The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Interpretation Act, 1878.”

In this Act, and in all Acts hereafter to be passed by the General Assembly, the word “Act” shall include Ordinances of the Governor, Governor-in-Chief, or Lieutenant-Governor, passed with the advice and consent in each case of the Legislative Council of New Zealand or of New Munster respectively.

In the construction of this Act, and of all Acts, passed or to be passed, the words and expressions following within inverted commas shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, unless it be otherwise specially provided, or unless there be something in the subject-matter or context repugnant to such interpretation, that is to say,—

Whenever in any Act passed or to be passed, or in any Provincial Ordinance already passed, it is provided that any power, function, act, matter, or thing whatsoever shall or may be exercised, performed, issued, made, or done (which in this section of this Act hereinafter is called “an exercise of authority”) by the Governor in Council, or by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of New Zealand, or where in any such Act or Provincial Ordinance any other like expression is used,—

It shall be sufficient if the advice and consent of such Executive Council be signified to such exercise of authority at a meeting of the said Executive Council, should the Governor be prevented from attending or presiding thereat by some necessary or reasonable cause, if such meeting be duly convened and held in accordance with any Royal instructions relating thereto for the time being in force.

On the advice and consent of the Executive Council being signified, in manner aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the Governor to exercise the authority in like manner as if he had himself been present at the meeting at which such advice and consent were signified.

Every authority exercised in the above manner shall take effect from the time the same is gazetted, unless some other time is named or fixed, or is expressly provided by law for the taking effect thereof.

No authority exercised in manner aforesaid by the Governor either before or after the coming into operation of this Act shall be called in question in any Court of law, or before any Judge, Commissioner, or Justice, on the ground that the Governor was not prevented by any necessary or reasonable cause from attending any such meeting of the Executive Council as aforesaid.

Where, by any Act or Ordinance, it is provided that the Governor in Council, or the Governor, or any officer or person named therein, is empowered to make or issue any Order in Council, Proclamation, Warrant, or other instrument, it shall be sufficient to cite the Act or Ordinance, and the number of the section or clause thereof, authorizing the making or issuing of the same, and it shall not be necessary to recite or set forth any facts or circumstances or the performance of any conditions precedent upon which such power depends or may be exercised.

All Orders in Council, Proclamations, Warrants, orders, or instruments heretofore issued or made, and all acts, matters, and things done thereunder, shall be as valid and effectual to all intents and purposes as if this provision had been in force when such Proclamation, Order in Council, Warrant, order, or instrument was issued or made.

Every Act passed or to be passed, and every Provincial Ordinance already passed, having a Short Title, may for all purposes be cited by such Short Title.

In citing or making reference to any Act or Provincial Ordinance not having a Short Title, it shall not be necessary to recite the title of the Act or Provincial Ordinance, nor the provision of any section referred to, but it shall be sufficient for all purposes of such citation or reference—

In the case of Acts of the Imperial Legislature,—

If such Act was made before the seventh year of Henry the Seventh, to cite the year of the King’s reign in which it was made, and where there are more Statutes than one in the same year the Statute, and where there are more chapters than one the chapter.

If such Act was made after the fourth year of Henry the Seventh, to cite the year of the reign, and where there are more Statutes or sessions than one in the same year the Statute or the session (as the case may require), and where there are more chapters, numbers, or sections than one, the chapter, number, or section, or chapter or number and section (as the case may require).

In the case of Ordinances of the Governor, Governor-in-Chief, or Lieutenant-Governor and Legislative Council of New Zealand, to cite the session in which such Ordinance was made, together with the number of the Ordinance.

In the case of Ordinances of the Lieutenant-Governor and the Legislative Council of New Munster, to cite the same as an Ordinance of New Munster, together with the year of our Lord in which the Ordinance was made, and the number of the Ordinance.

In the case of Public General Acts of the General Assembly, to cite the year of our Lord in which the Act was made, and the number of the Act.

In the case of Provincial Ordinances, to cite the name of the province wherein the Ordinance was made, together with the session in which the same was made, and the number of the Ordinance.

The reference in all cases shall be made, in the case of Imperial Acts, according to the copies of statutes printed by the Queen’s Printer, or to the copies thereof contained in the reports of the Commissioners of Public Records; in the case of Acts and Ordinances of New Zealand, and of Ordinances of New Munster, according to the copies of such Acts and Ordinances published by the Government Printer; and in the case of Provincial Ordinances, according to the copies of such Ordinances printed or purporting to be printed under the authority of the Government of the particular province wherein such Ordinance was made.

Every Act passed or to be passed shall be deemed and taken to be a public Act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as such, unless the contrary be expressly provided by the Act.

All Acts shall be divided into sections if there be more enactments than one, which sections shall be deemed to be substantive enactments, without any introductory words.

Every Act already or which may hereafter be passed, which does not prescribe the time from which it is intended to take effect, and which shall have been assented to in Her Majesty’s name, shall be deemed to have come into operation, or shall come into operation, as the case may be, on the day on which it shall have received or shall receive the Governor’s assent, as the case may be.

Every Act already or which may hereafter be passed which does not prescribe the time from which it is intended to take effect, and which shall have been or shall be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure thereon, shall be deemed to have come into operation, or shall come into operation, as the case may be, on the day on which the Governor, by Speech, Message, or Proclamation, shall have signified, or shall signify, as the case may be, that Her Majesty has assented to the same.

The Clerk of Parliaments shall insert in this Act and every Act to be hereafter passed, immediately after the title thereof, the day, month, and year when the same shall have been assented to by the Governor, in Her Majesty’s name; and when any Act shall have been reserved by the Governor for the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure thereon, then the day, month, and year on which the Governor, by such Speech, Message, or Proclamation as aforesaid, shall have signified that Her Majesty has assented to such Act; and every such date shall be taken to be a part of the Act, and to be the date of its commencement when no other commencement shall be therein provided.

Section sixty of the Constitution Act is hereby repealed, and it shall not be necessary to gazette the Acts passed by the General Assembly in any session thereof; but copies of all such Acts shall be procurable by purchase, at such places in the colony as the Governor from time to time may appoint.

Nothing in this section contained shall preclude the Governor from directing that any Act shall be gazetted, at such times as he shall think fit.

Every Act may be altered, amended, or repealed in the same session of the General Assembly of New Zealand in which it may be passed.

When any Act (hereinafter called “the principal Act”) shall be amended by any subsequent Act or Acts, such last-mentioned Act or Acts shall be read and construed according to the definitions and interpretations contained in the principal Act; and the provisions of the said principal Act (except so far as the same are altered by or inconsistent with the amending Act or Acts) shall extend and apply to the cases provided for by the amending Act or Acts, in the same way as if the amending Act or Acts had been incorporated with and formed part of the principal Act.

A reference to or citation of any Act shall be deemed to include therein the citation of all subsequent enactments passed in amendment of the Act so referred to or cited, unless it is otherwise manifested by the context.

The provisions following shall have general application in respect to the repeals of Acts, except in cases where the context manifests that a different construction is intended; that is to say,—

The repeal of any Act shall not affect any enactment in which such Act has been applied, incorporated, or referred to.

In every enactment passed before this Act, in which reference is made to any Act or enactment which is repealed, such reference shall be taken to be made to any subsequent Act or enactment passed in substitution of the repealed Act or enactment aforesaid:

And all the provisions of such subsequent Act or enactment, and of any Act or enactment amending the same, shall be deemed to have been applied, incorporated, or referred to in the first aforesaid enactment in the same manner as if they had been originally inserted therein instead of the repealed Act or enactment, and shall apply accordingly:

Whenever any provisions are repealed, and other provisions are substituted in their place, the provisions so repealed shall remain in force until the substituted provisions shall come into operation:

The repeal of any enactment shall not revive any enactment previously repealed, unless words be added reviving such last-mentioned enactment:

The repeal of any Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect, or consequences of any thing already done or suffered; or any existing status or capacity; or any right or title already acquired or accrued, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof; or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, claim, or demand; or any indemnity; or the proof of any past act or thing:

Nor shall such repeal of any Act affect any right to any charges, fees, fines, penalties, or forfeitures, or prevent any such Act from being put in force for the recovery of any such charges or penalties, or otherwise in relation thereto.

Notwithstanding the repeal or the expiration of any Act, all offences committed or penalties or forfeitures incurred before such repeal or expiry may be prosecuted, punished, and enforced as if such Act had not been repealed:

Neither the repeal nor the expiration of an Act shall affect any criminal or civil proceedings previously commenced under the same; and every such proceeding may be continued and everything in relation thereto be done in all respects as if the Act continued in force:

Anything commenced under any Act wholly or in part repealed may be continued and perfected under such Act, unless the repealing Act be adapted to its completion:

Any Act, notwithstanding the repeal thereof, shall continue and be in force for the purpose of supplementing anything required to be done or proven in relation to any matter that has arisen under such repealed Act, or in connection therewith.

Whenever in any Act any act, matter, or thing, or powers, functions, or duty is required to be exercised, done, or performed by a responsible Minister of the Crown, being a Member of the Executive Council, and designating such Minister by his title of office, such act, matter, or thing, or power, function, or duty may, in the case of vacancy in the office or absence from any cause of the aforesaid Minister, be exercised, done, or performed by any Member of the Executive Council of the colony, being a responsible Minister of the Crown, and holding any of the offices hereinafter mentioned, or any other Ministerial office hereafter created by Statute, that is to say,—

Whenever in any Act power is given to Her Majesty or to the Governor to make appointments to any office or place, unless such Act shall otherwise direct, it shall imply that such power shall be capable of being exercised from time to time as occasion may require, and shall include authority to suspend or remove the person appointed, as circumstances may require, and to appoint, temporarily or permanently, another in his stead, and in like manner to appoint another in the place of any deceased, absent, or otherwise incapacitated holder of such appointment.

Power given to do or submit to any matter or thing shall be capable of being exercised from time to time, as occasion may require, unless the nature of the words used or the thing itself shall indicate a contrary intention.

Where power is given to the Governor, or to any Council, Board, Corporation, officer, or person, to make any by-laws, rules, orders, or regulations, it shall be implied that such Governor, Council, Board, Corporation, officers, or persons may revoke or vary the same from time to time, unless the terms or the nature and object of the power shall indicate that it is intended to be exercised either finally in the first instance, or only under certain restrictions.

All fines, penalties, forfeitures, or sums of money which under or by virtue of any Act now or hereafter to be in force, or Provincial Ordinance now in force, are authorized or directed to be imposed on any person, shall and may, where no other form or mode of procedure is prescribed by such Act or Provincial Ordinance for the recovery of the same, be recovered in a summary way before any two Justices of the Peace, in the manner provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1866.”

Where anything is required by any Act or Provincial Ordinance to be done on any day which falls on a Sunday, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, or any day set apart for a public fast or thanksgiving, or on any proclaimed public holiday, such thing may be done on the next day, unless it is one of the days hereinabove mentioned, then on the day following.

The foregoing provisions of this Act shall be deemed to apply and may be applied equally to all Acts and Provincial Ordinances heretofore passed, and to this Act and to all Acts hereafter to be passed, by the General Assembly.

“The Interpretation Act, 1868,” “The Interpretation Act Amendment Act, 1872,” and “The Interpretation Act Amendment Act, 1873,” are hereby repealed; but such repeal shall not affect any act or thing lawfully done under the said Acts or either of them before the coming into operation of this Act; and all such acts and things shall continue to have the same force and effect as if this Act had not been passed.