Acts of the UK Parliament (Westminster)

Larger reference libraries and university libraries often have runs of public acts and may have a subscription to Westlaw UK which provides online access to current and repealed legislation.  Local acts of parliament can often be harder to trace. If the relevant local studies library and local authority archive do not have this, then the National Library of Scotland should be tried, failing which, the Parliamentary Archives of the United Kingdom.

The text of all public acts from 1988 and all local acts from 1991 are available online at <www.legislation.gov.uk> [accessed 24 April 2024] The revised text versions (i.e. as amended and currently in force) of earlier legislation still in force is also available and this is often accompanied by the unamended act as originally printed.  Some repealed legislation is also available and there is a list of local acts from 1797 and private acts from 1707-2006 (earlier for England and Wales) as well as a range of other resources.  For further details look at the full guidance on <www.legislation.gov.uk>