The 'Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793' was an
Act of the
Parliament of Great Britain (citation 33 Geo. 3 c. 13) which established the time at which Acts of Parliament come into effect. Under the previous law, Acts came into force on the first day of the session in which they were passed, and therefore may be the year before they were actually passed through Parliament. This Act imposed a duty on the Clerks of Parliament to endorse Acts with the date of
Royal Assent, which becomes part of the Act and is the new date on which the Act comes into effect. Modern practice however is that many Acts often contain a clause stating that large parts of the Act do not come into force until a day to be appointed by the
Secretary of State. The Act was repealed in 1978, but was re-enacted in section 4 of the
Interpretation Act 1978.
External links
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Royal Assent Procedure