British Parliament Acts
What is an Act?
A Bill which has received Royal Assent becomes an Act. General information about Acts can be found on the UK Parliament website.
Acts of Parliament
Acts of Parliament are known as primary legislation. Collectively, they make up Statute Law which along with conventions, court decisions and treaties is seen as the basis of the UK constitution. If a Bill is passed by both Houses of Parliament and receives the Royal Assent it becomes an Act of Parliament and part of UK law.
From the UK Parliament website Glossary
Accessing British Parliamentary Acts
There are a number of online sources for Acts of the United Kingdom, depending on the date required.
- legislation.gov.uk publishes legislation from 1267 to the present day. See the FAQs on the website for more details about dates.
- British History Online - browse the collection of Statutes of the Realm from 1628-1701 (see website for further explanation about the dates)
- Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1101-1835, digitised by the University of Southampton and now available through the Internet Archive.
- The Hathi Trust Digital Library has a number of historical Statutes of the United Kingdom available online.
The Library holds Statutes in hard copy. The Guide to overseas statutes : in the National Library of Australia (1993) compiled by Biruta Udris lists the titles and holdings information for a significant part of the non-Australian legislation in the Library’s collection.
In 2013 the guide was updated and published on the web. An archived copy of the guide is available via the Australian Web Archive. Statutes for the United Kingdom are found under G – Great Britain.
The Guide to overseas statutes : in the National Library of Australia (1993) compiled by Biruta Udris lists the titles, holdings information and location numbers for a significant part of the non-Australian legislation in the Library’s collection.
| Publication | Time period | Access links |
|---|---|---|
| Halsbury’s statutes of England. Includes Table of Statutes and general index | 1948-1970 | Reprinted Acts, consolidated with amendments. |
| Halsbury’s statutes of England and Wales | 1985 - | S 345.42 GRE-4 |
| Chronological table of and index to the statutes to the end of the session of... | 1880-1945 | S 345.42 GRE |
Index to the statutes in force covering the legislation to...
Index to the statutes covering the legislation in force on... | Dec. 31, 1948-Dec. 31, 1967 Dec. 31, 1968-Dec. 31, 1989 | |
Table of government orders : covering the general instruments to 31 December Index to statutory instruments | 1965 - 1990 | S 345.42 GRE |
Material kept offsite
Please note that many of the print items listed here are kept in our offsite storage. We deliver at set intervals throughout the working day.
The Catalogue indicates from which reading room you can collect your requests.
If you want to use material from offsite collections on the weekend, submit your request by 2 pm on Fridays.
Including: orders in council, proclamations, instructions to Governors, letters patent etc. No single title will contain all legislation.
United Kingdom sources
| Publication | Time period | Access links |
|---|---|---|
| London Gazette | 1666+ | Online |
| Statutory rules and orders other than those of a local, personal, or temporary character | 1890-1947 | S 345.42 GRE |
| British and foreign state papers | 1812-1977 | S 345.42 GRE |
| Tudor and Stuart proclamations. 2 volumes | 1485-1714 | YYq 354.42 S814 |
Australian sources
| Publication | Time period | Access links |
|---|---|---|
| Historical records of NSW | 1762-1811 | Special Collections Reading Room reference collection |
| Historical records of Australia | 1788-1848 | Main Reading Room reference collection |
| Statutory rules made under Commonwealth acts from 1901 to 1956 : Vol 5, Selected proclamations, orders, etc | 1901-1956 | N 345.94 AUS |
| Various government gazettes | 1803+ | See separate research guide |
| Various parliamentary papers | 1824+ | See GovPubs |
In this guide
C. E Wagstaff & George Baxter, (1841), The arrival of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria at the House of Lords to open the first Parliament of her reign, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136108572
