Backdating is taboo in law — Hafiz Hassan

Orders in Council are a form of delegated legislation, subordinate to Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom. They are made by the King or Queen on the advice of the Privy Council and are often used to exercise the Crown's prerogative powers. While Orders in Council have the force of law within the UK, their applicability in former British colonies after independence is not automatic.

For such territories to continue to be governed by pre-independence Orders in Council, they must be explicitly adopted, saved, or re-enacted by the new nation's constitution or reception statutes. This principle was affirmed by the case of The Antelope (10 Wheaton 66, 122), where Chief Justice Marshall of the United States Supreme Court stated that no one can rightfully impose a rule on another, and each jurisdiction must legislate for itself alone.

This principle was recognized in the context of Sarawak's independence in 1963, where the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly's Interpretation Ordinance 1958 defined "written law" to include certain Orders in Council, but not Acts of Parliament nor any Order in Council, Royal Charter or Royal Letters Patent. The 1995 amendments to the Interpretation Ordinance expanded this definition to include Acts of Parliament of Malaysia and subsidiary legislation made thereunder, which are applicable to Sarawak.

However, this provision only took effect from 1995, and prior to that, Orders in Council did not continue in force in Sarawak as active law.