(4) Reference to

Other Statutes
 The discussion will figure the
following points: -
• Statutes in Pari Materia
Assistance of earlier statutes
Assistance of later statutes

Referential Legislation: -
‘Incorporation’ of earlier Act into later
‘Reference’ of earlier Act into later
 (a) Statutes in Pari Materia
• “Statutes are in pari materia
which relate to the same subject
matter or forming part of the
same system.”

• It is an extension of the rule of

context.
 Meaning of Pari Materia

Par is used
Pari Materia close to the
word
identity

Same person or same class of

Same thing or same class of things
persons
 Statutes in pari materia
Statutes made in
Part of the same
different points of
system
time
●
Statutes dealing with
●
Statues formulated at
the same subject different points of time.
●
They may be construed
matter. together and as
●
Statutes forming part explanatory to each
of the same system. other.
Therefore…what is not Pari Materia
Cannot be
called Statutes
in pari materia

Where the two pieces

of legislations are of
differing scopes

Statutes about Statutes about

different things different persons
or class of things or class of persons
Although, it is not necessary that
for two statutes to be in pari
materia, the entire subject
matter in the two statutes must
be identical.
TAKE FOR INSTANCE, THE
PREVENTION OF
CORRUPTION ACT
 State of Madras v. A Vaidyanath
Aiyer, AIR 1958 SC 61

• Sec: 4 of the Prevention of Corruption

Act, 1947: “… on proof that the accused
has accepted any gratification other than
legal remuneration, it shall be presumed
unless the contrary is established by the
accused that the gratification was
accepted as a bribe.”
Similar provision in the Indian
Evidence Act

Definiti ●
“Whenever it is directed
on in by this Act that the Court
shall presume a fact, it
the shall regard such fact as
IEA, proved unless and until it
is disproved.”
1872
 Therefore

• The words ‘it shall be presumed’

in Sec.4 of the PCA, 1947 has
been held to be in pari materia
with the subject-matter dealt
with by the Indian Evidence Act,
1872.
For example in Sirsilk Ltd. case

The Industries
Textiles Committee Act,
(Development and
1963
Regulation) Act, 1951
State of MP v. Swaroop Chand
AIR 1997 SC 301
Specif
ied
forest
Sec. 22 of the M.P.
produ
ce
Van Upaj Vyapar
Viniyam Adhiniyam,
1969

Seizure

Indian
Vehicles
used for
transpor
tation in
Forest Act,
1927
contrave
ntion of
the Act
 Sec.22 further provides

It calls Release of vehicle if value of

●

produce is paid. But there are no

confiscation provisions in case of
for default of payment.

The Indian Forest Act, will not

It further
●

apply for the specified forest

produce in matters for which
states provision is made in the Adhiniyam.
 The Supreme Court
The Act a nd the Adhiniyam dealt
with allied subjects forming part
of the same system had to be read
as complimentary to each other.

Hel
d:
On
mat
ters
not
pro
vide
d in
the
Adh
iniy
am
but
pro
vide
d in
the
Act,
the
pro
visi
on
of
the
Act
coul
d
be
app
lied
.
Common Cause, A Registered
Society v. Union of India
The Indian
Income Tax
Act, 1961
Explanatio
n 1 to ‘any expenditure incurred or
●

Section authorised in connection with

77(1) of the election of a candidate by
a political party-shall not be
the deemed to be- expenditure in
Represent connection with the election
that is incurred or authorized
ation of by the candidate.’
the People
Act, 1951
 The Income Tax Act, 1961
• Exempts the income of the political parties
from house property.

• But they are required to maintain audited

accounts for any contributions received from
other sources and to file return for each year.
 The Court noted
●
If a political party is not maintaining audited accounts

Held and is not filing return, it cannot justifiably plead that

it has incurred expenditure within the meaning of
Se.77(1)

●
The provision does not give protection
Purpose to the expenditure which comes from a
black source.

Also, see Sec.293 A ●

Since companies contribute to the income of
of the Companies the political parties, they are required to
Act, 1956 disclose them in their profit and loss account.
Acts dealing with socio-economic
policies
Acts dealing with
socio-economic plans
have to be read
together

e.g. , all the labour

legislations must
be read together

To avoid any
kind of
contradictions
For instance…
Contract
Labour
(Regulation &
Abolition)
Act, 1970
Therefore, this rule of construction…

Allows useRaises a
presumption
Avoidingof earlier
apparentstatute tothat the
same
contradictio
throw light
meaning
n betweenon the attaches to
same series
meaning in the same
of statutesa later words in
statuteboth statutes
When two statutes
are not in pari
materia
 The Bombay Rents,
Hotel and Lodging
House Rates Control
Acts, 1947
Shah & Co. Bombay v.
State of Maharashtra

The Bombay Land

Requisition Act,
1948
The Bombay Rents,
Hotel and Lodging
House Rates Control
Acts, 1947
(b) Help from earlier
statutes
 Parliament
intends the same
interpretation in
the later statute

Use of same
word/s +
similar context

Authoritative Word/s in an Presumptio

exposition of a earlier
superior court statute
n
 For example…
Government of India Act,
1935 The Constitution of India
Extent of Federal and Distribution of Legislative
Provincial laws Powers
99 -(1) Subject to the 245. (1) Subject to the
provisions of this Act, the provisions of this
Federal Legislature may Constitution, Parliament
make laws for the whole or may make laws for the
any part of British India or
whole or any part of the
for any Federated State, and
territory of India, and the
a Provincial Legislature may
make laws for the Province
Legislature of a State may
or for any part thereof. make laws for the whole or
any part of the State.
 The Principle
• It is a well settled rule of construction that when a statute is
repealed and re-enacted and words in the repealed statute are
reproduced in the new statute, they should be interpreted in the
sense which had been judicially put on them under the repealed
Act, because the legislature is presumed to be acquainted with the
construction which the courts have put upon the words, and when
they repeat the same words, they must be taken to have accepted the
interpretation put on them by the court as correctly reflecting the
legislative mind.
Bengal Immunity Co. Ltd. v. State of Bihar
Law relating to Probation of Offenders- The
first law was Sec.562 Cr PC, 1898
Ramji Missar v. State of Bihar
AIR 1963 SC 1088
In exercising power of
revision
Law on Probation of Offenders

S.6(1) Probation of
S. 562 of CrPC 1898
Offenders’ Act, 1958
 R v. Bristol City Council ex parte
, of
ury
cial
cslativ
nt
875
to
Health
ment
the
the
of which
directed
on
story
tory
lth’
uthority
at
Act,
Everett
The Court of Appeal opined
 Some technical boundaries to the
rule
Application only in
Only when pari materia Fresh material
ambiguity

The words & When the new When no gap,

statute contains
decisions may a good deal of
ambiguity or
not apply fresh material abeyance

If the statutes Deals with a subject Reference to

on which social other statues
are not in pari views have may not
materia drastically changed permissible
Some other aspects to be taken
into account
1.) The rule has no application when the decisions
●

under earlier act are not consistent

2.) When the decisions are shown to be

●

erroneous

3.) The presumption will be weak when the

●

matter was not taken up by the highest court

The question of Acquiescence
Obscurity of
the language

Inaction by
the
legislature

Consistent
Interpretatio
n by the court
Central Acts & State Acts
(c) Help from later
Statutes
 Subsequent statute

Earlier Statute

Requires Amendment Ambiguity

Not applicable if legislation is proceeding on erroneous

The amended Act will operate on its own force position of law
Subsequent Statute may clarify the position
• If the earlier legislation is
ambiguous and readily
capable of more than one
interpretation, a later Act
may in certain circumstances
serve as a Parliamentary
exposition of the former.
 State of Bihar v. S.K.Roy
AIR 1996 SC 1995

The Coal Mines ●

Coal Mine includes all works,
Provident Fund machinery, tramways and sidings
and Bonus whether above or below ground in or
Schemes Act, 1948 adjacent to OR belonging to a coal mine.

●
Coal mines include all machinery,
The Coal Mines
levels, planes, works, railways,
Amendment Act,
tramways and sidings in or adjacent
1965
to and belonging to a coal mine.
 The Court held

• The expression “belonging

to a coal mine” is the
controlling expression
governing all aspects of the
activities of the coal mine.
(d) REFERENTIAL
LEGISLATION
Incorporation
Reference
What is Referential Legislation??

• When a new legislation

“refers” to an earlier
enactment, the new
legislation is termed a
referential legislation.
 For example….

• Sec.2 of the PCA, 1947: - For the

purposes of this Act “Public
servant” means a public servant
as defined in S.21 of the Indian
Penal Code.
 Kinds of Referential Legislation

Simple Reference
S.28(1) of the GCA Reference by
incorporation
 Section 28(1) in The General Clauses Act, 1897

(1) In any Central Act or Regulation, and in any

rule, bye-law, instrument or document, made under,
or with reference to any such Act or Regulation, any
enactment may be cited by reference to the title or
short title (if any) conferred thereon or by reference
to the number and year thereof, and any provision
in an enactment may be cited by reference to the
section or sub-section of the enactment in which the
provision is contained.
 Incorporation: “Archival Drafting”!

of an earlier Act
Incorporation into a later Act

is a legislative
device

Adopted for the For avoiding

verbatim
sake of reproduction of the
convenience provisions
 “Incorporation by Reference”
verba relata hoc maxime operantur per
referentiam ut in eis inesse videntur

words to which reference is made in an

instrument have the same operation as if
they were inserted in the instrument
referring to them
 Incorporation: Part & Parcel of the later
Act

• If a subsequent Act brings into itself by

reference some of the clauses of a former
Act, the legal effect of that is to write those
sections into the new Act as if they had
been actually written in it with the pen, or
printed in it.
Incorporated Provision Fresh Statute

Bodily
transposition into
the later Act

Repeal of the earlier

Act does not affect the
Act where
incorporation is made

Incorporation done Acts as an

with all amendments
made up to the date independent or
of incorporation fresh provision
 Distinction between Reference
and Incorporation

INCORPORATION

Any change, amendment, repeal in the original has no effect

on the incorporating statute
 For example….

Land Acquisition Act, 1894

Provision “x”
Provision “x” appeal2 only to
the High Court amended- Appeals up
to Privy Council
3
 Formulae for identifying
Incorporation
“shall, for that purpose, be
deemed to form part of this
Act in the same manner as
if they were enacted in the
body thereof”

The provisions of
Section…of the said Act
(set out in the Schedule)
“shall apply as if they
were herein re-enacted”

Shall be deemed to be
herein repeated with the
alterations necessary to
make to same applicable
for the purposes of this Act
 Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. v.
Union of India AIR 1979 SC 798
Sec. 55 of ●
Appeal to the Supreme Court against
the orders of the MRTP Commission
the MRTP on ‘one or more grounds specified in
Act, 1969 Sec 100 of the CPC, 1969’.

Sec.100 of ●
Substituted by a new section in
1976 which narrowed the grounds
CPC, 1969 of appeal under that section.
 The Supreme Court

• Sec 100 of the 1969 version of the

Code was incorporated and the
substitution of a new section
abridging the ground of appeal
had no effect u/s 55.
Constitutional Validity of the
Incorporated Provisions

The constitutional
validity of the
The two statutes remain
incorporated provision is
distinct & to be judged
judged by the
with reference to its own
competence of the
source
legislature incorporating
it
 Mithanlal v. State of Delhi

Tax legislation in force in Part A States

Part A States, au thorized the S tate legislature Extended to Part C States by Part C State Laws Act, 1 950

But it had no power to authorize tax on something that is

To impose tax on a transaction of ‘sale of goods’ not sale
Parliament’s p ower of legislation and taxation was u ncon trolled
The incorporation and the
question of validity
The above case was upheld
by a nine judge bench in
New Delhi Municipal
Committee v. State of
Punjab AIR 1997 SC 2847
 For simple reference
• When a statute instead of referring to a
particular previous statute or to any
specific provision, refer to the law on the
subject.

• In such cases, the reference is construed to

mean that the law is as it reads thereafter
including subsequent amendments as well.
 Like, for instance…

Article 366(1) agricultural income means

agricultural income as defined for the
purposes of the enactments relating to
Indian income tax
 Lets take another example…
• Sec.151 of the M.P. Land Revenue Code,
1954:
‘subject to his personal law, the interest
of a tenure holder shall on his death
pass by inheritance, survivorship or
bequest, as the case may be.’
 Bajya v. Gopikabai (Smt.)
AIR 1978 SC 793

This was referring to the

The Court
●

law on the subject

noted generally.

‘Person Therefore, the term personal law, will

●

not be limited to personal law as it

stood when the Code was enacted in
al Law’ 1954
 Incorporation or Reference:
Difficult to construe
U.P. Avas Evam Amendments in
Vikas Parishad Land Acquisition
v. Jainul Islam Act in 1984

Benefits of
AIR 1998 SC 1028 compensation

The court construed

Is it applicable
this in the light of
to the U.P. Act? the Equality clause.
 The situation as of today….

●
Incorporation will not deprive of the benefits, if any,
introduced in the earlier statute.

Beneficial Legislation
So, what we understand is this….

Incorporation

Subsequent amendments to Will not impact the

the original Act incorporated Act
State of Kerala v. Attesse (AIT
Corp’n) AIR 1989 SC 222
The interconnections

Finance Act, 1969,

definition of “cotton
fabrics” amended
Item 7 of the 3rd Sch. exempted
cotton fabrics as defined in the
Central Excises & Salt Tax
Act, 1944

S.9 of the Kerala Act

granted exemption to the
goods in the 3rd Schedule
 The Main Question before the
Supreme Court

• Whether this amendment

also applied for the Kerala
Act?
 The opinion of the Court

The court ●
The definition of cotton fabrics
answered in was really ‘referred to’ and ‘not
the affirmative incorporated in’ the Kerala Act.

●
The amendment would apply as it formed
The reason part of an integrated scheme to give special
treatment to certain goods including cotton
given fabrics and the Acts were supplemental to
each other.
Exceptions to the Doctrine of
Incorporation
State of M.P.
v. M.V.
Narasimhan

Where the amendment is

expressly or by
necessary implication
also applies to the later
Act

If non-import of Acts
amendment renders
the statute wholly supplemental
unworkable to each other

Acts are in
pari materia
State of M.P. v. M.V. Narasimhan
AIR 1975 SC 1835

The ●

●
Employee in a govt. undertaking, (BHEL).
Convicted u/s 420, IPC r/w Sections 5(1)(d)

respondent and 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Sec.2 of the ●
For the purposes of this Act “Public
servant” means a public servant as
PCA, 1947 defined in S.21 of the IPC.
 The High Court
The Act had
incorporated the
definition of IPC
prior to its
amendment, it
became an integral
and independent part
of the Act and thus
would remain
unaffected by any
repeal or change in
the previous Act.
 The Supreme Court
This being a social legislation its provisions
must be construed liberally so as to
advance the object of the Act.
Both Acts form part of the same system.
The rules of IEA, with minor exceptions,
apply to trials of offences created under
this Act.
The observations of the court
●
The Act though of penal flavor is a piece of social
1. legislation.
●
The objective is to eradicate the evil of corruption.

●
In other words, public servants alone fall within
2. the mischief of the Act and no one else.

●
Even if Sec. 2 of the Act had not applied the provisions of the IPC
3. in defining public servant, it would still be read as a matter of
implied reference because the Act was supplemental to the IPC.
The Supreme Court on these
Exceptions
 Therefore, it was held…

• The two Acts were supplemental to each

other, and therefore, the Amendment Act
was applicable to amend the definition of
‘Public Servant’ in Prevention of
Corruption Act.
Some additional guidelines for the courts

Formulate ●
In interpreting incorporated provisions,
variations of the court may formulate variations of
details in the context of incorporating Act.

details
It may look ●
In construing incorporated sections it may
into other be at times refer to other parts of the
earlier statute which are not incorporated.

parts
Some additional guidelines for the courts

Proviso/Exceptio ●
A provision in the nature of a proviso or
exception, if not incorporated will not
n not a part be read to make the provision narrow.

Modifications to ●
The later Act may contain modifications or
alterations of the incorporated provisions or
the incorporated the incorporation may be subjected to other
provisions in the later Act.
provision
 Land Acqusition Officer, City
Improvement Trust Board, Bangalore v.
H.N.Narayanaiah
●
The acquisition of land under this Act shall be
Sec.27 of the Bangalore
regulated by the provisions of the Mysore Land
Improvement Act, 1945 Acquisition Act, 1897 ‘so far as applicable’.

Construed ●
The words ‘so far as applicable’

All general provisions of the 1897 Act would be

Held
●

applicable and only those provisions for which some

special procedure is prescribed by the Improvement Act
will be excluded.
Criticism of legislation by
incorporation
Brevity over
lucidity

Large masses of
bygone are
neglected

Chances of
inconsistency in
meaning of
provisions