[136]Francis Bennion,[1] refers to a presumption that an updating construction is to be given to statutes except those comparatively rare statutes intended to be of unchanging effect, which he calls ‘fixed-time Acts.’ All other Acts he calls ‘ongoing Acts’.
He explains the law as follows:
‘It is presumed that Parliament intends the court to apply to an ongoing Act a construction that continuously updates its wording to allow for changes since the Act was initially framed (an updating construction). While it remains law, it is to be treated as always speaking. This means that in its application on any date, the language of the Act, though necessarily embedded in its own time, is nevertheless to be construed in accordance with the need to treat it as current law.’
This, he says,
‘states the principle, enunciated by the Victorian draftsman Lord Thring, that an ongoing Act is taken to be always speaking. While it remains in force, the Act is necessarily to be treated as current law. It speaks from day to day, though always (unless textually amended) in the words of its original drafter. As Lord Woolf MR said of the National Assistance Act 1948―
“That Act had replaced 350 years of the Poor Law and was a prime example of an Act which was “always speaking”. Accordingly it should be construed by continuously updating its wording to allow for changes since the Act was written.”’
- ↑ Statutory Interpretation 3 ed (1997) p 686.
