Interpretation Act 2005 section 3

Repeals and savings

Section 3 repeals the four earlier Interpretation Acts and provides safeguards so that those repeals do not inadvertently change the meaning or effect of other legislation that relied on the old Acts.

• The Interpretation Acts of 1889, 1923, 1937 and the Interpretation (Amendment) Act 1993 are all repealed by the 2005 Act.
• Where an earlier Act gave a particular meaning to a word used in another piece of legislation, that meaning is preserved if replacing it with the 2005 Act's definition (or having no definition at all) would change the intent of the other legislation, or make it unclear or absurd.
• The same protective rule applies to any other provision (not just definitions) in the repealed Acts that supported or affected other legislation — those provisions continue to have effect where needed to avoid unintended consequences.
• In practical terms, the 2005 Act is a consolidation and modernisation measure, but it includes a safety net to ensure that no existing law is accidentally altered or rendered meaningless by the switchover.