Legislation
| Author | Emily Allbon/Ian Hunter/Peter Clinch |
| Pages | 47-91 |
Chapter 5
Legislation
5.1 INTRODUCTION
To ensure you get the best from this chapter, check that you know the type of information you are trying to find.
Are you looking for:
(1) a particular piece of legislation the title or citation you know?; or
(2) legislation in a practice area, or on a topic or subject, the particular titles or citations you do not yet know?
If (1), decide whether you wish to find:
• an unconsolidated version of the legislation, that is, without subsequent amendments or repeals or revocations noted;
• the consolidated version;
• a summary; or
• revoked legislation.
Publications and databases in most sections of this chapter, apart from those on international law, are discussed under those four headings. In addition, databases which permit searching for historical versions of the text as at a user-specified date are highlighted.
Details of how to cite each type of legislation are given at the end of each section.
If (2), a practice area, topic or subject search, do not use the commercial full-text online databases, for they usually search every word in the legislation library and the results will contain every mention of the search word or phrase, both significant and insignificant. Better to refine your search using the controlled listing of subject words (that is, indexes where only significant mentions of the keyword are listed) in the subject indexes to publications such as:
48 Legal Research: A Practitioner’s Handbook
• Encyclopedia of European Union Law: Constitutional texts (see section 5.6.2, below);
• Encyclopedia of European Community Law: Community secondary legislation (see section 5.6.2, below);
• Halsbury’s Statutes of England (covering England and Wales) (see section 5.2.1, below);
• Halsbury’s Statutory Instruments (covering England and Wales) (see section 5.2.3, below);
• Parliament House Book (Scotland) (see section 5.4.1, below).
If a commercial database is used for a subject search, many now have features such as predictive text or the ability to limit the search over title only, which may help focus the search results.
Alternatively, use the keyword or subject indexes in the sources mentioned in Chapter 10 and/or a practitioner work to identify particular pieces of legislation.
Some services use an abbreviation for the title of a particular piece of legislation. A list of abbreviations most frequently used for UK legislation is found in Appendix 1.1.
To check whether legislation is in force, has been amended, repealed or revoked or the courts have interpreted the meaning of a provision, see Chapter 10.
To check for draft legislation, see section 10.2, below and Chapter 12.
5.2 UNITED KINGDOM
5.2.1 Public General Acts passed at Westminster
To check if an Act is still in force, has been amended or repealed, or if its meaning has been interpreted by the courts, see section 10.2.2, below.
Unconsolidated Acts
Loose copies of Acts published as soon as possible after Royal Assent by TSO (The Stationery Office):
Alerts to new Acts passed (it is possible to subscribe to a feed to ensure these come to your inbox automatically):
The original full text of Acts made at Westminster since 1 January 1988, with a selection from earlier years, and access to original print pdf versions:
Both Lawtel UK (subscriber-only service) and the free service British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) reproduce material from the TSO source:
Public General Acts and General Synod Measures (TSO – The Stationery Office) Annual bound volume set, not updated. These are no longer being printed.
Law Reports Statutes (Incorporated Council of Law Reporting)
Annual bound volume set reprinting the text of the Act as at Royal Assent.
Current Law Statutes (Sweet & Maxwell)
The full text of individual Acts is issued in loose pages soon after Royal Assent, together with, from the 1980s onwards, increasingly extensive annotations and commentary on the meaning and effect of the Act in general and individual sections in particular. The booklets are filed in Service Binders 1, 2 and 3. At the year end, the individual booklets are replaced by a bound volume. Unfortunately, the text of the Act and the commentary are not updated.
Knight’s Local Government Reports
From 1903 to 1990 Knight’s carried the full, unconsolidated text of Acts published each year, of relevance to local government in England and Wales.
Consolidated Acts in force now
Print sources
Many looseleaf subject specialist encyclopedias reprint the consolidated text of Acts relevant to their topic area. But the only general ‘encyclopedia’ of Acts is Halsbury’s Statutes of England.
Halsbury’s Statutes of England (LexisNexis, 4th edn, 1985)
Bound volumes and looseleaf, continuously updated (Butterworths). Partly incorporated within the Legislation library of Lexis®Library (subscriber-only service).
Purpose
Provides up-to-date versions of all Public General Acts in force in England and Wales and, in addition, provides copious commentary and notes. Public General Acts which affect only Scotland are generally omitted.
Structure
• Fifty-two Main Volumes containing an alphabetical subject-by-subject arrangement of the Public General Acts in force at the time of the publication of each volume – the date is given on the spine of each volume along with the titles of the subjects included. When the law in any Main Volume has changed considerably a ‘reissue’ volume is compiled and published to replace the original Main Volume.
• Current Statutes Service of five looseleaf volumes containing the text of recent Acts not yet included in the Main Volumes, arranged in parallel order with them – on the spine of each volume is a list of the volumes to which the updating information refers. Note that the updating information about large and complex pieces of legislation (Saving (Government Contributions) Act 2017) may sometimes be printed as covering a group of volumes (42–49(S)) not a single volume.
50 Legal Research: A Practitioner’s Handbook
• Cumulative Supplement, a single bound volume issued each year in April or May, containing details of changes which have affected both the Main Volumes and the Current Statutes Service since they were published.
• Noter-up, a single looseleaf volume containing updating information issued quarterly, bridging the gap between the compilation of the Cumulative Supplement and the present day, filed behind the Noter-up guide card or tab.
• Consolidated Index, issued annually, usually in the autumn, containing three indexes: a list in alphabetical order of the names of all statutes included in Halsbury’s Statutes, a second index arranging the statutes in chronological order and lastly a subject index (called the Consolidated Index) to the whole work.
• Consolidated Table of Statutory Instruments, a single volume issued annually, usually in the autumn.
• Consolidated Table of Cases, a single volume issued annually, usually in the summer.
• Is it in force?, a single softbound volume, issued twice a year (winter and summer), recording the exact commencement date of every section of every Public General Act since 1 January 1960, with details of the authority (such as a statutory instrument) by which it was brought into force.
• Destination Tables, a single volume issued irregularly, providing information on the origin of law now included in sections of consolidation or similar Acts passed since 1957.
• Statutes Citator, a single volume issued twice a year (winter and summer) detailing the current status (in force, amended, repealed) of every section of the 7,600 Acts which have appeared in Halsbury’s Statutes since publication began in 1929.
How to use the print publication
Halsbury’s Statutes contains a vast amount of information and can be searched in at least four different ways: to find the text of an Act, to check if a section is in force, to check the status of a section and to check the derivation of a section within a consolidation Act or similar legislation. In this chapter the instructions below focus on finding the text of an Act only. The use of Halsbury’s Statutes for the three other purposes is covered in Chapter 10.
There are three different searches in Halsbury’s Statutes which may be carried out to find the text of an Act:
(1) Searching for an Act by subject:
Table of Statutes and General Index (use the Consolidated Index (subject index) towards the back of the volume) Main Volume Halsbury’s Statutes Checklist. At the front of Current Statutes Service Binder A, to check the reissue year of the volume which is current and you should be using Cumulative Supplement Noter-up
Use the flowchart in Figure 5.1.
See below on how to use each of the parts of the publication effectively.
(2) Searching for an Act by its title:
Table of Statutes and General Index (use the Table of Statutes, the alphabetical title index at the front of the volume) Main Volume Halsbury’s Statutes Checklist. At the front of Current Statutes Service Binder A, to check the reissue year of the volume which is current and you should be using Cumulative Supplement Noter-up
Use the flowchart in Figure 5.2.
See below on how to use each of the parts of the publication effectively.
(3) Searching for the text of an Act recently given the Royal Assent:
Current Statutes Service Binder A (check the list of recent statutes at the front) appropriate Current Statutes Service binder Cumulative Supplement Noter-up
Use the flowchart in Figure 5.2.
See below on how to use each of the parts of the publication effectively.
How to use the Index to Halsbury’s Statutes effectively
Examples of different types of entry in the Consolidated (subject) Index:
family proceedings
child involved in, privacy for, 6(2) [151]
meaning Main Volume 6 part 2 at paragraph 151
mobile telephones
billing limits, 7(S),Communications 162-3
meaning Current Service Volume containing updates to Main Volume 7 at page 162-3
laundry
self operated, 25, [28]
meaning...
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