Craies on Legislation: A Practitioner's Guide to the Nature, Process, Effect and Interpretation of Legislation 13th ed with 1st Supplememt

Craies on Legislation is the complete practitioners' guide to the nature, process, effect and interpretation of legislation. It is regularly cited to and by the higher courts, and it is relied upon by lawyers in the public and private sectors for shedding light on the widest range of questions in relation to how legislation is made, applied, challenged and interpreted.

The 13th edition features:

• New material on emergency legislation, including rule of law lessons from COVID-19 legislation
• Validation legislation
• New judicial applications of old presumptions and principles
• Consideration of secret law
• Supreme Court codification of principles of interpretation
• Changes in treatment of EU-derived legislation

The 13th edition, published in December 2024, is now accompanied by the 1st Supplement published in November 2025. The Supplement addresses numerous significant legislative changes since publication of the 13th edition, including the groundbreaking Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025 asc. 3 - a landmark piece of legislation that formalises procedures for making and publishing Welsh legislation while improving the accessibility of Welsh law.

table of content

Preface

Table of Contents

Table of Cases

Part 1 The Nature of Legislation

 

1. Concepts and Classes

 

2. Acts of Parliament

 

3. Subordinate Legislation: Introduction

 

4. Devolved Legislation

Part 2: The Legislative Process

 

5. Primary Legislation

 

6. Subordinate Legislation

 

7. Devolved Legislation

 

8. Drafting of Legislation

 

9. Access to Legislation

Part 3: The Effect of Legislation

 

10. Timing

 

11. Extent and Application

 

12. Statutory Rights, Powers and Duties

 

13. Statutory Corporations

 

14. Effect on Other Law

 

15. Errors in Legislation

Part 4: Interpretation of Legislation

 

16. Introduction to Statutory Interpretation

 

17. The Cardinal Rule: Construction According to Plain Meaning

 

18. Literal or Purposive Interpretation

 

19. Rebuttable Presumptions of Construction

 

20. Other Canons and Principles of Construction

 

21. Expressions Which Change Meaning over Time

 

22. Interpretation Acts

 

23. Other General Interpretation Provisions

 

24. Other Specific Interpretation Provisions

 

25. Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1988

 

26. Use Parts of Legislation Other than Text for Construction

 

27. Use of Extraneous Material in Construing Legislation

 

28. The Rule in Pepper v Hart

 

29. Interpretation of Special Kinds of Legislation

 

30. Interpretation of Documents Other than Legislation

Part 5: European Legislation

 

31. Nature of European Legislation

 

32. The Legislative Process

 

33. Effect and Interpretation

Appendix: Key Passages of Relevant Judgments and Other Documents

Index