What is an Act?
An Act or Statute is a primary piece of legislation passed by the Parliament. Starting as a Bill, the document is discussed in both Houses of Parliament, where any amendments can be made. The Bill must be passed by both Houses before it can receive Royal Ascent and become an Act.
Statutory Instruments are subordinate or delegated legislation. They are not made through the Parliament, but are made under powers delegated by the Parliament, usually to government ministers. Statutory Instruments usually enact rules, regulations and other matters of details. The power to make secondary legislation will be set out in an Act.
Unlike in many jurisdictions which have written constitutions, the legality of primary legislation in the United Kingdom cannot be challenged in the courts (except for exceptions under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Scotland Act 1998).
Butterworths Legal Research Guide by Call Number: Law High Use KL 155 HOLBPublication Date: OUP, 2005
- Access To LawProvides an overview of online sources of UK legislation.
- Guide to Revised LegislationThe British legislation website has a Guide to Revised Legislation on legislation.gov.uk that provides an explanation of the legislative process for all jurisdictions in the UK.
Which version of an Act?
Legislation can be found in several different versions. It is important to know which version you are looking at:
- As Enacted (or Original) - the legislation as it was originally passed
- Revised - the legislation with any amendments made by subsequent legislation incorporated into the text
- Point-in-time - the legislation as it was at a particular moment in time
The UK Parliamentary System
UK Parliament provides information on the current and past business of both Houses of Parliament and their committees. It also has a wealth of general material on the parliamentary system, including factsheets on parliamentary procedure and history. You will also find details of the composition of Parliament and of the government of the day and links to official publications. Bills back to 2001 are also available here.
- UK ParliamentHansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It is available from 1988 onwards
- U.K. Parliamentary PapersUK Parliamentary Papers contains Commons and Lords sessional papers from the 18th through to the 21st centuries, with supplementary material back to 1688. The collection also includes Hansard from 1803 to 2005, Peter Cockton's Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-1900, and diplomatic and consular reports 1887-1916. The Parliamentary Papers are vital to the historical record of Britain, its former Colonies and the wider world. Contains page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing. Public Petitions to Parliament, 1833-1918: includes every petition accepted by parliament during this time, and enables the analysis of issues important to both the UK populace & Parliament.
- Hansard Digitisation ProjectHansard debates from 1803 to 2005
Find Current Legislation
- Westlaw UKWestlaw UK gives you access to vast but easily searchable databases of case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
Current legislation can be found in a number of databases:
- Legislation.gov.ukLegislation.gov.uk is the official UK government website for the publication of newly enacted legislation. It contains all legislation from 1988 and partial content pre-1988. Most types of primary legislation are held in 'revised' form, while most types of secondary legislation are held only in the form in which they were originally made (Public access).
- vLex JustisvLex Justis contains the full text of current and historical reported and unreported cases from the UK dating back to 1163 (including State Trials, Times Law Reports and the English Reports) and all UK legislation ever passed (from 1235 to the present). Irish and EU cases (including decisions from the European Court of Human Rights 1961+) are also included, as well as the International Law Reports (1902+). Cases available as printable PDF images replicating the original print.
Find historical legislation
Ancient laws (pre-1200s)
Several compilations of pre-1200 legislation exist and many can be found through the library catalogue:
- Ancient laws and institutes of England byCall Number: 345.4 ANCPublication Date: 1782-1870List of manuscripts and printed books, referred to in the various readings and notes, under the letters of the alphabet
- HeinOnlineLaws of the earliest English kings
- Select charters and other illustrations of English constitutional history byCall Number: 342.42 S932Publication Date: 1895Law 'A' copy part of the C.Wilfred Jenks memorial collection
Laws from 1235 onwards
Statutes of the Realm is the most authoritative sources for older UK legislation (see Interpretation Act 1978 (UK) s19(1)(b))
- HeinOnlineStatutes of the Realm - volumes 1-11, 1235-1713 (UniMelb access).
- British History Online- Statutes of the Realm - the full text of Statutes passed into law by the two Houses of Parliament, volumes 5-7, 1628-1701 (Public access).
- Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum - the full text of legislation passed into law during the Interregnum, 1642-1660 (Public access).
- Legislation.Gov.UKcontains an incomplete collection of acts and statutory instruments from 1267-1990. Where available, links are provided to 'as enacted' and 'revised' versions (Public access).
- vLex JustisContains full text of all Acts of Parliament in England, Wales and Scotland from 1235 to present. The data is sourced from Ruffhead's Statutes at Large up to 1866 and then from HMSO. All Acts appear as enacted, with links to amended and amending legislation (UniMelb access).
- Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineStatutes at Large (the unauthorised compilation) is also available through the Eighteenth Century Collections Online on Gale (UniMelb access).
- Westlaw UKhas United Kingdom Law In Force (UK-LIF) containing statutes (from 1267) and statutory instruments (from 1948). The legislation is reproduced in 'revised' form (UniMelb access).
Regnal Years
Prior to 1963, Acts of Parliament were numbered using the year of the sovereign’s reign in which the Act was passed, a system known as regnal years. Under the regnal year system, an Act passed early in a parliamentary session has a citation such as 5 Edw. 7, c. 9, for the ninth chapter in the session that commenced in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward 7th. It was common for a session to extend into a second regnal year, giving rise to a citation such as 8 & 9 Geo. 6, c. 4.
For a comparison table see below:
Find repealed legislation
- vLex JustisvLex Justis contains the full text of current and historical reported and unreported cases from the UK dating back to 1163 (including State Trials, Times Law Reports and the English Reports) and all UK legislation ever passed (from 1235 to the present). Irish and EU cases (including decisions from the European Court of Human Rights 1961+) are also included, as well as the International Law Reports (1902+). Cases available as printable PDF images replicating the original print.
- Westlaw UKWestlaw UK gives you access to vast but easily searchable databases of case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
- Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales byCall Number: UK ActsISBN: 0406214093Publication Date: 1989-01-01Includes separately numbered loose-leaf volumes: Current statutes service and unnumbered loose-leaf volume: Noter-up service.
"List of statutes" issued separately.
Kept up to date by revised volumes and supplements which also update Halsbury's statutes of England, 3rd ed.
Includes indexes. - Chronological table of the statutesCall Number: UK ActsISBN: 01402005The Chronological Table of Statutes is also available through The Making of Modern Law (UniMelb access).
- Although no longer updated, may also provided information on repealed legislation
Obsolete and spent acts can be repealed through Statute Law Revision Acts, see below:
- Statute Law Revision ActWikipedia's List of further Obsolete Acts
Find Parliamentary Papers
The Library has substantial holdings of British Government publications including House of Commons Debates, House of Lords Debates, Parliamentary Papers, and Command Papers.
This material is on the library catalogue, and is mainly located in the
- Government Documents Collection and
- in Special Collections in the Baillieu Library.
- A extensive guide to parliamentary papers has been written by librarians at the Bodleian Law Library.
- The House of Commons Information Office has produced a factsheet on Command Papers.
- Guide to Parliamentary PapersA extensive guide to parliamentary papers has been written by librarians at the Bodleian Law Library.
- Command PapersThe House of Commons Information Office has produced a factsheet on Command Papers.
Other databases also include relevant documents:
- House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (ProQuest)HCPP contains House of Commons sessional papers from the 18th through to the 21st centuries, with supplementary material back to 1688. The collection also includes Hansard from 1803 to 2005, Peter Cockton's Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-1900, and diplomatic and consular reports 1887-1916. The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers are vital to the historical record of Britain, its former Colonies and the wider world. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.
- British History OnlineBritish History Online contains primary and secondary sources for the history of the British Isles. You can find a diverse range of sources here, such as: nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps; journals of the House of Lords and House of Commons; the Victoria County History of the counties of England; the Survey of London from English Heritage; calendars of state papers; letters, diaries and more. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
- State Papers Online: Early Modern Government in Britain and EuropeState Papers Online is a collection of English government documents originating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the King or Queen acted as Prime Minister as well as Monarch. The papers feature the office archives and correspondence of the secretaries of state serving the Monarch as facsimile manuscript documents accessed directly or via the fully searchable Calendar entries (abstracts or transcriptions). This is augmented by State Papers Online 18th Century, 1714-1782.
- Official DocumentsOfficial Documents contains Command Papers, House of Commons Papers and other government papers (Public access).
Find Popular Names for Legislation
Craies on Statute Law by
A list of the popular names of legislation passed up to the late 19th century published in an appendix
Call Number: KL 36 A1 CRAIISBN: 0421145102Publication Date: 1971
- Legislation Named for a Person A brief list of legislation named for a person is also available through Wikipedia.
Find Bills and Explanatory Notes
A Bill is a draft law; it becomes an Act if it is approved by a majority in the House of Commons and House of Lords, and formally agreed to by the reigning monarch (known as Royal Assent). See this guide to the passage of a bill for more information.
Current bills before the UK Parliament can be found on the UK Parliament website, as well as bills from 2001.
Explanatory Notes are created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
Explanatory Notes to current bills can be found on the UK Parliament website, under 'Bill documents' with the relevant bill.
Explanatory Notes to assented legislation can be found on the legislation.gov.uk website, with the relevant act.