# Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005

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The Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005 (Act No. 5 of 2005) is an Act of the Parliament of South Africa, which changed the way in which the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and its amendments are named and referred to.
Normally every Act of Parliament is allocated a number which is unique amongst all acts passed that year, and the Constitution of 1996 was no different, being called Act No. 108 of 1996. Later acts amending the Constitution were numbered similarly. The Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic, and was passed by Parliament sitting as the Constitutional Assembly rather than by the ordinary procedures of Parliament. It was therefore suggested by, amongst others, the Chief Justice, that the Constitution and amendments should be treated differently from ordinary acts. This act gave effect to these suggestions, by removing the normal act numbers from the Constitution and amendments, and instead numbering the amendments consecutively in a single sequence.
For example, the "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Second Amendment Act, 2001 (Act No. 61 of 2001)", which was the second constitutional amendment passed in 2001 but the seventh overall, was renamed to the "Constitution Seventh Amendment Act of 2001".
Note that [words in bold type in square brackets] indicate omissions from existing enactments, while words underlined with a solid line indicate insertions in existing enactments.
(English text signed by the President.) (Assented to 23 June 2005.)
Act
To change the manner of referring to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and to laws amending it; to substitute the short titles of laws amending the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Preamble
Whereas section 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996), provides that the Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa;
and whereas the Constitution, unlike other Acts of the Republic of South Africa, was not passed by Parliament, but was adopted by the Constitutional Assembly;
and recognising that the Constitution and amendments to the Constitution should be treated differently from other Acts of Parliament by not being allocated an Act number like other ordinary Acts of Parliament,
Be it therefore enacted by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—
No Act number to be associated with Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
1. (1) From the date of commencement of this Act, no Act number is to be associated with the “Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996)”.
(2) Any reference to the “Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996)”, contained in any law in force immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, must be construed as a reference to the “Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996”.
Amendment of laws
2. The laws specified in the second column of the Schedule are hereby amended to the extent set out in the third column thereof.
​Short titles of laws amending the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
3. (1) From the date of commencement of this Act, no Act number is to be associated with or allocated to any law amending the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
(2) The short titles of laws amending the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, passed by Parliament after the commencement of this Act must reflect their chronological order, in line with the short titles indicated in the third column of the Schedule; the first such law passed after this Act takes effect starting with the number following the last number indicated in the third column of the Schedule.
Short title
4. This Act is called the Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005.
Schedule
This work is in the public domain because it was created and first published in South Africa and it is an official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or an official translation of such a text.
According to the Copyright Act, 1978, § 12 (8) (a), "No copyright shall subsist in official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts."
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