CHAPTER 347
PROVIDING FOR CONTINUOUS REVISION OF DELAWARE CODE OF 1953
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 1, DELAWARE CODE OF 1953 ENTITLED "GENERAL PROVISIONS" BY PROVIDING FOR THE CONTINUOUS REVISION OF THE DELAWARE CODE OF 1953 AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS.
WHEREAS, the Delaware Code of 1953 is a complete compilation of the general and permanent statutes of the State of Delaware, and
WHEREAS, it is desirable that the said Code be kept up to date from year to year, and
WHEREAS, the permanent edition of the said Code to be delivered in the near future will be so bound as to accommodate pocket supplements to be inserted at the back of each volume, and
WHEREAS, the said Code in section 110 of Title 1 provides that such supplements shall be prima facie a part of the Code, and
WHEREAS, such supplements containing revisions in the law would be of special value to the General Assembly, State agencies, Courts and the general public, NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Title 1, Delaware Code of 1953 is amended by adding thereto the following new chapter.
Chapter 2. Continuous Code Revision
Subchapter I. Delaware Code Revision Commission
§ 201. Appointment; composition
The Executive Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau and another attorney-at-law licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware shall constitute the Delaware Code Revision Commission (the Commission). The above mentioned attorney-at-law shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of four years beginning February 1 of each odd numbered year. At the time of his appointment he shall not be affiliated with the same political party as is the Executive Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau. In case of vacancy the Governor shall make an appointment for the unexpired term.
§ 202. Compensation and expenses
(a) Each member of the Commission shall receive an annual salary of $2,400.
(b) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall provide office facilities for the use of the Commission and the necessary expenses of the members of the Commission shall be paid out of the funds appropriated to the Legislative Reference Bureau.
Subchapter II. Preparation Of Supplements
§ 210. General duty of Commission
At the close of each regular biennial session of the General Assembly, the Delaware Code Revision Commission shall prepare or cause to be prepared supplements to each volume of the Delaware Code of 1953 containing the amendments to the Code and all other general and permanent laws which have become law since the publication of the last such supplement, noting the sections that have been repealed and generally bringing the Code up to date. Such supplements may also contain additional annotations based upon Court decisions.
§ 211. Scope of editorial revision; omissions
(a) In preparing the supplements, the Commission shall not alter the sense, meaning or effect of any act of the General Assembly but it may:
(2) Transfer sections or divide sections so as to give to distinct subject matters a separate section number, but without changing the meaning;
(3) Insert or change the wording of headnotes;
(4) Change reference numbers to agree with renumbered chapters or sections;
(5) Substitute the proper section or chapter number for the terms "this act", "the preceding section" and the like;
(6) Strike out figures where they are merely a repetition of written words and vice-versa.
(7) Change capitalization for the purpose of uniform-ity;
(8) Correct manifest typographical and grammatical errors, and
(9) Make any other purely formal or clerical changes in keeping with the purpose of the revision.
(b) The Commission shall omit all titles of acts, all enacting, resolving, and repealing clauses, all appropriation measures, all temporary or local statutes, all declarations of emergency, and all validity, declaration of policy, and construction clauses, except when the retention thereof is necessary to preserve the full meaning and intent of the law.
§ 212. Bids, contract
The Commission shall, upon such specifications and conditions as it shall determine, duly and sufficiently advertise for bids for the compilation, revision, annotation, printing and binding of the pocket supplements and shall award a contract for such work to the lowest and best legal publisher of recognized standing as such. Such bids shall be opened in the presence of the bidders or their representatives who may choose to attend. The Commission shall have the right in the interest of the quality of work or in the interest of economy to the State to reject any or all of such bids and, if occasion shall in the judgment of the Commission require, may readvertise for bids.
§ 213. Number of supplements; sale rights to non-residents
The Commission shall cause to be printed and delivered to the State not more than 2,500 copies of the pocket supplements. The Commission is authorized in awarding the contract for the printing of the supplements to grant the publisher such sales rights with respect to non-residents of the State as in the judgment of the Commission would be advantageous to the State.
Subchapter III. Distribution And Sale
§ 220. Duties of Secretary of State
The completed supplements shall be delivered to the Secretary of State who shall distribute the supplements to the General Assembly and State agencies and sell the supplements to the public in the same manner and under the same terms and conditions as is provided for the distribution and sale of the Code in section 108, subsections (a), (b), (c) and (e) of this title. The price for which each set of supplements shall be sold by the State shall be not less than the cost to the State of the preparation of such supplements (exclusive of the salaries of the Commission).
Section 2. The sum of $4,800. is appropriated to the Commission for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1953 and a like sum of $4,800 is appropriated to the Commission for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1954, for the payment of the salaries of the two Commissioners. The additional sum of $12,500, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated to the Commission to be used in connection with the contract herein referred to, and any funds not so expended by June 30, 1955 shall revert to the General Fund.
Section 3. This Act is a supplementary appropriation and the money appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the General Fund of the State of Delaware.
Approved July 10, 1953.