UK Statutes – Reference Field

The Reference field in the UK Statutes database on Justis contains the chapter number that is assigned to each Act. You can search for the chapter number, or for an individual section or schedule.

Since the Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Act 1962, each Act has been given a Chapter Number in the calendar year in which it was passed. The numbers start from 1 each year. For example:

1989 CHAPTER 41

Prior to the 1962 Act, years were numbered according to the year(s) of the sovereign’s reign covering the session of Parliament in which the Act was passed. For example:

1957 (5 & 6 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 28

The Reference field also contains the numbers used for General Synod Measures, which do not have chapter numbers. These are displayed with the year. For example:

1964 No. 8

To find a particular Act or Measure, you can search for the number and year using the Reference field on the Search In Legislation screen:

Reference[1964 c. 8]

Reference[1964 No. 8]

To display a list of all of the Acts for a particular year, exclude the references for sections and schedules:

This field is not present on the Outline.

Publication Reference Formats

A complete and current list of formats that are recognised by J-Link and can be used in the Reference field is available in the Support section of the Justis website. The items include:

Other fields in UK Statutes