The Police Act, 1861, still requires a policeman to take off his cap or helmet before a member of royalty. A ridiculous provision that nobody has thought of removing so far.

The Indian Contract Act and the Specific Relief Act, 1963 have overlapping areas, leaving enough room for confusion. A person sacked from a job may decide to sue his employer under the Indian Contract Act, while the employer may take refuge under the Specific Relief Act.

Section 108 of the Customs Act and Section 171A of the Sea Customs Act are identical, offering a wide choice to both trigger-happy enforcement people and offenders looking for a loophole to slip through.

The Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act, 1976, a variant of COFEPOSA, whose sole objective is to forfeit illegally acquired properties of smugglers or forex manipulators and applies only to those convicted under the Sea Customs Act, 1878 and Customs Act, 1962.

(b) Historical

(i) The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraph Act, 1933. Apart form being archaic to varying degrees, they also broadly overlap in jurisdiction and content. The word ‘telegraph’ embraces telephone and radio and gives the Center exclusive rights to license private parties to establish the telegraph for their own or private use. Most of these provisions have become outdated after the Telecom Policy of 1994 and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Ordinance, 1996.