Statute law database goes public

Revised online legislation now freely available

News, 21 December 2006

An official, authoritative online database of revised UK primary legislation is now available free of charge to the public, the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) announced today.

The long-awaited Statute Law Database can be found at www.statutelaw.gov.uk .

Developed by the Statutory Publications Office, part of the DCA, the database offers users a range of advanced search and navigation functions across over 30,000 items of UK primary and secondary legislation. It contains primary legislation that was in force at 1 February 1991 and primary and secondary legislation that has been produced since that date.

The primary legislation has been revised to 2002 and is expected to be completely up to date with revisions by the end of 2008.

The database also contains Tables of Effects for 2002 onwards that will help users to establish currency on any particular item of primary legislation that they select.

Baroness Ashton, Minister at the DCA, said: “The Statute Law Database provides an authoritative and easy-to-use historical database of UK statute law. I hope it will be welcomed as a useful tool for professionals who need to keep up with changes to the law as well as those who simply have an interest in historic and current legislation.”

Comprehensive content

The Statutory Publications Office is responsible for maintaining the UK statute book by incorporating new legislation on to the database and keeping primary legislation up-to-date by applying the effects contained within subsequent legislation.

New legislation is published on the website as soon as possible after it has been issued.

The database content includes UK Public General and local Acts, Acts of the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, statutory instruments from all UK jurisdictions, and General Synod Measures.

As well as incorporating all amendments to text and annotating other effects, the database also records details concerning commencement and geographical extent of legislation.