repeal
    n 1: the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation
         [syn: abrogation, repeal, annulment]
    v 1: cancel officially; "He revoked the ban on smoking"; "lift
         an embargo"; "vacate a death sentence" [syn: revoke,
         annul, lift, countermand, reverse, repeal,
         overturn, rescind, vacate]

Repeal \Re*peal"\ (r?-p?l"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Repealed
   (-p?ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Repealing.] [OF. repeler to call
   back, F. rappeler; pref. re- re- + OF. apeler, F. appeler, to
   call, L. appellare. See Appeal, and. cf. Repel.]
   1. To recall; to summon again, as persons. [Obs.]
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            The banished Bolingbroke repeals himself,
            And with uplifted arms is safe arrived. --Shak.
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   2. To recall, as a deed, will, law, or statute; to revoke; to
      rescind or abrogate by authority, as by act of the
      legislature; as, to repeal a law.
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   3. To suppress; to repel. [Obs.]
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            Whence Adam soon repealed
            The doubts that in his heart arose.   --Milton.
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   Syn: To abolish; revoke; rescind; recall; annul; abrogate;
        cancel; reverse. See Abolish.
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Repeal \Re*peal"\, n.
   1. Recall, as from exile. [Obs.]
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            The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people
            Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty
            To expel him thence.                  --Shak.
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   2. Revocation; abrogation; as, the repeal of a statute; the
      repeal of a law or a usage.
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REPEAL, legislation. The abrogation or destruction of a law by a legislative 
act. 
     2. A repeal is express; as when it is literally declared by a 
subsequent law or implied, when the new law contains provisions contrary to 
or irreconcilable with those of the former law. 
     3. A law may be repealed by implication, by an affirmative as well as 
by a negative statute, if the substance is inconsistent with the old 
statute. 1 Ham. 10: 2 Bibb, 96; Harper, 101; 4 W. C. C. R. 691. 
     4. It is a general rule that when a penal statute punishes an offence 
by a certain penalty, and a new statute is passed imposing a greater or a 
lesser penalty, for the same offence, the former statute is repealed by 
implication. 5 Pick. 168; 3 Halst. 48; 1 Stew. 506; 3 A. K. Marsh. 70; 21 
Pick. 373. See 1 Binn. 601; Bac. Ab. Statute D 7 Mass. 140. 
     5. By the common law when a statute repeals another, and afterwards the 
repealing statute is itself repealed, the first is revived. 2 Blackf. 32. In 
some states this rule has been changed, as in Ohio and Louisiana. Civ. Code 
of:Louis. art. 23. 
     6. When a law is repealed, it leaves all the civil rights of the 
parties acquired under the law unaffected. 3. L. R. 337; 4 L. R. 191; 2 
South. 689; Breese, App. 29; 2 Stew. 160. 
     7. When a penal statute is repealed or so modified as to exempt a class 
from its operation, violations committed before the repeal are also 
exempted, unless specifically reserved, or unless there have been some 
private right divested by it. 2 Dana, 330; 4 Yeates, 392; 1 Stew. 347; 5 
Rand. 657; 1 W. C. C. R. 84; 2 Virg. Cas. 382. Vide Abrogation; 18 Vin. Ab. 
118.