Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954

17 Statutory powers and duties generally. N.I.

(1) Where an enactment confers a power or imposes a duty, the power may be exercised and the duty shall be performed from time to time, as occasion requires.

(2) Where an enactment confers a power to make any statutory instrument the power shall be construed as including power, exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like consent and conditions, if any, to amend, alter, rescind or revoke, that instrument and to make other statutory instruments in lieu thereof but this sub-section shall not apply to an order which is not made by a rule-making authority in the exercise of a statutory power which is of a legislative character.

(3) Where an enactment empowers any person or authority to do any act or thing, all such powers shall be deemed to be also given as are reasonably necessary to enable that person or authority to do that act or thing or are incidental to the doing thereof.

(4) Where an enactment authorises or requires an act or thing to be done collectively by more than two persons, a majority of those persons may do that act or thing, unless any quorum fixed by that enactment or by any other [F1 statutory] provision has not been formed.

(5) Any power conferred by an enactment to make a statutory instrument or issue a statutory document may be exercised—

(a) either in relation to all cases to which the power extends, or in relation to all those cases subject to specified exceptions, or in relation to any specified cases or classes of case; and

(b) so as to make, as respects the cases in relation to which it is exercised—

(i) the full provision to which the power extends or any less provision (whether by way of exception or otherwise);

(ii) the same provision for all cases in relation to which the power is exercised, or different provision for different cases or classes of case, or different provision as respects the same case or class of case for different purposes of the enactment;

(iii) any such provision either unconditionally or subject to any specified condition.

F1 SI 1999/663

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 17(2)(3)(5) applied (7.12.2020) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1143), regs. 1(2), 17(2)

C2 S. 17(5) applied by Climate Changes Act 2008 (c. 27), s. 77(6) (as inserted (28.4.2014) by Carrier Bags Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 7), s. 2(3))