Short Title - Name Changes

Name Changes

In a small number of cases, particular Acts have had more than one short title given to them, for example because subsequent amendments to their contents have rendered the earlier name inaccurate. Likewise, the Supreme Court Act 1981, has been renamed the "Senior Courts Act 1981" by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, because the Supreme Court of Judicature, the subject of the 1981 Act, is being renamed because of the creation of a new, unrelated court called (perhaps confusingly) the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

British (and English) legislation that has been "inherited" by the legal systems of other countries has also sometimes ended up with a short title in one jurisdiction that differs from that used in another; for example, the Act of Parliament that created Canada in 1867 is formally known in Canada as the Constitution Act, 1867, whereas it is still known as the British North America Act 1867 in British law; note also the differing comma convention.