Constitutional Statutes
In the U.K. case of Thoburn v Sunderland City Council (the so-called 'Metric Martyrs' case), Lord Justice Laws ruled that some constitutionally significant statutes held a higher status in UK law and were not subject to the doctrine of implied repeal and would therefore require Parliament to expressly repeal the Act. The case specifically dealt with s.2(2) of the European Communities Act, but in his judgment, Lord Justice Laws also named the Parliament Act and the Human Rights Act as other 'constitutional statutes' and therefore not subject to the doctrine. Constitutional statutes can still be expressly repealed if Parliament wishes, but unless the words doing so are totally unambiguous, the courts will follow the precedent established in Thoburn.
Express repeal is carried out by judges in the same method as above, however, Parliament or Congress expressly orders judges to allow a statute to prevail over a previous statute.
Under United States law, "implied repeal" is a disfavored doctrine. That is, if a court can reconcile the two statutes with any reasonable interpretation, that interpretation is favorable to one that deems the earlier statute to have been invalidated by the later one.
Read more about this topic: Implied Repeal
Famous quotes related to constitutional statutes:
“Constitutional statutes ... which embody the settled public opinion of the people who enacted them and whom they are to govern—can always be enforced. But if they embody only the sentiments of a bare majority, pronounced under the influence of a temporary excitement, they will, if strenuously opposed, always fail of their object; nay, they are likely to injure the cause they are framed to advance.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)