The Law

[screamingcob]

Is there like a hard copy of the UK law on paper somewhere? I mean when new law is bought in is it added to a big book or summit?

Thanks

[Buenchico]

(Multi-part post):

Every Act of Parliament is published, in booklet form, by Her Majesty's Stationery Office and can be purchased through any decent bookseller. Additionally, most legislation is now available, free of charge, online.

Things can get rather confused, however, when new legislation just partially replaces something which has gone before. This means that that only part of an old Act of Parliament will still be in force, although this won't show up if you buy a copy of that Act (or refer to it online). To get an accurate picture of how the law stands at the minute, it's often necessary to, say, start with an Act of 1872, then read an Act of 1934 (to see which bits of the 1872 act it replaced and which remained in force), then to read an Act of 1964 (only to find that this Act scrapped everything in the previous two Acts, so you've just wasted your time). After that, you've only got to work out which bits of the 1964 Act were replaced by the 1973 Act and then to look at the 2001 Act to see what was changed there!

[Buenchico]

Fortunately, there's a frequently updated reference work which actually takes much of the slog out of the previous procedure because it lists which Sections of which Acts are stil in force. Even so, a solicitor or barrister needing to check on the current law may still find it necessary to read through different Sections of many Acts, just to establish one legal point.

To make matters worse, many Acts of Parliament are only 'enabling' Acts. e.g. they can give, say, the Home Secretary powers to determine things like speed limits or fines without having to go back to Parliament to deal with the details. In which case, the rules are set out in Regulations which just like Acts, can be partly or wholly changed over the years. So, just reading the Acts alone often isn't enough. To really understand the law, you need to consult the Regulations as well. (These are also published by HMSO in booklet form and can usually be found online as well).

[Buenchico]

Even if you know exactly what Acts (or parts of Acts) are still in force and you know all of the relevant Regulations which go with them, you might still not know exactly what the law states about a particular issue. This is because any decision of the 'higher' courts (Crown Court & above) in this country may create a 'legal precedent'. This means that, unless there are special circumstances, whenever a similar case comes before a court, the first court ruling counts as part of the law. (This is known as 'case law'). These precedents are bound into volumes which also effectively become statements of the law.

So, for a 'hard copy' of UK law you need a printed copy of each of the Acts which, over the years, have been enacted in relation to particular issue. Unless you want to waste a lot of time reading through Sections which have been repealed, you also need the reference work which lists which Sections, of which Acts, are still in force. (Both of those are available from larger public reference libraries).

You then need to ensure that you're also in possession of the relevant Regulations. (These are rarely available in reference libraries. You either have to buy them or hope that they're online). Lastly you need to have all of the relevant case law to hand. (This is normally only available in extremely expensive volumes which people outside of the legal profession can't get hold of. The only exception is if you've got access to a university library).

Simple, isn't it ;-)

Chris

[dot.hawkes]

chris, how busy are you gonna be mate!!!!!!! Glad I only know me History lol

[screamingcob]

Wow! Thanks Chris. that pretty much answerd the question! Just :-P