Guide to finding Acts of Parliament created by Leeds Beckett University Library

1. Academic Librarians for Law
Leeds Beckett University
parkin.park@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
The Library: Finding Acts of
Parliament

2. It will cover:
• How to decipher a citation for an Act of Parliament
• How to find the most recent version of an Act of
Parliament in the Library
• How to find the most recent version of an Act online
• How to find extra information you can get about Acts
• How to access different sources of legislation and why
you might choose one over another.
This tutorial will show you how to find an
up-to date Act of Parliament, both in print
and online. You will also learn how to find
historical versions of Acts.

3. • You may see citations (or references) to Acts in reading
lists, books and other information sources. But what do
they mean?
• How do you recognise a reference to an Act as opposed
to a journal article or case report?
• It is important to recognise what kind of documents these
different sources refer to because this will determine how
you find the source.
Deciphering citations for statutes

4. • There are two ways of citing an Act of Parliament.
• Here is an informal way of citing an Act :
Human Rights Act 1998
• Many people refer to Acts in this way, with the short title
of the Act and the year it was passed.
• With this information it is very easy to find an Act of
parliament both in hard copy and online, if you are using
the right sources.
Deciphering a citation for an Act

5. • The second way to refer to an Act is with a formal
citation:
1998 c.42
• This is the formal citation for the same Act, the Human
Rights Act 1998. It includes the year the act was passed
and a chapter number. Each Act passed in every year is
given a chapter number in the order they are passed. So
the Human Rights Act is the 42nd Act to have been
passed in 1998.
Deciphering a citation for an Act

6. •Historically the formal citation made it very easy to find the
hard copy versions on Acts because many legislation
volumes were arranged chronologically and then in chapter
order. This still remains useful when looking for historical
versions of Acts, particular hard copies.
•Examples of citations to Acts:
•Companies Act 2006 or 2006 c.46
•Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 or 1991 c.65
•Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Act 1997 or 1997 c.53
Deciphering a citation for an Act

7. •Different sources provide different things, so ask yourself some
questions before you choose where to search:
•Legislation changes. Do you need historical versions or do you need
the current version with any amendments included?
•Do you need to find the sources in hard copy, for example for a
research trail assignment, or are you going to be searching online?
•Do you have access to subscription sources that can give you added
value or will you be using free websites?
•Do you want extra information, such as which parts of the Act are in
force. Or whether there are any amendments pending, or do you just
want the text of the Act?
•Do you want to be able to print off the full Act in PDF or just refer to
specific sections?
•Is it just the law in England and Wales you are interested in or are you
looking for legislation from the EU or further afield?
Questions to ask before you start searching

8. •All Acts of Parliament and secondary legislation for England and
Wales can be found in full in the Library. Look in the Statutes
section within the print Law Collection for:
•Law Reports: Statutes 1866-1997
•Current Law Statutes 1958 onwards
•Remember, legislation changes over time so it is important to
find the most recent version of any Act – unless of course you
are specifically looking for the law as it was at an earlier time.
•Once printed, the volumes stay the same and are not replaced
with new editions, so you can get the original version of an Act.
This is useful for research, but not if you need an up-to-date
source.
Finding an Act in a hard copy

9. •In hard copy, Halsbury’s Statutes are the source to use for up
to date text of Acts. Some hard copy sources go out of date
quickly, but this one is updated when legislation changes.
•The Acts are arranged into volumes by subject.
•Each volume is updated with the latest versions of Acts, but only
when there is enough change within a volume to warrant
publishing a whole new volume (around every three years).
•You can also use another Halsbury’s source called Halsbury’s
Is it in force?, to check the status of Acts.
** The Library does not hold Halsbury’s in print, however it holds
Halsbury’s Statutes, Halsbury’s Laws and Halsbury’s Is it in force?
online, via LexisLibrary.
Halsbury’s statutes

10. •All Acts from England and Wales can be found online.
•There are various online sources that provide access to different
information.
•We will have a look as some of these; the tables show what
each resource provides when researching Acts.
Finding an Act online

15. 1. Search Westlaw for the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
2. Browse through the act and locate the email and print
functions.
3. Look at the overview document that Westlaw gives you about
the Act.
4. Think about when and why the information there may be useful.
5. Look at the general materials document. What different kinds of
information are you referred to here?
6. Think about when and why the information there may be useful.
7. Try searching for the same act using one of the print sources in
the Law Collection. Explore the differences between these and
the online versions.
Next steps…