TITLE 1

General Provisions

CHAPTER 2. Continuous Code Revision

Subchapter II. Preparation of Supplements and Code

§ 210. Duties and powers of Revisors.

(a) At the close of each regular, annual session of the General Assembly, the Revisors shall prepare or cause to be prepared supplements to the Delaware Code and all other general and permanent laws which have become law since the publication of the last supplements, noting the sections that have been repealed, generally updating the Code and including, in the discretion of the Revisors, updated annotations of court decisions. The supplements are to be completed and delivered to the State not later than 6 months after the close of such legislative session.

(b) From time to time, after consultation with the Legislative Council, the Revisors shall prepare or cause to be prepared a revised, recompiled, or revised and recompiled Delaware Code, or replacement or supplemental volume or volumes thereof, which may, in the discretion of the Revisors, include updated annotations of court decisions.

(c) The Revisors may make and enter into all contracts and agreements, and execute, acknowledge and deliver all instruments and assurances, necessary or incidental to the performance of their duties and the execution of their duties and powers under this chapter.

(d) The Revisors may sue and be sued in their own name.

(e) The Revisors shall annually publish or cause to be published the Rules and, 6 months later, shall publish or cause to be published supplements to the Rules. The Revisors shall consult with the state and federal courts of Delaware in publishing or causing to be published the Rules and Rules supplements. The Revisors may include annotations of court decisions and other aides in the Rules and Rules supplements.

1 Del. C. 1953, §  210;  49 Del. Laws, c. 34758 Del. Laws, c. 253, §  358 Del. Laws, c. 581, §  260 Del. Laws, c. 295, §  179 Del. Laws, c. 387, §  2

§ 211. Scope of editorial revision; omissions.

(a) In performing their duties and powers under § 210 of this title, the Revisors shall not alter the sense, meaning or effect of any act of the General Assembly but they may:

(1) Renumber and rearrange sections or parts of sections;

(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 uniformity;

(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 Revisors 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.

(c) (1) The Revisors shall use gender silent techniques to ensure that masculine and feminine pronouns are not used and shall ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation occurs only when it applies to 1 gender.

(2) The Revisors shall apply paragraph (c)(1) of this section to all laws enacted on or after May 31, 2023, and may apply paragraph (c)(1) of this section to laws enacted before May 31, 2023.

(3) If the Revisors cannot determine how to apply paragraph (c)(1) of this section to masculine and feminine pronouns used in a law, the Revisors shall report this to the Director of the Division of Research for possible correction through the legislative process.

(4) “Gender silent techniques” include substituting the nouns to which the masculine and feminine pronouns refer.

1 Del. C. 1953, §  211;  49 Del. Laws, c. 34758 Del. Laws, c. 253, §  458 Del. Laws, c. 581, §  370 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  184 Del. Laws, c. 42, § 1

§ 212. Bids; contract.

The Revisors shall, after consultation with the Legislative Council, upon such specifications and conditions as they shall determine, duly and sufficiently advertise for bids for the compilation, revision, annotation, printing and binding of the Code supplements and the revised or recompiled Delaware Code, along with the Rules and Rules supplements, and shall award a contract for such work to the lowest and best legal publisher of recognized standing as such. The contract for Code supplements may, in the discretion of the Revisors, cover the Code supplements for 1 or more of the sessions of the General Assembly.

1 Del. C. 1953, §  212;  49 Del. Laws, c. 34752 Del. Laws, c. 22058 Del. Laws, c. 253, §§  4, 558 Del. Laws, c. 581, §  479 Del. Laws, c. 387, §  2

§ 213. Number of Code supplements, Rules, and Rules supplements; sale rights.

The Revisors shall consult with Legislative Council to determine the number of Code supplements, Rules, and Rules supplements to be printed and delivered to the State by the publisher each year. The Revisors are authorized in awarding the contract for the printing of the Code supplements, Rules, and Rules supplements, to grant the publisher such sales rights as in the judgment of the Revisors would be advantageous to the State.

1 Del. C. 1953, §  213;  49 Del. Laws, c. 34758 Del. Laws, c. 253, §§  4, 679 Del. Laws, c. 387, §  2