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"Declaratory statutes
The presumption against retrospective
operation is not applicable to declaratory statutes. As
stated in CRAIES and approved by the Supreme Court.
For modern purposes a declaratory Act may be
defined as an Act to remove doubts existing as to the
common law, or the meaning or effect of any statute.
Such Acts are usually held to be retrospective. The
usual reason for passing a declaratory Act is to set
aside what Parliament deems to have been a judicial
error, whether in the statement of the common law or
in the interpretation of statutes. Usually, if not
invariably, such an Act contains a Preamble, and also
the word "declared" as well as the word "enacted".'
But the use of the words 'it is declared' is not
conclusive that the Act is declaratory for these words
may, at times, be used to introduced new rules of law
and the Act in the latter case will only be amending
the law and will not necessarily be retrospective. In
determining, therefore, the nature of the Act, regard
must be had to the substance rather than to the form.
If a new Act is 'to explain' an earlier Act, it would be
without object unless construed retrospective. An
explanatory Act is generally passed to supply an
obvious omission or to clear up doubts as to the
meaning of the previous Act. It is well settled that if a
statute is curative or merely declaratory of the
previous law retrospective operation is generally
intended. The language 'shall be deemed always to
have meant' is declaratory, and is in plain terms
retrospective. In the absence of clear words indicating
that the amending Act is declaratory, it would not be
so construed when the pre-amended provision was
clear and unambiguous. An amending Act may be
purely clarificatory to clear a meaning of a provision of
the principal Act which was already implicit. A
clarificatory amendment of this nature will have
retrospective effect and, therefore, if the principal Act
was existing law which the Constitution came into
force, the amending Act also will be part of the
existing law."