Statutory Materials
Introduction
Acts passed in Parliament comprise statute or enacted law, whereas the interpretation of these acts by the judiciary is known as case law. This guide only covers sources of statute law for the United Kingdom.
As our statutory materials (including Internet resources) cover varying years and are scattered in different formats, check the holdings list at the end of this guide before commencing your search.
Parliament and the Process of Statutory Enactment
Before describing the various publications relating to the statutes, it may be helpful to describe the legislative process briefly and identify its originating institutions and their documentary output.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is the supreme law-making authority and is composed of the Sovereign, The House of Lords and the House of Commons. The legislative role of the Sovereign is limited to ceremonial duties, such as summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament and giving Royal Assent to bills passed by Parliament. The tasks of initiating, revising, examining and debating legislation devolve on the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
As of May 2010, the Lords number around 740 Peers and Peeresses, Archbishops and senior diocesan Bishops of the Church of England. Until the beginning of this century, the House of Lords could reject legislation submitted to it by the House of Commons, but these powers were considerably reduced by the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. The acts stipulate that the Lords cannot veto legislation but have the power to delay its passage by thirteen months.
Political authority rests in the House of Commons whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage. Since 1945, its composition has varied from 625 to 659 members, and has numbered around 645 after the 2005 and 2010 elections. In particular, effective power lies with the Government - i.e. the party that represents a majority in the Commons and so commands its assent for new legislation.
The maximum duration of a Parliament is five years, divided into 'sessions', usually of one year in length, beginning and ending most often in October or November.
| Legislative Process | Publications |
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Legislation is introduced in the form of a `bill'. There are two kinds of bills - public and private. Bills initiated by the government or an individual MP are public bills and have general applicability. Private bills originate from promoters outside Parliament, such as, local authorities, commercial organizations, charitable bodies and even individuals who are seeking legal privileges applicable only to them. |
Publications arising from the legislative process.
See the library's holdings of these publications, and click these links (A, B, C) for equivalents on the Web. |
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First Reading: A public bill passes through three readings in each House. Most bills commence in the Commons but less controversial bills are presented in the Lords. (If a bill starts in the Lords, the Lords stages are taken first.) At first reading, the bill is announced, printed and assigned a number. There is no debate at this stage. |
Texts of first reading bills are in the Sessional Papers of the House of Commons or the House of Lords (depending on which House the bill is the introduced) |
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Second Reading: Debate on the principle of the bill begins. If it passes second reading, it is referred to a Joint, Select, or in most cases, a Standing Committee. |
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), House of Commons/House of Lords. |
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Committee Stage: Thorough clause by clause examination of the bill. It is reprinted as amended in Standing Committee after which a further debate, known as the Report Stage, may take place in the House. |
Standing Committee Amendments and Minutes of Proceedings are in the Sessional Papers, House of Commons/ House of Lords. |
| Third Reading: Final debate on the bill. | Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), House of Commons/House of Lords. |
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The bill is then referred to the Lords (or Commons, depending on the originating House), where it goes through the same procedure. Both Houses must agree to the same text of a bill, so amendments introduced in the second House are either accepted in the originating House, or if rejected, sent back or amended, until agreement is reached. With each amended version, the bill receives a new number. |
First reading texts and their amended versions are all brought together in the Sessional Papers, House of Commons/House of Lords. |
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The entire process takes several months and must be completed within the parliamentary session or else the bill will lapse. Few bills emerge from this procedural gauntlet as statutes. Once a bill has been passed by both Houses, it receives Royal Assent and becomes an Act of Parliament. The bill number is no longer used and is replaced by a 'chapter' number. |
A bill's procedural stages are recorded in the Journals of the House of Commons/ House of Lords.
Statutes are printed in the annual volumes of the Public General Acts... |
| The law-making process continues after an act receives Royal Assent. Parliament confers on government departments the power to amend or repeal sections of an act. A document by which that power is exercised is known as a 'statutory instrument'. | Statutory Instruments |
Citation of Acts
According to "The Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Act 1962", acts are cited by their short title, date and chapter number, eg. "Protection of Aircraft Act 1973, c. 47".
Acts prior to 1963 should include the regnal year(s) in their citation. The act cited below was passed in a parliamentary session that spanned the second and third years since Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the Throne: "Trustee Savings Banks Act 1954, 2 & 3 Eliz.2 c. 74". For a list of regnal years, consult John Pemberton's British Official Publications, pages 120-125, (REF. J 301 A1 P46 1973).
Statutory Publications
The Public General Acts and General Synod Measures...
QEII Bookstacks KD 124 G74 (1801-9, 1819-26, 1829-32, 1867-86, 1888-1976, 1978- )
Acts are collected in the annual volumes of The Public General Acts. Local and Personal Acts (resulting from successful private bills) are not included but their short-titles are noted. The acts are organized chronologically with alphabetical and chronological tables of contents at the beginning of each volume. An index at the end of each volume allows for specific access to sections of an act.
The concluding volume contains a table of derivations and destinations of any Consolidation Acts (a combination of two or more acts in one), and a table of the effect of legislation. Since 1976, these have appeared in a separate Tables and Index volume. An act not only adds to existing legislation but can also amend or repeal previous acts. Thus, the table of derivations indicates the origin of every section of a new Consolidation Act; the destinations list all sections of the originating acts and show where they are located in the new act. The table on the effect of legislation arranges in chronological order those acts and measures repealed, amended or otherwise affected by the year's acts and statutory instruments. Finally, the table of textual amendments (introduced in 1976), indicates the change of wording for all acts and measures amended or partially repealed during the year.
Since acts are frequently altered by subsequent legislation, an updating service is essential for a current, accurate record of the law. Owing to limited enquiries about recent British legislation, we do not subscribe to these publications but rely instead on the annual editions of the Public General Acts.
European Communities Legislation
Since Britain is a member state of the European Community (E.C.), a large body of Community legislation has the force of law in the United Kingdom. While the Library does not hold E.C. legislation in print format, it can be accessed on the web at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm
Historical Collections of Statutes
The Statutes at large, from Magna Carta to the end of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761. Edited by Danby Pickering. 24 vols. (Continued from 1761 to 1806 in vols. 25-46.) 1762-1807.
MICRO FICHE 1124 (4 X 6)
This is an abridged version of the statutes and only includes legislation in force at the time of publication. Years of coverage are noted on the fiche headers in the top left corner. The first fiche card for each volume contains a table of contents of all private and public statutes passed during each parliamentary session. The texts of private acts are omitted but their titles are noted. The Interregnum years (1649-1660) are not covered either.
Volume 24 contains a cumulative index to the years 1225-1761 and volume 38 covers the years 1760-1792. There is no cumulative coverage for 1793-1806, but a separate index is included at the end of each volume. Since the volume numbers do not appear on the fiche readers, they have been pencilled on the fiche envelopes.
Until the late fifteenth century, acts appear in French or Latin text. In such cases, the text is given in the original language with a translation into English.
The Statutes of the Realm. Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third... From Original Records and Authentic Manuscripts. [1225-1713].
11 vols. 1810-1828.
MICRO FICHE 1125 (3 X 5)
In 1800, a Record Commission was appointed to prepare a historically accurate edition of the early statutes. This daunting task involved the location and careful evaluation of all diverse original and secondary sources pertaining to the statutes. The detailed, scholarly introductions to each volume attest to this tour de force and are indispensable to a student of the statutory record.
The years covered by the volumes in this set are listed below as they do not appear on the microfiche headers:
- Vol. 1 - 1225-1376/7
- Vol. 2 - 1377-1503/4
- Vol. 3 - 1509/10-1545
- Vol. 4 - 1547-1624
- Vol. 5 - 1625-1680
- Vol. 6 - 1685-1694
- Vol. 7 - 1695/6-1701
- Vol. 8 - 1702-1707
- Vol. 9 - 1708-1713
- Vol. 10 - Alphabetical index
- (The Interregnum, 1649-1660, is not included) Vol. 11 - Chronological Index
Each volume contains an introductory chronological table and a concluding index in addition to separate alphabetical and chronological indexes in volumes 10 and 11 respectively. In the chronological index, statutes are grouped by subject and then sub-divided chronologically with a concise statement of their contents.
Public General Acts, 1801 - 1922 1985 MICRO FICHE 4928 (4 X 6)
As explained in its introduction, various collected editions of the statutes -- such as the Pickering set described above -- claim to provide the statutes "at large", i.e. unabridged. However, they are frequently abridged and do not include repealed or obsolete legislation. This set from Harvester Microform reproduces the official King's/Queen's Printer's copies that contain the authoritative, unannotated versions of bills as passed by Parliament.
The first fiche card for each parliamentary session contains a table of contents of all public and private statutes enacted in that session, followed by the text of the former only. Helpful featues contained in the initial fiche card include a list indicating the number of acts enacted in each parliamentary session from 1801-1922 along with its corresponding regnal and calendar years. All microfiche headers identify the monarch, regnal year, parliamentary session and chapter numbers of the acts contained in the fiche card. However, some fiche contain incorrect chapter designations. Alphabetical subject indexes for each session are also provided, but there is no cumulative index.
Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642 - 1660. Collected and edited by C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait. 3 vols. 1911.
NFLD. MICRO FILM 119
The Laws of England being a complete statement of the whole law of England. The Right Honourable the Earl of Halsbury...and other lawyers. 43 vols. 3rd edition (1952-1964).
KD 532 L29
Although this is not a collection of statutes, it has been included here for its informative analysis of statutory law. Earlier editions (1907-1942) are in offsite storage.
The stated aim of this work is to present a concise and complete statement of the law, as it then existed, in an easily acceptable form. This goal is accomplished by a series of articles on every branch of the law, arranged alphabetically under subject headings.
Listed below are a few more retrospective collections in the QE II Library:
Ancient Laws of Ireland . . . 6 vols. 1865-1901.
DA 933 I6 (offsite storage)
The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. Edited and translated by F. L. Attenborough, 1963.
KD 543 G74 1963 QEII Bookstacks
A Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language . . . to which are added the Laws of William the Conqueror . . . Robert Kelham, 1779. Republished in facsimile in 1978.
PC 2891 K35 1978 QEII Reference
Finding Aids to the Statutes
Chronological Table of the Statutes . . .
KD 142 .3 C5 QEII Reference
The table lists public and private acts in chronological order from 1235 to the present (roughly two years ago), and also identifies the subsequent legislation that amended or repealed them. Acts wholly or partly in force appear in bold type; repealed and expired acts in italic type. Chronological tables of the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Church Assembly and General Synod Measures and Local and Personal Acts are also included in separate sections.
Index to the Statutes. . .
KD 142 .4 G74 (2 vols.) QEII Reference
The index only covers statutes in force from 1235 to 1990.
Websites
EUR-LEX: access to European Union Law
Legislation
Provides all the Public Acts from 1988 onwards and some acts from 1837-1987 in PDF. Local Acts from 1991, and Statutory Instruments from 1987 to the present. Also includes legislation for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The UK Statutes Law Database
Provides the official revised version of UK statutes as they existed from February 1, 1991 and Northern Ireland statutes as they stood from January 1, 2006. All legislation on SLD in revised form has been updated at least to the end of 2001, but most is up-to-date to the present. Revision is on-going. For pre-1991 legislation held and revised on SLD, the earliest version is the revised text as it existed at the base date of February 1, 1991. Any statutes wholly repealed before the base date are not carried. Church of England Measures, Scottish and Welsh legislation are also held on SLD and revised.