Section 158 — Reference to Code of Civil Procedure and other repealed enactments
The closing provision of the Code. Where any older enactment or notification refers to the repealed Codes — Act VIII of 1859 onward, or their chapters and sections — that reference is, so far as practicable, to be read as a reference to this Code, or to its corresponding Part, Order, section or rule.
How to read Section 158
What it fixes
A pre-1908 enactment or notification that cites the old law — the repealed Codes or their chapters / sections — would otherwise point to nothing.
The re-direction
That citation is read as a reference to the 1908 Code — to its corresponding Part, Order, section or rule.
The qualifier
“So far as may be practicable” — only where a sensible corresponding provision can be identified.
The bare Act
In every enactment or notification passed or issued before the commencement of this Code in which reference is made to or to any Chapter or section of Act VIII of 1859 or any Code of Civil Procedure or any Act amending the same or any other enactment hereby repealed, such reference shall, so far as may be practicable, be taken to be made to this Code or to its corresponding Part, Order, section or rule.
In short: an old cross-reference to the repealed Codes is not left dangling — it is re-read as pointing to the matching provision of the 1908 Code, wherever a match can sensibly be made.
→ § 158 is the reference-saving twin of § 157. Where § 157 keeps alive what was done under the old law, § 158 keeps meaningful what was written about it: every old citation of the repealed Codes is redirected to the corresponding place in the new Code — a Part, Order, section or rule — so far as a match exists. The two together complete the transition from the older Codes to the Code of 1908.
Key terms decoded
A citation or cross-reference in some other law or official notice to the old Code — e.g. “under section X of the Code of Civil Procedure”.
The earlier Codes (1859, 1877, 1882), their amending Acts and other now-repealed laws that the 1908 Code replaced.
Only where a corresponding provision can be sensibly identified — the redirection is not forced where there is no match.
The matching provision in the 1908 Code — whether a section in the body or an Order / rule in the First Schedule.
Old section references may now correspond to a rule in an Order — much procedural matter moved into the First Schedule in 1908.
§ 157 carries over the things done under the old law; § 158 re-reads the references made to it. Together they bridge the change of Code.
The picture — an old citation, re-pointed to the new Code
§ 158 finishes the Code on a note of continuity: nothing written about the old law is wasted — every citation is quietly redirected to the matching place in the 1908 Code, so the law reads as one connected whole.
Part by part — the one sentence
In every enactment or notification passed or issued before the commencement of this Code in which reference is made to … Act VIII of 1859 or any Code of Civil Procedure … or any other enactment hereby repealed…
Any old law or notice that cites the repealed Codes (or their chapters / sections).
…such reference shall, so far as may be practicable…
The redirection applies where a sensible match exists — not forced where the old provision has no counterpart.
…be taken to be made to this Code or to its corresponding Part, Order, section or rule.
The citation is read as pointing to the 1908 Code — to its corresponding Part, Order, section or rule.
And with that — Part XI is complete
§ 158 closes the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
Part XI — Miscellaneous (§§ 132–158) — the Code’s closing Part, in six movements:
Connected provisions
Section 158 closes Part XI’s repeals, savings & references group (§§ 154–158) — and the Code itself. It is the twin of § 157, and points forward to the rules of the First Schedule (Part X, § 121) that the redirected references now reach.