Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793

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The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 33 Geo. 3 c. 13) which established the time at which Acts of Parliament come into effect.

Under the previous law, Acts came into force on the first day of the session in which they were passed, and therefore may be the year before they were actually passed through Parliament. This Act imposed a duty on the Clerk of the Parliaments to endorse Acts with the date of Royal Assent, which becomes part of the Act and is the new date on which the Act comes into effect. Modern practice however is that many Acts often contain a clause stating that large parts of the Act do not come into force until a day to be appointed by the Secretary of State.

The Act is still in force today, and now operates in conjunction with section 4 of the Interpretation Act 1978, which allowed for a day to be specified when the act comes into force.