Section 51(4) and (5) of the Constitution provides that all laws made by Parliament shall be styled “Acts” and that an Act of Parliament shall come into operation on the day of its publication in the gazette or on such other day as may be specified in or under that or some other Act.

The term legislation can be used interchangeably with “Act” or “enactment” to refer to the law passed by Parliament as distinguished from the Roman Dutch Common Law, Customary Law and International Law.These terms mean exactly the same thing. The term “statute” is also frequently used although strictly speaking a statute is the physical document embodying legislation