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Locating British Statutes

Sources for current and historical statutes from the United Kingdom, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland

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

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Current UK Statutes

Statutes 1800 to present

Statutes Before 1800

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.