New Year, New Law? Not Always

With a new year comes new legislation, and a common assumption: if a law is repealed, it’s gone for good. However, that is not always the case. Despite the finality implied by the word, repeal often produces unexpectedly nuanced legal effects.

In both the Ontario and federal legislative frameworks, a repeal may preserve parts of the old law through transitional, savings[1], or application provisions. These provisions can keep repealed legislation alive for specific purposes, such as:

• proceedings already underway
• rights or obligations that arose before repeal
• offences committed under the old law
• regulations, decisions, or appointments made under the former Act
  • The effect of repeal on regulations can be particularly challenging. When the enabling Act is repealed or amended, regulations made under it may enter a kind of legal afterlife. If the regulation-making power disappears, a regulation may become inoperative without being formally repealed, meaning it can still exist in the statute books. Even trickier, some transitional rules carry forward only parts of a regulation, leaving researchers and jurists to puzzle out which sections still apply.[2]

In other words, the law may be repealed, while remaining legally relevant.

Did you know? Repeal isn’t the same as “spent”. Some provisions are not formally repealed at all, they become spent. In Ontario and federal law, a repealed statute can still have lingering effects, while a spent provision ceases to have ongoing effect.

Common examples of spent provisions include:

• amending provisions, which stop having effect once the amendment takes place
• time-limited rules, which expire automatically at a fixed date (for example, a rule that applies “before January 1, 2020”)[3]

Where this shows up

Ontario
The Legislation Act, 2006 (S.O. 2006, c. 21, Sched. F) often governs how repeals operate, including what continues after repeal. Also codified in this statute is a process for the repeal of legislation that remains unproclaimed for nine years or more. The Legislation Act, 2006 requires the Attorney General to table an annual report in the Legislature listing all Acts and provisions that were enacted nine years or more before December 31 of the preceding calendar year and which remain unproclaimed on that date.[4]

Federal
At the federal level, similar rules appear in the Interpretation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. I-21), which prevents repeal from automatically wiping out accrued rights, liabilities, or ongoing proceedings. In addition, the Statutes Repeal Act (S.C. 2008, c. 20), which requires annual reviews of Acts not brought into force within nine years of Royal Assent. They are scheduled for repeal unless explicitly deferred, thereby preserving provisions until repeal occurs.[5]

(Readers interested in this topic may wish to consult the Great Library blog post on unconsolidated and unrepealed statutes: Living in Limbo – Unconsolidated and Unrepealed Statutes.)

Why this matters for legal research

When researching “older” law:

• a repealed Act may still apply to your issue
• earlier versions of legislation may control the outcome
• dates matter – a lot

New Year takeaway

As legal researchers know, the past often carries into the present. Before you celebrate a repeal as a fresh start, check what survived it.

As always, the Great Library is happy to assist – please contact greatlibrary@lso.ca for legislative or general legal research support.

---

[1] “Transitional and savings provisions are provisions that facilitate the transition from an existing legal regime to a new legal regime that is being put in place by the statute in which they are included. In theory, savings provisions preserve rights, privileges and obligations existing under the old regime, while transitional provisions establish special rules for cases or circumstances that exist at the time the statute comes into force.” P. Salembier, Legal and Legislative Drafting, 3rd ed (LexisNexis, 2024) at p. 429.

[2] P. Salembier, Legal and Legislative Drafting, 3rd ed (LexisNexis, 2024) at pp. 593-595.

[3] P. Salembier, Legal and Legislative Drafting, 3rd ed (LexisNexis, 2024) at pp 582-586.

[4] T. Hauerstock & A. Boyce, “When Do Ontario Acts and Regulations Come into Force?” (September 2023)  https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/when-do-ontario-acts-regulations-come-force

[5] Government of Canada – Department of Justice, “Statutes Repeal Act: Reports, Deferrals and Repeals” (modified 18 December 2025) https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Reports/

---