UK Statutory Instruments – Searching Tips

Here are some tips to help you find what you are looking for in the UK Statutory Instruments database on Justis.

Finding a publication reference
Browsing on the Index and Contents screen
Finding implemented Acts of Parliament
Finding amended and amending legislation
Finding SIs from a Department or Ministry

1. Finding a publication reference

To find a Statutory Instrument when you know the publication reference, you need to use the Reference field on the Search In Legislation screen. Just type the reference into the text box, and click the “Search” button. The SI will be displayed on the DOCUMENT tab.

Publication reference formats for Statutory Instruments.

Publication reference formats for Scottish Statutory Instruments.

Publication reference formats for Welsh Statutory Instruments.

Publication reference formats for Statutory Rules and Orders.

In the short formats, the three elements can be separated by space, hyphen or slash. Alphabetic characters can be upper or lower case. Abbreviations can include full stops, but they are not necessary.

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2. Browsing on the Index and Contents screen

You can find Statutory Instruments without searching and without knowing the publication reference, by using the Index and Contents screen.

You can select a year, and then view the list of SIs on the Results screen. Click the title of the SI that you want to see, and it will be displayed for you on the Document screen.

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3. Finding implemented Acts of Parliament

Many Statutory Instruments are designed to bring into force all or part of an Act of Parliament. The name of this Act may be found in the Enabling Act field, or in the Title field, or in the Preamble field, or elsewhere in the document.

Enabling power: Value Added Tax Act 1994, s. 33 (3). -

The Police Act 1997 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) Order 1998

The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 144 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980(1) and sections 20(6) and 65(1) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999(2), after consultation with the Rule Committee appointed under the said section 144, hereby makes the following Rules:

For Acts published in or before 1999, use a query that combines the Enabling Act field with a Full Text search for the name of the Act plus either “commencement” or “appointed”. For example, you could use the following search, substituting the name of an appropriate Act.

For Acts published in 2000 or later, there is no point in searching the Enabling Act field, and so a simpler search can be used:

If you have access to the UK Statutes database, then you can see the full text of the Act or section that is cited in an SI:

select the title (e.g. Value Added Tax Act 1994, s. 33) by dragging slowly over it with your mouse;
click “J-Link” in the Document Actions panel.

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4. Finding amended and amending legislation

Justis gives you access to lists of implemented Acts and of Statutory Instruments that either amend or are amended by the Statutory Instrument you are viewing on the Document screen. Click the green JustCite tabs, and then click the documents that you would like to view.

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5. Finding SIs from a Department or Ministry

The Signed field is the most useful field for restricting a search to a particular Department or Ministry:

You can use the Year field to restrict your search to a year or a range of years in which the SI was Made.