United Kingdom Index to the Statutes

An official index to United Kingdom legislation was produced in that jurisdiction from 1870 until 1991. (1) The most recent edition of the United Kingdom Stationery office produced Index to the Statutes covers the legislation issued during the period to 31 december 1990.

The Stationery office’s website indicates that the index is out of print.

The Index to the Statutes spanned two volumes and 2,409 pages. The index was intended to be used in conjunction with the Chronological Table of the Statutes (which covers the years 1235 to the present) to navigate the Public General Acts and Measures and Statutes in Force.

The Index to the Statutes wass arranged according to alphabetical subject headings. Each main subject heading is followed by a chronological list of Acts in force on that subject. This is followed by a detailed breakdown of the subject according to subheadings, with cross-references, and
locator references to the appropriate Acts and section numbers.

An alternative: the UK Statute Law Database

Another part of the picture regarding navigability of statute law in the United Kingdom is the online UK Statute Law Database (SLD), which went live in december 2006. (2) The SLD website states that it is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the UK made available online. SLD can be electronically searched, using a basic “quick search” function or an “advanced search” function that allows users to specify a wider range of search fields.

The database can also be browsed by looking at its two “indexes” . there is an alphabetical index by Act title, and a chronological index. These are not subject indexes but title indexes, more in the nature of tables. This means that the SLD is not a direct substitute for the discontinued Index to the Statutes it is a database and associated search engine rather than an index.

1. Index to the Statutes: Covering the Legislation in Force on 31 December 1987 (HMSo Publications Centre, London, 1987) preface. The Stationery office: online Bookshop<https://www.tsoshop.co.uk/. The most recent edition is Index to the Statutes: Covering the Legislation in Force on 31 December 1990 (HMSo Publications Centre, london).

2 UK Statute Law Database (https://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/). The database was launched on 20 december 2006 by the Publications office, which is part of the Ministry of Justice.

• Lawi Legal Index
• List of Indexes to Austalian Legislation
• Henry Smythies’ Analytical Digest
• Badger’s General index
• Curnin’s Index
• Index to the 1908 NZ Consolidated Statutes
• to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation
• Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint
• Subject Index to South Australian Legislation
• Iowa Subject Index
• United States Code Annotated
• Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada
• List of Australian Reports

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Badger’s General index, Curnin’s Index, Henry Smythies’ Analytical Digest, Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation, Index to the 1908 NZ Consolidated Statutes, Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada, Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint, Iowa Subject Index, List of Australian Reports, Subject Index to South Australian Legislation, United States Code Annotated.