§ 25-21,162.Validity of sections.
Article 21: Special Proceedings and Actions · Last amended 1929 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Full Text of § 25-21,162
Source
Laws 1929, c. 75, § 14, p. 259; C.S.1929, § 20-21,153; R.S.1943, § 25-21,162.
Plain-English Summary
Section 25-21,162 is the Act’s severability clause, and its wording is worth reading closely. Sections 25-21,149 to 25-21,164, except sections 25-21,149 and 25-21,150, are declared independent and severable, so that the invalidity of any part or feature of them does not affect or render the rest of the Act invalid or inoperative.
Notice what that exception leaves out. Section 25-21,149, the section granting courts their basic power to declare rights, status, and legal relations, and section 25-21,150, the section identifying who may seek that kind of declaration, sit outside this severability protection. Every other section in the Act — the fiduciary provisions, the refusal-of-relief standard, the review, costs, and party rules, the uniformity and short-title sections — stands or falls on its own if a court finds part of it invalid. But the Legislature did not extend that same protection to the two sections that establish the Act’s core grant of power and its core class of claimants, leaving open the question of how deeply a defect in either of those foundational sections could reach.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean for a statute to have a severability clause?
It means that if a court finds one part invalid, the rest of the statute survives and keeps operating, instead of the whole law falling because of one defective piece.
Does this severability protection cover every section of the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act?
Which two sections are left out of the severability protection?
Why would the Legislature exclude the two foundational sections from severability?
The section does not say why; it withholds that particular protection from the sections that establish the courts’ basic declaratory power and the class of persons who may invoke it, while extending it to the rest of the Act.
If a court found part of the costs or review provisions invalid, would the whole Act fail?
No. Sections such as those on costs and review fall within the sections declared independent and severable, so a defect there would not affect the rest of the Act.