Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

consolidating statute

A law that collects the legislative provisions on a particular subject and embodies them in a single statute, often with minor amendments and drafting improvements. ( Courts generally presume that a consolidating statute leaves prior caselaw intact. Cf. codifying statute. "A distinction of greater importance in this field is that between consolidating and codifying statutes. A consolidating statute is one which collects the statutory provisions relating to a particular topic, and embodies them in a single Act of Parliament, making only minor amendments and improvements. A codifying statute is one which purports to state exhaustively the whole of the law on a particular subject (the common law as well as previous statutory provisions) .... The importance of the distinction lies in the courts' treatment of the previous case law, the existence of special procedural provisions with regard to consolidating statutes and the existence of a presumption that they do not change the law." Rupert Cross, Statutory Interpretation 5 (1976).