LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - As at 7 December 2007 - Act 28 of 1944 TABLE OF PROVISIONS TABLE OF PROVISIONS PART 1 - PRELIMINARY 1. Name of Act PART 2 - SURVIVAL OF CAUSES OF ACTION AFTER DEATH 2. Effect of death on certain causes of action 3. Repeal of Act does not affect operation of savings and transitional provision PART 3 - (Repealed) None LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - LONG TITLE An Act to amend the law with respect to the effect of death in relation to causes of action; to amend the law in relation to actions for the recovery of damages; and for purposes connected therewith. LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - SECT 1 Name of Act 1 Name of Act (1) This Act may be cited as the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944. LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - SECT 2 Effect of death on certain causes of action 2 Effect of death on certain causes of action (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, on the death of any person after the commencement of this Act all causes of action subsisting against or vested in the person shall survive against, or, as the case may be, for the benefit of, the person’s estate: Provided that this subsection shall not apply to causes of action for defamation or seduction or for inducing one spouse to leave or remain apart from the other or to claims under Division 2 of Part 3 of the Property (Relationships) Act 1984. (2) Where a cause of action survives as aforesaid for the benefit of the estate of a deceased person, the damages recoverable for the benefit of the estate of that person: (a) shall not include: (i) any exemplary damages, or (ii) any damages for the loss of the capacity of the person to earn, or for the loss of future probable earnings of the person, during such time after the person’s death as the person would have survived but for the act or omission which gives rise to the cause of action, (b) in the case of a breach of promise to marry shall be limited to such damage, if any, to the estate of that person as flows from the breach of promise to marry, (c) where the death of that person has been caused by the act or omission which gives rise to the cause of action, shall be calculated without reference to any loss or gain to the person’s estate consequent on the person’s death, except that a sum in respect of funeral expenses may be included, (d) where the death of that person has been caused by the act or omission which gives rise to the cause of action, shall not include any damages for the pain or suffering of that person or for any bodily or mental harm suffered by the person or for the curtailment of the person’s expectation of life. (4) Where damage has been suffered by reason of any act or omission in respect of which a cause of action would have subsisted against any person if that person had not died before or at the same time as the damage was suffered, there shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Part, to have been subsisting against the person before the person’s death such cause of action in respect of that act or omission as would have subsisted if the person had died after the damage was suffered. (5) The rights conferred by this Part for the benefit of the estates of deceased persons shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any rights conferred on the dependants of deceased persons by the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897, as amended by subsequent Acts, and so much of this Part as relates to causes of action against the estates of deceased persons shall apply in relation to causes of action under the said Act as so amended as it applies in relation to other causes of action not expressly excepted from the operation of subsection (1). (6) The rights conferred by this Part for the benefit of the estates of deceased persons and the obligations continued or created by this Part against the estates of deceased persons shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any rights conferred or obligations created by or under the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act 1942 or the Transport Accidents Compensation Act 1987 or the Motor Accidents Act 1988. (7) This section has effect subject to section 12B of the Dust Diseases Tribunal Act 1989. LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - SECT 3 Repeal of Act does not affect operation of savings and transitional provision 3 Repeal of Act does not affect operation of savings and transitional provision (1) Despite the repeal of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (De Facto Relationships) Amendment Act 1984, section 4 of that Act continues to have effect and is taken to have been transferred to this Act. (2) Section 4 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (De Facto Relationships) Amendment Act 1984 is a transferred provision to which section 30A of the Interpretation Act 1987 applies. LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - NOTES Reprint history (since 1972): Reprint No 1 11 October 1974 Reprint No 2 30 January 1979 Reprint No 3 16 September 1982 Reprint No 4 25 January 1990 Reprint No 5 4 November 2003 LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1944 - NOTES Historical notes The following abbreviations are used in the Historical notes: ______________________________________________________________ |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| |______________________________________________________________| See also Limitation Act 1969, secs 57–62; and Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 1982, sec 3. Table of amending instrumentsLaw Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944 No 28. Assented to 8.12.1944. This Act has been amended as follows: _____________________________________________________________________________ | | |Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) and Law Reform | | | |(Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 1962. Assented to | |1962|No 42 |14.12.1962. | | | | | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Limitation Act 1969. Assented to 9.4.1969. | |1969|No 31 | | | | |Date of commencement, 1.1.1971, sec 1 (2) and GG No 106 of | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Supreme Court Act | | | |1970. Assented to 14.10.1970. | |1970|No 52 | | | | |Date of commencement, Part 9 excepted, 1.7.1972, sec 2 (1) and GG| |_____________________________________________________________________________| |1978|No 4 |Law Reform (Nervous Shock) | |_____________________________________________________________________________| |1982|No 4 |Law Reform (Miscellaneous | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (De Facto Relationships) | | | |Amendment Act 1984. Assented to 10.12.1984. | |1984|No 150| | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 1, 1.7.1985, sec 2 (2) and GG No 98 | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Miscellaneous Acts (Transport Accidents Compensation) Amendment | | | |Act 1987. Assented to 12.6.1987. | |1987|No 102| | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 1, except as provided by sec 2 (3), | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Miscellaneous Acts (Motor Accidents) Amendment Act | | | |1988. Assented to 21.12.1988. | |1988|No 103| | | | |Date of commencement of the provisions of Sch 1 relating to the | | | |Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944, 1.7.1989, sec 2 | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (No 3) | | | |1988. Assented to 30.12.1988. | | |No 131| | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 29, except as provided by sec 2 (4), | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1996. Assented to | |1996|No 30 |21.6.1996. | | | | | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Dust Diseases and | | | |Other Matters) Act 1998. Assented to 26.11.1998. | |1998|No 130| | | | |Date of commencement, 1.12.1998, sec 2 and GG No 165 of | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Property (Relationships) Legislation | | | |Amendment Act 1999. Assented to 7.6.1999. | |1999|No 4 | | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 2.16, 28.6.1999, sec 2 and GG No 72 | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Civil Liability Amendment (Personal | | | |Responsibility) Act 2002. Assented to 28.11.2002. | |2002|No 92 | | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 3, 6.12.2002, sec 2 and GG No 249 of | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Civil Procedure Act | | | |2005. Assented to 1.6.2005. | |2005|No 28 | | | | |Date of commencement of Sch 5.25, 15.8.2005, sec 2 (1) and GG No | |_____________________________________________________________________________| | | |Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) | |2007|No 82 |Act (No 2) 2007. Assented to 7.12.2007. | | | | | |_____________________________________________________________________________| This Act has also been amended pursuant to an order under secs 8 (2) and 9 (3) of the Reprints Act 1972 No 48 (formerly Acts Reprinting Act 1972). Order dated 30.9.1974, and published in GG No 121 of 4.10.1974, p 3922, declaring that the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944 is an enactment to which sec 8 (2) and sec 9 (3) of the Acts Reprinting Act 1972 apply. Table of amendmentsNo reference is made to certain amendments made by the Reprints Act 1972, and Schedule 3 (amendments replacing gender-specific language) to the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1996. ___________________________________________________________________________ |___________________________________________________________________________| | |Am 1962 No 42, sec 3 (1) (a); 1969 No 31, sec 2; 1982 No 4, sec 2; | |Sec 2 |1984 No 150, Sch 1 (1); 1987 No 102, Sch 1; 1988 No 103, Sch 1; 1988| | |No 131, Sch 29; 1998 No 130, Sch 2; 1999 No 4, Sch 2.16 [1]; 2005 No| |___________________________________________________________________________| |___________________________________________________________________________| |___________________________________________________________________________| |Sec 4 |Am 1970 No 52, Second Sch; 1978 No 4, sec 2; 1984 No 150, Sch 1 (2);| |___________________________________________________________________________|