{"id":"commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917","name":"Commissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917","slug":"commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"sa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":31786,"registerId":"sa-commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917","content":"South Australia\nCommissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917\nAn Act to create the Commissioner of Public Works a body corporate.\n\nContents\n1\tShort title\n2\tIncorporation of Commissioner of Public Works\nLegislative history\n\nThe Parliament of South Australia enacts as follows:\n1—Short title\nThis Act may be cited as the Commissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917.\n2—Incorporation of Commissioner of Public Works\n\t(1)\tThe Commissioner of Public Works and his successors in office are hereby constituted a body corporate under the name of \"Commissioner of Public Works\", and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and by such name shall be capable of suing and being sued and of being a party to arbitration and of purchasing, holding, and alienating land, and of doing and suffering all such other acts and things as bodies corporate may by law do and suffer.\n\t(2)\tAll courts, Judges, and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of such seal when affixed to any instrument, and shall, until the contrary is proved, presume that the same was properly affixed thereto.\nLegislative history\nNotes\n\t•\tFor further information relating to the Act and subordinate legislation made under the Act see the Index of South Australian Statutes or www.legislation.sa.gov.au.\nPrincipal Act\nYear\nNo\nTitle\nAssent\nCommencement\n1917\n1274\nCommissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917\n25.10.1917\n25.10.1917\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Unable to assess scope change as no legislative text was accessible. Based on the Act's title, incorporation Acts of this era typically remained narrow in scope — focused solely on granting corporate legal status to a named officeholder. No evidence of scope change can be confirmed or denied."},"complexity_factors":["No actual legislative text was retrievable — the source URL returned a 404/Page Not Found error due to a website migration","Assessment is based solely on the Act's title and general knowledge of incorporation-style legislation","Acts of this type (officeholder incorporation) are typically short and straightforward in structure","The Act dates to 1917, meaning archaic drafting language may be present but the underlying concept is simple"],"plain_english_summary":"The Commissioner of Public Works Incorporation Act 1917 likely gives the South Australian Commissioner of Public Works a corporate legal identity so the office — not the individual holder — can hold property, enter contracts, and sue or be sued. It matters to anyone dealing with government construction, property or public‑works contracts because it preserves continuity across officeholders."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains exactly as enacted in 1917 — a simple, single-purpose incorporation statute. It has not expanded beyond its original intent of creating a body corporate for the Commissioner of Public Works."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 operative sections (short title and incorporation)","Zero defined terms in the interpretation section (there is none)","No cross-references to other legislation","No conditional logic or exceptions","Single straightforward purpose with no subordinate provisions","Total length under 200 words of substantive law"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis short 1917 South Australian law turns the government job of \"Commissioner of Public Works\" into a **body corporate** — essentially giving that official position the legal status of a company or legal person.\n\n**Why this matters:**\n\nBefore this Act, the Commissioner was just a government officer. That created practical problems:\n- **Couldn't own property** — land and buildings had to be held in someone else's name\n- **Couldn't sue or be sued easily** — legal disputes were messy because there was no clear legal entity to take to court\n- **Couldn't enter contracts cleanly** — agreements lacked a proper legal party on the government side\n\n**What changes:**\n\nThe Commissioner now has:\n- **Perpetual succession** — the legal entity continues even when the person holding the job changes\n- **A common seal** — an official stamp that makes documents legally binding\n- **Full corporate powers** — can buy, sell and hold land; sue and be sued; enter arbitration; and do anything else a company can legally do\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\nPrimarily the South Australian government and anyone doing business with it — contractors, landowners, and anyone in a legal dispute involving public works projects. The law makes government infrastructure dealings more straightforward by giving them a clear legal personality to deal with.\n\n**Key protection:**\n\nCourts must recognise the Commissioner's seal as genuine unless someone proves otherwise — saving time in legal proceedings."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act's scope is narrowly and clearly confined to incorporating the Commissioner of Public Works with corporate capacities and an evidentiary rule for its seal (s2(1)–(2)). The supplied legislative history lists only the 1917 principal Act with no amendments indicated, so there is no evidence in the source text that the Act's substantive scope has changed from its original purpose. The Act does not by itself allocate funding, operational powers beyond corporate capacity, or regulatory duties."},"complexity_factors":["Very short, literal statute (2 sections) that performs a single legal function: incorporation of an office (s1; s2(1)).","Grants standard corporate capacities (sue/be sued, arbitration, purchase/hold/alienate land) — significant legal effect but mechanically straightforward (s2(1)).","Creates an evidentiary presumption about the common seal that shifts the burden to challengers to prove improper affixation (s2(2)).","Ties corporate identity to the officeholder and successors rather than to a separate corporate body; governance depends on office succession rules outside this Act (s2(1)).","No financing, regulatory regime, operational duties or administrative procedures are specified — implementation and costs rely on other laws and executive practice.","Low ongoing compliance burden for third parties beyond usual contract and property due diligence, but a concrete risk of disputes over seal authenticity (s2(2)).","Legislative history shows a single principal Act dated 25.10.1917 and no amendments reported in the supplied text, reducing statutory interpretive complexity."],"plain_english_summary":"Creates the Commissioner of Public Works (and successors) as a legal entity called the “Commissioner of Public Works”, giving it perpetual succession, a common seal and the capacity to sue, be sued, enter arbitration and to buy, hold and sell land. Courts must take judicial notice of that seal unless proved otherwise. It matters to the Commissioner, anyone contracting with or litigating against the office, and courts assessing evidence and property/contract dealings."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917","history":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917/history","analysis":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/commissioner-of-public-works-incorporation-act-1917/documents"}}