The word repeal is a legal term defined as a legal act, by means of which one or more of the provisions included in the figure of a legal body, be it a decree, law, or regulation lose their validity. Etymologically, this word comes from the Latin “derogo, derogare” whose meaning is “abolish, remove, revoke”. Repeal a law means to leave it without force. Normally in the legal regime the one that repeals, is the one that can enact a law. Therefore the body empowered (in this case) to exercise any repeal is the parliament, the congress or the legislature.
In order to carry out this action, there must first be other bills, in which the reasons for this act are expressed in the preliminary considerations of the legal text. The legislator or legislators who develop the bill submit it to the vote of the entire chamber, which by means of a vote, and with the majority in favor, will achieve its annulment. In this case there are two types of repeal: an explicit and clear one where the new standard specifically and concretely cites all the standards that are repealed by it. Another that is tacit, which implicitly repeals all the rules prior to it and whose content is opposite to the newly enacted rule.
The causes that cause a law to be repealed are:
- For particular reasons of the law, this occurs when it has been implanted with a limited duration, or when it has prescribed spontaneously.
- Because another law has been approved that renders it without effect.
- because it just stopped being used out of habit.
When a law is totally repealed, it is no longer talking about repealing but repealing, whose meaning is to render a law invalid to be replaced by another, of equal or greater hierarchy, for example the constitution can be repealed by another Constitution. The difference between these two terms is that one partially nullifies and the other completely.
Laws can only be repealed by other laws, although there is the possibility that a regulation will enter into force for a certain time or for a specific event, in these cases, once the established period is fulfilled or the situation has disappeared. The law is immediately repealed, in this case we would be talking about laws for temporary purposes.
