Laws Underpinning The 1951 Revised Edition Of Laws

It took nine years and at least nine Ordinances to establish the legal underpinnings for the ‘Revised Edition of the Laws of the Falkland Islands Dependencies’ – the two volume book of laws that came into force on 12 March 1953. Whilst in the most part these Ordinances are spent there are elements of them that still have effect. All are of historic interest.

Laws of the Colony of the Falkland Islands:

Laws of the Falkland Islands Dependencies:

Notes:

  • Many Falkland Islands Ordinances were revised in the period 1947-1951 so as to make the codification and publication of the revised ordinances easier.
  • Many Ordinances of the Falkland Islands were applied to the Dependencies in the 1940s largely by Dependencies Ordinance 1908 s3 Notices. The final Notice was dated 9 January 1950. Some were applied by way of an Ordinance expressly applying them in the Dependencies. Note that after 1 January 1949 the only way in which an Ordinance of the Falkland Islands could be applied in the Dependencies was by way of an Ordinance of the Dependencies. However this date was applied retrospectively by Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1950.

The following Ordinances and Notices are also of interest when considering what Ordinances were in force in the Dependencies immediately before the Revised Edition of the Laws came into force on 12 March 1953:

Notes:

  • A question arises whether the Notice of 9 January 1950 falls foul of the provisions of Application of Colony Laws Ordinance (Cap 1 DS) which removed the ability to declare that Ordinances were in force in the Dependencies by Notice in the Gazette with effect from 1 January 1949.
  • The original Application of Colony Laws Ordinance (Cap 1 DS) published in the Revised Edition of the Laws of the Dependencies was, in essence, an amalgam of eight Ordinances:
    —-
    a) Dependencies Ordinance 1908
    b) Revised Edition of Laws (Amendment) (Dependencies) Ordinance 1950
    c) Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1950
    e) Application of Ordinances of the Colony (Dependencies) Ordinance 1951
    f)  Application of Colony Laws Ordinance 1951
    g) Dependencies (Amendment) (No2) Ordinance 1951
    h) Revised Edition of Laws (Amendment) (Dependencies) Ordinance 1951
    —-
  • Section 2 of The Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1950 removed the ability of the Governor to declare that Ordinances of the Colony were in force in the Dependencies by Notice in the Gazette. This Ordinance was commenced and promulgated on 30 December 1950 – in other words the 9 January 1950 Notice pre-dated the change in the law by some 11.5 months. However section 1 of The Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1950 states that it shall have been deemed to have come into force on 1 January 1949.
  • Sections 4 and 5 of the Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1951 sought to cover the doubt that may have arisen as to whether the 9 January 1950 Notice had survived the retrospective effect of the Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1950. This 1951 Ordinance was promulgated on 24 April 1951 however its deemed commencement date was also 1 January 1949. Those provisions state:
    —-

    “4. After the commencement of this Ordinance no Ordinance of the Colony shall be in force in the Dependencies unless it shall have been expressly declared to apply to the Dependencies by an Ordinance of the Dependencies:

    Provided nothing in this section shall affect the operation in the Dependencies of any Ordinance of the Colony that shall have been lawfully applied to the Dependencies before the commencement of this Ordinance.

    5. No liability shall be imposed on any person by reason solely that an Ordinance of the Colony shall have been applied to the Dependencies with retrospective effect.”

    —-
    It appears likely that the proviso in section 4 was intended to preserve the 9 January 1950 Notice (and any other Notice), which at the time it was made could still be made under the provisions that were in force on that date, even if subsequent law which removed that ability was given retrospective effect.

  • Section 5 the Dependencies (Amendment) Ordinance 1951 relieved anyone of liability by reason of an Ordinance of the Colony having been applied in the Dependencies retrospectively. It is very arguable that this provision was intended to cover all Colony Ordinances applied in the Dependencies retrospectively. There were a considerable number of them.