Legislation (Wales) Act 2019
| Act of the National Assembly for Wales | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act of the National Assembly for Wales to promote the accessibility of Welsh law; to provide for the interpretation and operation of Welsh legislation; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2019 anaw 4 |
| Introduced by | Jeremy Miles AM, Counsel General |
| Territorial extent | Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 29 April 2015 |
| Commencement | 10 September 2019 (parts 1,3,4), 1 January 2020 (part 2) |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | The Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Regulations 2020 |
| Relates to | The Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (Commencement) Order 2019 |
Status: Current legislation | |
| History of passage through the Assembly | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4) (Welsh: Deddf Deddfwriaeth (Cymru) 2019) is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales, which is designed to provide guidance on how to draft and interpret primary and secondary legislation of the Assembly.
Background
[edit]In July 2013, the Law Commission announced that it was including a section on the "form and accessibility of the law applicable in Wales" as an advisory project in its twelfth programme of law reform.[1] In 2016, the Law Commission published its final report on the form and accessibility of the law in Wales, recommending[2]
- consolidating and codifying legislation,
- giving guidance on how to standardise "legal Welsh" in such a way it is accessible to Welsh language speakers and giving judges and lawyers training to understand the specific legal terminology in Welsh,
- reducing the amount of legislation that is out-of-date on legislation.gov.uk.
- developing legal textbooks in Welsh
- passing an interpretation act
Lord Lloyd-Jones, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, wrote a document supporting codification.[3]
The draft bill was introduced to the assembly in April 2018.[4]
Dispute with the UK Government
[edit]In April 2019, the Solicitor General of England and Wales, Robert Buckland, sent the Counsel General for Wales explaining the UK Government's position that certain provisions of the bill were outside of the legislative competence of the Welsh Assembly: mainly relating to Welsh statutory instruments made under acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.[5]
In June 2019, the Counsel General sent the Solicitor General, Lucy Fraser a letter explaining the Welsh Government's position that the lack of an interpretation act with provisions for bilingual statutory instruments, made by the Welsh Government under monolingual acts of the made passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom was problematic.[6]
In August 2019, the Solicitor General, Michael Ellis, sent the Counsel General a letter reiterating the UK Government's position but explaining that the UK Government would not refer the bill to the Supreme Court.[7][8]
Provisions
[edit]The legislation has provisions:[9]
- a duty to improve and maintain accessibility of Welsh law
- making the English and Welsh language texts of a statute of equal status
- defining how to interpret words and expressions, such as:
- plurals and singulars
- gendered pronouns,[10]
- references to time of day
- distances
- grammatical differences
- defining the day on which the service delivered electronically is deemed to be effected
- defining how to use the Act together with the Interpretation Act 1978
- moving the commencement of an act from a commencement order, published separately as delegated legislation, Welsh statutory instruments would now be able to amend the text of the Act itself to insert a date
Amendments
[edit]Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025
[edit]| Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Senedd Cymru | |
| |
| Long title | An Act of Senedd Cymru to promote the accessibility of Welsh law by making provision about the procedure for making and publishing Welsh legislation, and by repealing certain enactments that are no longer of practical utility or benefit, and connected purposes. |
| Citation | 2025 asc 3 |
| Introduced by | Julie James MS, Counsel General |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 10 July 2025 |
Status: Current legislation | |
| History of passage through the Senedd | |
| Text of the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
The Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025 (Welsh: Deddf Deddfwriaeth (Gweithdrefn, Cyhoeddi a Diddymiadau) (Cymru) 2025) made amendments to:
- formally establish a class of delegated legislation known as Welsh statutory instrument[11]
- formally establish the King's Printer for Wales[12]
- repeal redundant provisions in legislation that have become spent or obsolete[11]
Other developments
[edit]The first consolidation act passed as part of the programme to consolidate legislation was the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.[13]
See also
[edit]- Welsh statutory instrument
- Act of Senedd Cymru
- Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010
References
[edit]- ^ "Twelfth Programme of Law Reform" (PDF). Law Commission. 23 July 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
- ^ "Form and Accessibility of the Law Applicable in Wales" (PDF). Law Commission. 29 June 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
- ^ Lloyd-Jones, David (8 March 2018). "Codification of Welsh Law" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Cloynes, Tiffany; Hardy, Clare (27 April 2018). "Accessibility and interpretation of law in Wales". Archived from the original on 29 September 2024.
- ^ Buckland, Robert (25 April 2019). "Legislation (Wales) Bill" (PDF). Senedd Cymru. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Miles, Jeremy (26 June 2019). "Legislation (Wales) Bill" (PDF). Senedd Cymru. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Ellis, Michael (6 August 2019). "Legislation (Wales) Bill" (PDF). publishing.service.gov.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Cross, Michael (14 August 2019). "Wales' codified law plans will not face Supreme Court referral". Law Society Gazette. The Law Society. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament. Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 as amended (see also enacted form), from legislation.gov.uk.
- ^ Grabham, Emily (8 November 2020). "Exploring the Textual Alchemy of Legal Gender: Experimental Statutes and the Message in the Medium". feminists@law. 10 (2). doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.950. ISSN 2046-9551.
- ^ a b Haines, Chris (23 October 2024). "Counsel general sets out plan to declutter Welsh law". Caerphilly Observer. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
- ^ "Senedd passes bill to 'tidy up' Welsh law". Wrexham.com. 23 May 2025. Archived from the original on 24 May 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
- ^ Waddingham, Emma (14 June 2023). "Welsh law consolidation continues as new historic environment legislation becomes an Act". Legal News. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2024.