ALBl vs. Attorney General and Another – sllr 2011 volume 1 page 067

In ALBl v. Attorney General and Another, the court addressed the issue of whether the Court of Appeal maintained jurisdiction to entertain and dispose of bail applications under the Offensive Weapons Act (as amended by Act No. 2 of 2011) for matters pending before the amendment’s operative date of 28 January 2011. The court held that, in the absence of express or implied transitional provisions in the amending statute, the earlier jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal over pending applications remains unaffected. This reaffirmed the principle that pending judicial proceedings are preserved unless the legislature expressly provides otherwise. Reliance was placed on section 6(3)(c) of the Interpretation Ordinance and principles of statutory interpretation, emphasizing that withdrawal or transf