Repeal

Repeal, act of nullifying or removing a law or constitutional amendment from the books. This can be done by legislative action in several ways—either by directly stating that a certain law is repealed (express repeal) or by passing a new law that makes clear it supercedes the previous one (repeal by implication). Sometimes legislative bodies employ both types of repeal to avoid confusion. In U.S. history, the 18th Amendment (1919) that prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages was repealed through the enactment of the 21st Amendment (1933).