OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA.
1898.

Price, Seven Rupees.

English price, Nine Shillings and Six Pence.

PREFACE.

THIS, the third, edition of the unrepealed General Acts passed during the years 1834 to 1867, is founded on the official copies of the Acts supplied by the Home Department, or preserved in the Legislative Department, of the Government of India.

2. In previous editions it has been usual for the first volume to contain the Acts passed during the years 1834 to 1866, both inclusive, but the Acts of 1867 also have on this occasion been included because a new era was, so to speak, begun with the passing of the General Clauses Act, 1868 (I of 1868), the provisions of which have been re-enacted by the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897). The first volume, therefore, appropriately ends with the last Act of 1867 and contains (with certain exceptions) such of the Acts passed by the Governor General in Council during the period in question as are still in force and which extend, or are capable of being extended, to the whole of British India The Acts which have to the three Presidency-towns. not been reprinted, are either (a) General Acts of a purely private character, e.g., Acts V of 1857, VIII of 1864 and IX of 1867; (0) Acts which are now in force in so limited area as to make their reproduction hardly necessary; or, (c) Acts which, although not actually repealed in toto, are practically a dead letter.

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3. The following changes have been made in reprinting :-
(a) Under the heading to each Act, the date on which it
became law has been given in square brackets, as in
the latest edition of the Statutes Revised.

(b) Footnotes have been added containing references to show
where the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the
Report of the Select Committee (when such has
been published) and the Debates or Proceedings in
Council connected with each Act passed during and

after the year 1862 are to be found in the Gazette. These references, it must, however, be understood, cannot be used judicially.*

(c) Where purely formal words in a section have been repealed, the repealed words have been omitted and a footnote to that effect has been added.

(d) Where operative words in a section have been repealed, asterisks have been inserted in place of the words repealed and the repealed portion itself, unless of inconvenient length, has been reproduced in a footnote. (e) Where a portion of a section has been repealed and other words or provisions substituted therefor, the substituted words or provisions have been inserted in the text in square brackets and the original words, with a reference to the amending enactment, have been given in a footnote.

(f) Where fresh matter has been added to a section by subsequent legislation, the portion so added has been enclosed in square brackets and a reference given in a footnote to the amending enactment, but, where an entire section or a lengthy clause has been added, reference only is made to the amending enactment in a footnote, the new section or clause not being enclosed in brackets.

(g) Where a whole section or set of sections has been repealed, the subject thereof and the fact of repeal have been stated in loco. Acts, sections, clauses or words which have been repealed in respect of particular localities only, have been retained, and references to such repeals have been given in footnotes.

(h) Where an Act has been provided with a short title by legislation subsequent to the date on which it was

originally passed, e.g., by the Indian Short Titles

* Vide judgment of the Privy Council in the Administrator General of Bengal v. Premlal Mullick, 1. L. R. 22 Cal., at pp. 798 and 799; also, Norendra Nath Sirkar v. Kamaltasini Dasi, I. L. R. 23 Cal., p. 563, and Vagliano v. Bank of England (1891), A. C., at p. 145.

Act, 1897 (XIV of 1897), such short title has been referred to in a footnote.

(i) Where one Act refers to another, and such reference is directed by a subsequent Act to be read as if made to

the later Act, a footnote to that effect has been added.

(j) Various other footnotes have been added. These are chiefly (a) cross-references to Indian Acts; (b) references to English Statutes on which Indian Acts are based; (c) references to notifications in Indian Gazettes regarding the commencement, extension and application of some of the more important provisions; and (d), references to rules and orders made under Acts and published in the Gazettes or in the collections of local rules and orders published by Local Governments. Occasional references to, or extracts from, the Statements of Objects and Reasons and the Reports of Select Committees have also been given.

k) A brief index has been added at the end of the volume. 4. Until the enactment of Act XV of 1854, Bills seem to have been passed through Council and into law without the addition of side-notes to the clauses. The side-notes which now appear in connection with the earlier Acts, have, therefore, been added since their enactment and can clearly lay no claim to have the authority of the legislature. The practice, however, beginning with the Act above referred to, has been changed, and side-notes have regularly been added to all Bills as introduced and have remained in them during their passage through Council and into law. This seems to follow the precedent set in England, where the side-notes of Acts (since 1849) usually appear on the Rolls of Parliament. Whether such side-notes are to be taken as parts of the Acts or not, is a question which has been raised but apparently not concluded. (See Hardcastle, Ed. 2, at pp. 216, 217, and Maxwell, Ed. 2, at p. 52.)