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Obrogation

Modification or repeal of a law implicit in a later law

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
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Source updated October 26, 2025

In civil law, obrogation (Latin: obrogat from obrogare) is the modification or repeal of a law in whole or in part by issuing a new law.

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, obrogation is the enacting of a contrary law that is a revocation of a previous law; it may also be the partial cancellation or amendment of a law, decree, or legal regulation by the imposition of a newer one.

01Catholic Church

The 1983 Code of Canon Law governs here in canon 53:

If decrees are contrary one to another, where specific matters are expressed, the specific prevails over the general; if both are equally specific or equally general, the one later in time obrogates the earlier insofar as it is contrary to it.

This canon incorporates Rule 34 in VI of the Regulae Iuris: "Generi per speciem derogatur" or "The specific derogates from the general."

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Repeal

A repeal is a removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law with an updated, amended, or otherwise related law, or a repeal without replacement so as to abolish its provisions altogether.

Conflict of laws

Conflict of laws, also known as private international law, is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad topics: jurisdiction, rules regarding when it is appropriate for a court to hear such a case; foreign judgments, dealing with the rules by which a court in one jurisdiction mandates compliance with a ruling of a court in another jurisdiction; and choice of law, which addresses the question of which substantive laws will be applied in such a case.

Implied repeal

The doctrine of implied repeal is a concept in constitutional theory which states that where an act of Parliament or an act of Congress conflicts with an earlier one, the later Act takes precedence and the conflicting parts of the earlier Act become legally inoperable. This doctrine is expressed in the Latin phrases leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant (later laws abrogate earlier, conflicting laws) and lex posterior derogat priori (a later law repeals an earlier one).