Citation of United Kingdom legislation
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The citation of United Kingdom legislation is a relatively complex subject as there are a number of different types of legislation, each having its own hierarchy of divisions and sub-divisions. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the main part of legislation and any schedules of the legislation have different citation rules.
The UK currently has four legislatures:
- United Kingdom Parliament
- National Assembly for Wales
- Northern Ireland Assembly (currently suspended)
- Scottish Parliament
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[edit] Numbering of Divisions in UK Legislation
The numbering of the various levels of division in UK legislation is consistent. The top division is numbered using cardinal numbers alone, with the next division being numbered using cardinal numbers inside brackets. The third and fourth divisions are not numbered but are identified using lower case letters enclosed in brackets and lower case Roman numerals in brackets respectively.
If and when legislation is amended the numbering system can become much more complicated. The main numbering systems mentioned in the previous paragraph are maintained but the new divisions are identified by the addition of a letter immediately following numbering. The letter is a capital for the top two divisions and lower case for the remaining divisions. For example a division originally in legislation might be identified as 1(2)(c)(iii), and an amended division might be identified as 23A(1B)(ca)(i). It can become extremely cumbersome and confusing to add new divisions to heavily amended legislation. For example a division 1ZA would fall in between the divisions 1 and 1A. If legislation gets too complicated due to heavy amendment, consolidating legislation is passed to remove confusing numbering of divisions.
[edit] Acts of Parliament
The overall citation of an Act of Parliament can be done in one of two ways, using the long title of the Act or the short title of the Act. The long title of the Act is a relatively detailed description of its scope and aims and it is illegal for legislation to be inserted in an Act which is not covered by the long title of that act. However citing an Act using its long title is relatively cumbersome and consequently the concept of the short title of an act evolved. The short title of an Act is a briefer citation which is automatically defined in modern Acts and which were inserted into older Acts of importance by the Short Titles Act 1896 and similar legislation.
For a full citation the statute book chapter of the Act needs consideration. For Acts passed since 1962 all that is necessary is to refer to the statute book chapter in the year in question. Prior to 1962 statute book chapters were not numbered with reference to calendar years but with reference to Parliamentary sessions. Parliamentary sessions do not coincide with calendar years and are numbered by reference to the year of the reign of the monarch at the time. The name of the monarch is abbreviated. For example, an Act of Parliament from the 1952-1953 session of Parliament would be cited as: [act name] 1 & 2 Eliz. 2 c. [statute book chapter number].
For example, the 48th act passed in 1988 has a short title of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Its long title is, "An Act to restate the law of copyright, with amendments; to make fresh provision as to the rights of performers and others in performances; to confer a design right in original designs; to amend the Registered Designs Act 1949; to make provision with respect to patent agents and trade mark agents; to confer patents and designs jurisdiction on certain county courts; to amend the law of patents; to make provision with respect to devices designed to circumvent copy-protection of works in electronic form; to make fresh provision penalising the fraudulent reception of transmissions; to make the fraudulent application or use of a trade mark an offence; to make provision for the benefit of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London; to enable financial assistance to be given to certain international bodies; and for connected purposes."
For devolved parliaments and assemblies similar considerations apply. The Scottish Parliament does not use chapters, but Acts of the Scottish Parliament may be cited by the calendar year in which the Bill for the Act received Royal Assent followed by the letters "asp" and its number (for example "1999 asp 1") - note there is no "." after "asp" as there is for the chapter number of UK Acts. The Northern Ireland Assembly, when active, uses the statute book chapter numbering system of c. [statute book chapter number] (N.I.); and the former Northern Ireland Parliament used the same system.
The divisions of the main portion of an Act of Parliament are cited as sections, subsections and paragraphs. It is customary when referring to a division of an Act to use the name of the highest level necessary for unambiguous identification. For example section 4(2)(a) could be cited, or subsection (2)(a) or paragraph (a).
[edit] Bills in Parliament
The citation of a bill during its passage through Parliament is very similar to that of an Act in the case of the United Kingdom Parliament and identical in the case of the Scottish Parliament. The only different with a bill of the UK Parliament is that the top division is known as a clause rather than a section.
[edit] Secondary Legislation
The most complex area of citation of UK legislation is secondary legislation. Secondary legislation comes in a number of forms including rules, regulations, orders, Orders in Council and Orders of Council. Each has its own form of citation of divisions. Orders', Orders in Council's and Orders of Council's divisions are cited as articles, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs. Rules' divisions are cited as rules, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs. Regulations' divisions are cited as regulations, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs.
There are a number of numbered series of secondary legislation in the UK. The three main series are the UK statutory instruments series, the Scottish Statutory Instrument series and the Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland series. Each year the series number is reset to one at the start of the year and the numbering goes as high as necessary to accommodate the number of pieces of legislation in the series. There are further sub-series within the main series. Within all three main series orders covering commencement of primary legislation are numbered separately and legislation consisting of rules covering courts is numbered separately. The UK series has a number of additional sub-series which denote the geographical extent of some statutory instruments. SIs made by the Welsh Assembly, SIs only covering Scotland and primary legislation made by Order in Council for Northern Ireland are all covered by separate sub-series. A full reference to secondary legislation can be made using the reference format for the relevant main series it is in, the year and the number within the main series for that year. The three citation forms are:
- S.I. [year]/[number of sequence]
- S.S.I. [year]/[number of sequence]
- S.R. [year] No. [number of sequence]
The S.S.I. series has only existed since the beginning of devolution to Scotland in 1999. Before 1999 Scottish instruments that would now be in the S.S.I. series were numbered in the main UK series and the Scottish sub-series within that main series.The other two series date from 1948 and 1973 respectively. Prior to those dates UK-wide secondary legislation was referred to as Statutory Rules and Orders (S.R. & O.) and Northern Irish legislation was referred to as Statutory Rules and Orders (Northern Ireland) (S.R. & O. (N.I.)). The Northern Irish S.R. & O. series dates from the formation of the province in 1921. The main UK S.R. & O. series dates from the Rules Publication Act 1893 which was the first attempt to codify secondary legislation citation in the UK.
The overall citation of secondary legislation is usually facilitated by the equivalent of a short title which defines how the legislation may be cited. However in older secondary legislation this is not the case. A good recent example can be found in the Cremation (Amendment) Regulations 2006 S.I. 2006/92. Within that set of regulations there is a reference to "the Regulations as to Cremation (1930)", but it is noted by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, the body which oversees SI drafting, in their Twentieth Report for the 2005-2006 session of Parliament, that secondary legislation did not have short titles in 1930 and so the correct way to cite the regulations from 1930 would have been, "the Regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 7 of the Cremation Act 1902 and section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926 and dated 28th October 1930".
[edit] Schedules
The citation rules for schedules to all types of legislation are uniform. Therefore regardless if a schedule to an Act of Parliament or a schedule to an Order in Council is cited the divisions are cited as paragraph, sub-paragraph and paragraph.
[edit] References
- Statutory Instrument Practice', 3rd edition, HMSO, London, 2003
- Twentieth Report of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, 14th March 2006, HL 139 HC 35-xx
