For the first time an official, authoritative online database of revised UK primary legislation is available free of charge to the public, the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) announced on 20 December.
The Statute Law Database (SLD) can be found at www.statutelaw.gov.uk. The SLD has been developed by the Statutory Publications Office (SPO), part of the DCA, and contributes to the department’s aims for improving access to justice. Baroness Cathy Ashton, Minister at the DCA, said:
“Citizens should have access to the laws of the land by which they are governed. 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.”
The database offers users a range of advanced search and navigation functions across over 30,000 items of UK primary and secondary legislation. The database contains primary legislation that was in force at 1 February 1991 and primary and secondary legislation that has been produced since that date.
The SPO 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. 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 SLD 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.
