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United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Key definition
Implied repeal definition What does Implied repeal mean? Implied repeal describes what happens in practice when a later Act cannot sensibly operate alongside an earlier Act, so the earlier provision gives way to the later one to the extent of the conflict, even without an express repeal. It is a doctrine of statutory interpretation developed in case law, used only as a last resort. Courts first attempt harmonious construction. Repeal by implication arises only where provisions are so inconsistent or repugnant that both cannot stand, and then only to the minimum extent necessary. The focus is on the specific conflicting provisions, not wholesale repeal. Across England and Wales, Scotland and...
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Implied Repeal under UK Parliamentary Sovereignty: Doctrine, Leading Authorities, Presumptions, and the Role of EU Law and Constitutional Statutes
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Practice notes
Central to Parliament’s legislative supremacy is the rule that it is not constrained by earlier Parliaments and cannot fetter those to come. Consequently, if a subsequent Act of Parliament clashes with a prior one, the later measure is not to be interpreted as qualified by, or subordinate to, the former. Instead, the later statute is taken to have repealed the earlier by necessary implication, so far as the inconsistency extends. Yet, in the past few decades it has been recognised that, in at least some legal settings (notably concerning European Union law and the European Communities Act 1972 (ECA 1972), and arguably other ‘constitutional’ statutes), Parliament may pass provisions which, unless expressly repealed or revised, shape and restrict the operation of later, inconsistent enactments.
Origins
The principle was articulated by the court in Dean and Chapter of Ely v Bliss. The dispute concerned whether the occupier of land was liable to pay tithes. The occupier contended that an Act of Parliament had extinguished the Dean and Chapter’s entitlement to tithes, because no right to tithes had arisen, nor had any been taken, in the previous twenty years immediately preceding the proceedings, before the litigation commenced...
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Web page updated on 27/05/2026
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