UK Statutes – Introduction

The UK Statutes database on Justis contains United Kingdom primary legislation dating back to the Magna Carta. The full text of the legislation (including repealed Acts) is provided as originally enacted, with references to amending legislation. The Statutes are formatted to resemble the original printed documents, including side notes.

The following types of documents are included:

Acts of Parliament (Public and General) from 1707 to the present
Acts of Parliament (Scotland) 1999 to the present
Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2000 to the present
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales from 2008 to the present
Church Assembly and General Synod Measures from 1920 to the present
Acts of the Parliament of England from 1235 to 1706

Acts prior to 1761 that are not available in Owen Ruffhead’s Statutes at Large (Magna Carta to 1761 edition) are not included. Acts from the Northern Ireland Parliament of 1921–1972 are not included. Northern Ireland Orders are not included (but they are available in the UK Statutory Instruments database), but Acts that apply only to Northern Ireland and are published by the Stationery Office are included. The “Road Acts” published between 1797 (37 Geo. 3) and 1780 (20 Geo. 3), Local or Special Acts and Private or Personal Acts are not included.

The information for the Cross Reference tables (which allow a trail of amendments to be followed) has been taken from Chronological Table of the Statutes for 1235–1994 and The Public General Acts and General Synod Measures Tables and Index for 1995–1997. For 1998 Acts onwards, data has been taken directly from the Acts.

The UK Statutes database is updated frequently.

Acts are often too big to be conveniently handled as single documents, so each section and each schedule has been made into a separate document. You can click the blue “Outline” tab, and then use the Outline to either view the entire Act as a single document, or to jump to the preamble or to an individual section or schedule. See Types of Document for more information.

Linking from other databases

If you see a reference to a Statute (or a section or schedule of a Statute) in a record in any of Justis Publishing’s other databases and you would like to see the full text:

select the reference (e.g. Children Act, 1989, Section 12) by dragging slowly over it with your mouse;
click “J-Link” in the Document Actions panel.

Places where Statutes are referred to include the Enabling Act field in UK Statutory Instruments, the Headnote field in Case Law databases, and the Subject field in The Law Reports, The Weekly Law Reports and Industrial Cases Reports.

To link to the full text of a Statute if the reference is not in the proper format, go to the Reference field on the Search In Legislation screen, type the reference in the correct format (e.g. Children Act, 1989, Section 12) in the text box, and click the “Search” button.

More information about the UK Statutes database