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An Act to make provision for, and in connection with, the attainment by Sierra Leone of fully responsible status within the Commonwealth.
[28th March 1961]
(1)On the twenty-seventh day of April, nineteen hundred and sixty-one (in this Act referred to as “the appointed day”), the Sierra Leone Colony and the Sierra Leone Protectorate (of which the combined area is that specified in the First Schedule to this Act) shall together constitute part of Her Majesty’s dominions under the name of Sierra Leone.
(2)No Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on or after the appointed day shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to Sierra Leone as part of the law thereof, and as from that day—
(a)Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the government of Sierra Leone; and
(b)the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to legislative powers in Sierra Leone.
(3)Without prejudice to subsection (2) of this section, nothing in subsection (1) thereof shall affect the operation in Sierra Leone or any part thereof on and after the appointed day of any enactment, or any other instrument having the effect of law, passed or made with respect thereto before that day.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
Textual Amendments
F1S. 2 repealed by British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61, SIF 87), Sch. 9
(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2
F3(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(3)As from the appointed day, the provisions specified in the Third Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments respectively specified in that Schedule, . . . F4
Provided that this subsection shall not extend to Sierra Leone or any part thereof as part of the law thereof.
Textual Amendments
F2S. 3(1) repealed by Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30, SIF 115:1), Sch. 3
F3S. 3(2) repealed (28.3.2009 for specified purposes, 31.10.2009 in so far as not already in force) by Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52), s. 383(2), Sch. 17; S.I. 2009/812, art. 3(a)(b) (with transitional provisions in S.I. 2009/1059); S.I. 2009/1167, art. 4
F4Words repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. VI
(1)This Act may be cited as the Sierra Leone Independence Act 1961.
(2)References in this Act to any enactment are references to that enactment as amended or extended by or under any other enactment.
Section 1.
The area in West Africa lying between the sixth and tenth degrees of north latitude and the tenth and fourteenth degrees of west longitude and bounded on the north by the boundary line delimited under the provisions of the Anglo-French Convention dated the twenty-eighth day of June, 1882, the Anglo-French Arrangement dated the tenth day of August, 1889, the Anglo-French Agreement dated the twenty-first day of January, 1895, and the notes exchanged between His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of the French Republic, and dated the sixth day of July, 1911, and on the south by the Anglo-Liberian boundary line delimited under the provisions of the Anglo-Liberian Conventions dated the eleventh day of November, 1885, and the twenty-first day of January, 1911.
Section 1.
1U.K.The M1Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, shall not apply to any law made on or after the appointed day by the legislature of Sierra Leone.
Marginal Citations
2U.K.No law and no provision of any law made on or after the appointed day by that legislature shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is repugnant to the law of England, or to the provisions of any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, including this Act, or to any order, rule or regulation made under any such Act, and, subject to paragraph 6 of this Schedule, the powers of that legislature shall include the power to repeal or amend any such Act, order, rule or regulation in so far as it is part of the law of Sierra Leone or any part thereof.
3U.K.The said legislature shall have full power to make laws having extra-territorial operation.
F54U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Textual Amendments
F5Sch. 2 para. 4 repealed (1.1.1996) by 1995 c. 21, ss. 314(1), 316(2), Sch. 12 (with ss. 312(1), Sch. 14 para. 1)
5U.K.Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this Schedule, section four of the M2Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 (which requires certain laws to be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure or to contain a suspending clause) and so much of section seven of that Act as requires the approval of Her Majesty in Council to any rules of court for regulating the practice and procedure of a Colonial Court of Admiralty shall cease to have effect in Sierra Leone.
Marginal Citations
6U.K.Nothing in this Act shall confer on the legislature of Sierra Leone any power to repeal, amend or modify the constitutional provisions otherwise than in such manner as may be provided for in those provisions.
his paragraph, the expression “the constitutional provisions” means this Act, any Order in Council made before the appointed day which revokes Parts II to VI of the M3Sierra Leone (Constitution) Order in Council, 1958, and the Sierra Leone Protectorate Orders in Council, 1951 to 1960, and any law, or instrument made under a law, of the legislature of Sierra Leone made on or after that day which amends, modifies, re-enacts with or without amendment or modification, or makes different provision in lieu of, any of the provisions of this Act, that Order in Council or any such law or instrument previously made.
Marginal Citations
Section 3.
1U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6
Textual Amendments
F6Sch. 3 para. 1 repealed by Finance Act 1969 (c. 32), Sch. 21 Pt. IX
2U.K.In subsection (6) of section one of the Diplomatic Immunities (Commonwealth Countries and Republic of Ireland) Act, 1952, immediately before the word “and” in the last place where it occurs there shall be inserted the words “Sierra Leone”.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1The text of Sch. 3 paras. 2, 4, 8, 9, 16 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.
3U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7
Textual Amendments
4U.K.In section two of the Import Duties Act, 1958, in subsection (4), after the word “Nyasaland” there shall be inserted the words “Sierra Leone”.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C2The text of Sch. 3 paras. 2, 4, 8, 9, 16 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.
5U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8
Textual Amendments
F8Sch. 3 para. 5 repealed by Trustee Investments Act 1961 (c. 62), Sch. 5
6U.K.In the M4Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act 1933, section four (which deals with attachment and mutual powers of command) and the definition of “visiting force” for the purposes of that act which is contained in section eight thereof shall apply in relation to forces raised in Sierrra Leone as they apply in relation to forces raised in Dominions within the meaning of the M5Statute of Westminster 1931.
7U.K.In the M6Visiting Forces Act 1952—
(a)in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one (which specifies the countries to which that Act applies) the word “or” in the first place where it occurs shall be omitted, and at the end there shall be added the words “Sierra Leone or”;
(b)in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section ten the expression “colony” shall not include Sierra Leone or any part thereof;
until express provision with respect to Sierra Leone is made by an Order in Council under section eight of that Act (which relates to the application to visiting forces of law relating to home forces), any such Order for the time being in force shall be deemed to apply to visiting forces of Sierra Leone.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C3The text of s. 3(2)(a), Sch. 3 para. 7(a) is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.
Marginal Citations
F98U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Textual Amendments
F9Sch. 3 para. 8 repealed (1.1.1996) by 1995 c. 21, ss. 314(1), 316(2), Sch. 12 (with ss. 312(1), Sch. 14 para. 1)
F109U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Textual Amendments
F10Sch. 3 para. 9 repealed (1.1.1996) by 1995 c. 21, ss. 314(1), 316(2), Sch. 12 (with ss. 312(1), Sch. 14 para. 1)
10U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11
Textual Amendments
11U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12
Textual Amendments
12U.K.In the M7Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act 1934, the expression “British ship to which this Act applies” shall not include a British ship registered in Sierra Leone.
Marginal Citations
13, 14.U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13
Textual Amendments
15U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14
Textual Amendments
F1516U.K.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Textual Amendments
F15Sch. 3 para. 16 repealed (7.1.2003) by 2002 c. 39, ss. 3, 4(2), Sch. 3
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