose and in the course of any compilation:
(c) To consider the language and effect of the statutes, compilation whereof is directed, and to state for the consideration of the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General suggestions or proposals for the alteration of the law enacted by such statutes, or for the extension or limitation of the effect of such statutes, or for amendment of the wording of any such statute:
(d) Such other duties relating to the compilation of statutes and the amendment or extension or limitation of the effect of statutes enacted by Parliament as the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General may from time to time assign to be performed by the Compilation Department.
(1) The chief officer of the Bill Drafting Department shall be called the Chief Parliamentary Counsel. There shall be appointed one or more Parliamentary Counsel. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel and the Parliamentary Counsel shall be principal officers of the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
(2) The chief officer of the Compilation Department shall be called the Compiler of Statutes, and shall be a principal officer of the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
(3) The principal officers of the Parliamentary Counsel Office shall be appointed by the Governor-General upon the advice of the Prime Minister, and shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor-General.
(4) The staff of the Parliamentary Counsel Office other than the principal officers shall be appointed by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel; but the number of those staff shall not exceed a number determined from time to time by the Attorney-General.
(5) [Repealed]
Subsection (1) was substituted, as from 21 November 1973, by section 2(3) Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973.
In subsections (2), (3) and (4) the words “Parliamentary Counsel Office”
were substituted for the words “Law Drafting Office”
by section 2(2)(a) Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973.
The reference in the original subsection (4) to the House of Representatives was substituted for a reference to both Houses of Parliament by section 2(4) Legislative Council Abolition Act 1950, and the reference to Speaker was substituted for a reference to Speakers.
Subsection (4) was substituted, as from 1 October 1985, by section 64 Parliamentary Service Act 1985 (1985 No 128).
Subsection (5) was repealed, as from 21 November 1973, by section 2(2)(c) Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1973.
(1) The Chief Parliamentary Counsel shall be paid—
(a) Such remuneration as is determined from time to time by the Remuneration Authority; and
(b) Such additional allowances, being travelling allowances or other incidental or minor allowances, as may be determined from time to time by the Minister of Finance.
(2) The other principal officers of the Parliamentary Counsel Office must be paid remuneration (including travelling allowances and other incidental allowances) that the Chief Parliamentary Counsel determines.
(3) The staff of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (other than the principal officers) must be employed on terms and conditions of employment and be paid salaries and allowances that the Chief Parliamentary Counsel determines.
(3A) Before entering into a collective agreement under the Employment Relations Act 2000, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel must consult with the State Services Commissioner about the conditions of employment to be included in the collective agreement.
(4) Subject to The Remuneration Authority Act 1977, any determination made under this section may be made so as to come into force on a date to be specified for that purpose in the determination, being the date of the making of the determination, or any other date, whether before or after the date of the making of the determination.
(5) Every determination made under this section in respect of which no date is specified as aforesaid shall come into force on the date of the making of the determination.
Section 6A was inserted, as from 1 April 1988, by section 2 Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 38).
Section 6A was amended, as from 1 April 2003, by section 4(1) Remuneration Authority (Members of Parliament) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 54) by substituting the words “Remuneration Authority”
for the words “Higher Salaries Commission”
in both places where they appear.
Subsections (2) and (3) were substituted, as from 25 January 2005, by section 18 State Sector Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 114).
Subsection (3A) was inserted, as from 25 January 2005, by section 18 State Sector Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 114).
[Repealed]
Repealed, as from 30 April 1953, by section 5 Finance Act 1953 (1953 No 9).
The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.
(1) Notwithstanding anything in section 4(1) of this Act, the Governor-General may from time to time by Order in Council, made on the recommendation of the Attorney-General, authorise the Inland Revenue Department—
(a) To draft (subject to such exceptions as may be specified in the order) such Government Bills (being Bills intended to become Acts administered by that Department) as the Minister of the Crown who is responsible for that Department may direct to be prepared for the consideration of Parliament, and such amendments of such drafts as may from time to time be required by that Minister during the passage of such Bills in Parliament; and
(b) To supervise the printing of the Bills and amendments referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(2) Any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of this section may be at any time varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in Council.
(3) Every Order in Council made under subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section shall be deemed to be a regulation for the purposes of The Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 and The Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989.
Section 8A was inserted, as from 30 November 1995, by section 2 Statutes Drafting and Compilation Amendment Act 1995 (1995 No 59).
The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed.
Schedule | Section 9 |
1895, No 24—The Reprint of Statutes Act 1895.
1908, No 186—The Statutes Compilation Act 1908.
1913, No 9—The Amendments Incorporation Act 1913.
1915, No 6—The Statutes Compilation Amendment Act 1915.