Statutes or Acts are:
- considered primary sources of law
- enacted by the federal and provincial legislatures in order to
- reform the common law or
- to amend existing statutes or
- to codify the common law or
- to deal with issues not addressed by the common law
- the most formal expression of the will of the State
Statutes are created and amended by Bills
Bills:
- are introduced in the legislatures
- for a bill to become law in British Columbia
- it must be read three times in the provincial legislature
- then receive Royal Assent
- Many bills become law when:
- they receive Royal Assent or
- they come into force on a later date specified in the statute
- the statute is brought into force by regulation
To see when statutes comes into force, check for a commencement section near the end of the statute.
If there is no commencement section, the statute comes into force on the date of Royal Assent pursuant to the Interpretation Act, RSBC 1996, c 238, s 3(2).