Bills are often given different Bill numbers at each stage. Every Bill is given a running number through the session, with a new sequence starting with each session.

Finding a Bill

House of Commons

• 1715-1918, 1967/68-2011 on level 7 on the main section of the floor. Ask level 7 staff for details.
• 1695-2015 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Proquest database
• 1919-present Public Information (PIO) database
• 2015-present Westlaw database
• 2001-2019 UK Parliament
• Current bills UK Parliament

House of Lords

• 1821-1999 Library Research Annexe. Ask level 7 staff for details.
• 1695-2015 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Proquest database
• 1901-present Public Information (PIO) database
• 2015-present Westlaw database
• 2001-2019 UK Parliament
• Current bills UK Parliament

Citing Bills

HC Bill 53, Session 2002-03

HL Bill 78, Session 2002-03

Tracing the Stages of a Bill

The stages of a Bill include its debates in Parliament, known as Readings. The dates of debates and numbers assigned to the Bills can be found at the following locations:

• 1983/84 - 2010/12 Sessional Information Digest (Government Bibliog D31:10 GRE2)
• 1995/96 – 2010/12 UK Parliament
• 2002/03 - present UK Parliament

Find out more about Bills

• UK Parliament What is a Bill?

Finding an Act of Parliament

The first thing to determine is whether you’re looking for the act

• as enacted (in its original form) the year it received Royal Assent
• or as is it in force today (or at a certain point in time).

The date of Royal Assent is not necessarily the date that the Act comes into force (becomes law). Acts can come into force in their entirety, or in parts over a period of time. And even after coming into force they can then be amended or repealed by subsequent legislation.

Finding an Act as originally enacted

These are not amended when an Act is changed or repealed and may or may not be in force.

Public Acts of Parliament

• 1707-2010 on level 7 on the main section of the floor. Ask level 7 staff for details.
• 1804-2010 Law Reports Statutes (Law Reports LA550-LA570)
• 1949–present Current Law Statutes (Law Reports SC340). These acts have margin annotations.
• Partial coverage 1801-1987, Full coverage 1988-present Official UK Legislation

Private (subdivided into Local and Personal) Acts of Parliament (applies to e.g., companies or local authorities)

• 1225-1800 Statutes at Large on level 7 on the main section of the floor. Ask level 7 staff for details.
• 1815-current date. These can be a little more difficult to trace. Ask level 7 staff for details.

Paper indexes to the Acts

• Chronological Table of the Statutes (on level 7 on the main section of the floor. Ask level 7 staff for details).
• Index to the Statutes (on level 7 on the main section of the floor. Ask level 7 staff for details). Contains comprehensive cross-referencing by subject. Indexes Acts dating 1235 to 1990 and is therefore out of date, but still useful when starting research on a particular subject.
• Current Law Statute Citator (Law Reports SC344). This set of volumes covers 1947 until present including providing information on Royal Assent dates. The Service File updates the bound citators.

Finding an Act as it is in force today (or at a certain point in time)

There are a few ways to find whether an Act, or a section of it, has come into force, and when:

• The Westlaw database includes all UK Acts in force.
• Find your act under the Legislation tab. Westlaw defaults to show the act in its current status.
• Under More options, Westlaw also allows you to search for different versions of legislation such as law today, historic law, prospective law, and custom date in time.
• The text of the original Act
• Acts that do not come into force in their entirety on the date of Royal Assent contain a section dealing with 'commencement' at the end of the sections (before the schedules). This section may specify a date on which the Act, or parts of it, will come into force. The commencement section may alternatively state that all, or part, of the Act will be entered into force by Statutory Instrument (SI).
• Paper reference materials
• Is it in Force? (Law G1 LAWS) gives commencement information for act passed from 1960 onwards. It also has a section of Legislation Not Yet in Force.
• Current Law Service Binder (Law Reports SC344). Has a 'Legislation Not Yet in Force' section which covers all Acts passed since 1949 which are not yet in force, either wholly or in part. If your section is listed then it is not yet in force.
• Current Law Statute Citator (Law Reports SC344). Useful if the act is older. Look in each volume since the Act was published to ensure your information is as current as possible. This information can be updated by using the Citator section in the Current Law Service Binder. Commencement orders (Statutory Instruments bringing part, or all, of an Act into force) are listed under the title of the Act.

Amendments and repeals

Acts, and sections of Acts, can be amended or repealed at any time.

• The Westlaw database has a symbol to the left of each section/schedule in an Act detailing the status. Open the section (right) to see full details of any changes to an Act.
• Current Law Statute Citator (Law Reports SC344). Amendments and repeals are noted under each section number. Look in each volume of the Citator since the Act was published, followed by the Citator section of the binder to ensure current information.
• Chronological Table of the Statues (Level 7 main floor). If the entry is in italics the whole Act has been repealed. If it is in bold type it is wholly or partly in force, details will be given of any repeals or amendments.

Citing Acts

Each Public Act is given a running number for the year in which it is passed, known as the Chapter Number. Acts are referred to by their short title and year.

• The Companies Act 1989 can be cited as either:
  • The Companies Act 1989 (c. 40)
  • 1989 c.40
• The Education Act 1426 can be cited as either:
  • Education Act 1426 (c. 3)
  • 1426 (c. 3)

For UK Acts before 1962, the year may not be given but instead the regnal year (the number of years that the sovereign has reigned).

• The Tobacco Act 1840 can be cited as either:
  
  • Tobacco Act 1840 (3 & 4 Eliz. c. 18)
  • 1840 c 18 (3 & 4 Eliz)

Each Local Act is given a running Roman numeral for the year in which it is passed, also known as the Chapter number.

• The New Southgate Cemetery Act 2017 can be cited as either:
  • New Southgate Cemetery Act 2017 (c. ii)
  • 2017 c. ii

Citing part of an Act

Each act is divided into sections and these are often further divided into sub-sections. In addition some acts have schedules at the end and these may be further divided into paragraphs. For example:

Statutory Instruments are secondary legislation. They can provide details of:

• How an Act will operate
• include rules, regulations, and orders
• bring sections of an Act into force and make changes or amendments to an existing Act.

Finding a Statutory Instrument

The first thing to determine is whether you’re looking for the Statutory Instrument

• as enacted (in its original form)
• or as is it in force today (or at a certain point in time).

As originally enacted

• 1948-1986 (partial dataset) 1987 – present (complete dataset) Official UK Legislation

In force today (or at a certain point in time)

• The Westlaw database includes all UK Statutory Instruments in force. Find your SI under the Legislation tab. The date the secondary legislation came into force can be found to the right.

Citing Statutory Instruments

The Flavourings in Food (England) Regulations 2010 is cited as either:

• The Flavourings in Food (England) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/2817)
• S.I. 2010/2817