Library Guides: Locating British Statutes: Home

Introduction

This guide lists the most comprehensive sources for current and historical British statutes.

British acts are not codified, and are located and cited by the name of the act.

Historical British statutes are also available in other sources: LLMC Digital, Hathi Trust, the Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, the Internet Archive, and the British Library.

History of Parliamentary Bills

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) This link opens in a new window
Also available: House of Lords Papers 1714-1805. Bills and Acts 1695-2004.
House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.

Hansard - Official Report of Parliamentary Debates
Debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords from 1803 to the present.

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Current UK Statutes

Legislation.uk.gov This link opens in a new window
Official text of statutes enacted since 1988, and earlier laws, unless repealed before 1991. Both original acts and consolidated acts (updated to reflect amendments and repeals) are available. Includes laws applying to England and Wales, the UK, local laws applying to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and acts of the Welsh National Assembly and the Scottish Parliament.
BAILII: British and Irish Legal Information Institute This link opens in a new window
Contains full text of statutes from Legislation.gov.uk. Acts from 1215 to 1900 reflect amendments and repeals through 1901. Acts from 1901 are the original acts, but there is a link to the current version in Legislation.gov.uk.
Cases from the courts of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Ireland; tribunal decisions, statutes, law reform commission reports, and statutory instruments (regulations). Cases from the English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1873). Cases from the European Union's Court of Justice and Court of First Instance, and from the European Court of Human Rights.

United Kingdom Statutes & Legislation on Lexis Advance
All statutes and statutory instruments (regulations) in force.
UK Statutes on Westlaw
All statutes and statutory instruments in force.

Chronological Table of the Statutes
Call Number: K2017.C5
Publication Date: 1949-
Gives the status over every statute enacted since 1235, showing amending and repealing acts.
Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales 4th ed.
Call Number: K2016.C844 South Annex
Publication Date: 1985-2016
Not updated after 2016; Current statutes and annotations are available on Lexis Library.

Statutes 1800 to present

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) This link opens in a new window
Includes Bills and Acts 1695-2004. Look under Advanced Search tab.
House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.

Public General Acts
Call Number: K 2011
Library has from 1866 forward. From 1866-1883, issued as part of the Law Reports.

Public General Acts (Hein Online)
Covers 1866-1966.
Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with Notes, (Hein Online)
Covers 1801 to 1869.

The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Call Number: K2016.P51
Publication Date: 1807-69
Continues Pickering's Statutes at Large from 1807 to 1869.

Statutes Before 1800

The statutes at large from the Magna Charta, to the end of the eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, anno 1761 [continued to 1806]. . by Danby Pickering
Call Number: K2016.P5
Publication Date: 1762-1807

Statutes of the Realm (Hein Online)
The authoritative source for statutes from 1235 to 1713. Includes English translations of Old English and Latin texts.

Statutes of the Realm
Call Number: f 2010.A2 1993
Publication Date: 1993
Reprint. Originally published: London : G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1810-1828.

Many laws from the 16th-18th centuries were published as slip laws, pamphlets, or broadsides, and have been reproduced as part of collections such as Early English Books Online or Eighteenth Century Collections Online. These pamphlets are listed in the Library Catalog.

Many statutes enacted before 1235 have not been published in modern English translation, and many exist only in manuscript form.