Researching the Law of the United Kingdom

By Hester Swift

Hester Swift has been a Foreign and International Law Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, since 2007. She has written for the BIALL journal, Legal Information Management, and is a contributor to City Law School’s Opinion Writing and Case Preparation (Oxford University Press). Previously she was a European Union Librarian at the Law Society Library, and she began her career at HM Treasury and Cabinet Office Library.

Published September/October 2024

(Previously updated by Hester Swift in May 2009, January/February 2015, and January/February 2020)

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It was established in 1801 with the union of Great Britain and Ireland. It achieved its present form in 1922, with the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the independent Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland).

The constitution of the UK is not contained in a single document: it is found in numerous different statutes, conventions (accepted customs, principles, and practices), judicial decisions, and treaties. There is an overview of the constitution in the introduction to the Cabinet Manual (Cabinet Office, 2011) and UCL’s Constitution Unit has further details in its Explainer, “What is the UK Constitution?”; see also Halsbury’s Laws (5th edition), vol. 20 (2023), para. 1, “Constitutional Fundamentals.”

The Cabinet Office is the government department responsible for many areas of constitutional policy, including the devolution of power to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; Crown affairs; and elections. The Ministry of Justice also deals with aspects of constitutional policy.

The King is the Head of State, although in practice the supreme authority of the Crown is exercised by the government of the day. The UK Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is made up of elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and the House of Lords comprises appointed life peers (the largest group), hereditary peers, and bishops.

The UK was a European Union member state until 31 January 2020. Under Part Four of the Withdrawal Agreement, most EU law continued to apply until 31 December 2020, when the transition period ended and the UK left the EU single market and customs union.

The UK is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (formal title, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms). The Human Rights Act 1998 brought the protections set out in the Convention into UK law.

Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own executives and legislatures, established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the Scotland Act 1998, and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of a process known as “devolution.” Their legislatures have the power to pass laws on certain subjects, while other subjects are reserved to the UK Parliament (David Torrance, “Introduction to devolution in the UK,” House of Commons Library Research Briefing, May 2024). The UK Parliament in London is often referred to as “Westminster” to distinguish it from the other legislatures. There are three judicial systems in the UK: England and Wales have a combined system, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own judicial systems. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the courts.

Commentary on UK constitutional affairs can be found on the website of the University College London (UCL) Constitution Unit and in the blog, Public Law for Everyone, by Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law at the University of Cambridge.

2. Court System

There is a diagram of the judicial systems of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland on the website of the Supreme Court; the Judiciary website has further information.

In England and Wales, the vast majority of criminal cases are heard in the magistrates’ courts, but the most serious matters are heard by the Crown Court or, occasionally, the High Court. Most civil cases are heard by the County Court, but some are dealt with by magistrates’ courts or the High Court. Family cases are usually heard by the Family Court but sometimes start in the High Court (Family Division). Above these courts are the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for all UK civil cases and criminal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It took over the judicial functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in October 2009, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (see Explanatory Notes to the Act), making a constitutional separation between the legislature and the judiciary.

A further appellate court is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which hears appeals from the UK overseas territories, Crown dependencies, and some Commonwealth countries. A system of specialist tribunals deals with certain matters in England and Wales, and, in some instances, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well. The Judiciary website has a diagram of the courts and tribunals system. The Scottish and Northern Irish court systems are described in section 9.

3. Primary Sources of Law

3.1. Legislation

This section focuses on legislation by the UK Parliament at Westminster; the legislatures of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are covered in section 9. An overview of the many different kinds of UK legislation is available at Legislation.gov.uk.

3.1.1. Primary Legislation: Acts of Parliament

Public general acts are the most familiar type of UK primary legislation; they are passed at Westminster, in London, and change the general law. The UK Parliament may also pass local acts and personal acts. Local acts affect specific groups or places, while personal acts (now rare) relate to the affairs of individuals. Local and personal acts collectively are sometimes known as “private acts.”

Public general acts are first published as individual pamphlets by The Stationery Office (TSO). All the acts passed in a year are then issued in bound volumes in the TSO series Public General Acts and General Synod Measures (the General Synod is the Church of England’s national assembly). Each public general act within a year is given a chapter number: for example, the Banking Act 2009 is numbered “c.1” (chapter 1), because it was the first act of 2009. Since 1999, the TSO has published separate explanatory notes for each public general act (with certain exceptions).

Revised public general acts (except those applying only to Scotland) are published in Halsbury’s Statutes, a LexisNexis title. Arranged by subject in more than fifty volumes, Halsbury’s Statutes comprises acts in force, as amended, with annotations. It is updated using reissued volumes, an annual cumulative supplement, and a loose-leaf Noter-Up Service. The online equivalent to Halsbury’s Statutes is the UK primary legislation collection on Lexis+ UK.

Current Law: Statutes Annotated (Sweet and Maxwell) publishes acts as originally passed. Each has an introduction and annotations, giving the background to the act and detailing the official reports, policy papers, and parliamentary debates that preceded it.

Information about local and personal acts can be found in the House of Commons Background Paper, “Private bills in Parliament,” and the Law Society Library’s research guide, “How to find local and personal acts.”

3.1.2. Delegated Legislation: Statutory Instruments

Statutory instruments (SIs) are secondary legislation: rules, regulations, and orders made under the authority of an act of Parliament. They often provide the details required for the application of the act; some contain provisions for the commencement (coming into force) of primary legislation.

SIs are published individually by TSO and cumulate annually into bound volumes. They are numbered sequentially within each year, for example: The Inquiry Rules 2006, SI 2006/1838.

3.1.3. Online Sources of UK Legislation

  • Legislation.gov.uk, the official UK legislation website, carries primary and secondary legislation, free of charge. All public general acts are available from 1988 onwards, and most of the earlier ones that are still in force are also there. Both the original and revised versions (incorporating amendments) are provided; the revised versions are not always completely up to date, but the site gives a warning if this is the case. All SIs are available in the original version from 1987 onwards, together with selected earlier instruments (see coverage information).
  • BAILII, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, provides primary and secondary legislation (original versions) free of charge.

UK legislation is also provided by subscription databases:

  • vLex has the original text of acts from 1235 onwards (with lists of amendments); revised versions of acts passed in the last few decades; and the original text of SIs from 1949 onwards, plus a selection of earlier SIs.
  • Westlaw UK has acts and SIs in their original and revised versions; it also has historically revised versions of acts.
  • Lexis+ has acts and SIs in their original and revised versions; it also has historical revised versions of acts.

See section 9.1 for online sources of Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish legislation.

3.2. Case Law

This section covers the courts and tribunals of England and Wales, the UK Supreme Court, and the Privy Council; for decisions of the Scottish and Northern Irish courts, see section 9.

3.2.1. Law Reports

Cases of legal significance from the higher courts and tribunals are reported (published) in a series called law reports. However, cases from the lower courts – magistrates’ courts, county courts, Crown Court – and tribunals are very rarely reported, and those that do not establish a noteworthy legal point are not reported at all.

Until 1865, case reporting was done by private court reporters; the resultant publications are called the nominative reports because they are usually known by the name of the reporter. The nominative reports have been reprinted in a 178-volume set called the English Reports (1220 – 1873); this series is available free on CommonLII, as well as being included in subscription databases such as Westlaw and Lexis.

In 1865, the reporting of cases was systematized by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR), which started publishing a series called The Law Reports. This is the most authoritative source of case law for England and Wales and should be cited in preference to other series, where there is a choice.

Until 2015, The Law Reports had four sub-series: Appeal Cases, Chancery Division, Queen’s Bench Division, and Family Division. Judgments of the Supreme Court, House of Lords, and Privy Council appeared in Appeal Cases; High Court cases appeared in the series relating to the appropriate High Court division (Chancery, Queen’s Bench, or Family); and cases heard by the Court of Appeal appeared in the series for the High Court division from which the case was appealed. From January 2015 onwards, the sub-series have been combined into one, under the title Law Reports: Appeal Cases, Queen’s Bench Division, Chancery Division, and Family Division.

The ICLR also publishes the Weekly Law Reports (1954 -). The All England Law Reports (1936 – ), published by LexisNexis, is another general series. In addition, there are a large number of specialized reports from various publishers, covering different areas of law.

3.2.2. Transcripts

Transcripts are the court’s own written record of the judgment, whereas law reports are edited, formally published versions (see “What’s the difference between a ‘law report’ and a ‘transcript’?” ICLR Blog, 20 April 2015). A vast number of case transcripts are available online, many free of charge; some of these decisions will subsequently appear in law reports, while many others will remain unreported (not formally published).

3.2.3. Free Online Sources

  • BAILII provides transcripts of cases from the higher courts and various tribunals. It also includes a collection of leading cases arranged by subject. New judgments often appear on BAILII before they are available elsewhere.
  • Find Case Law is a database of cases from 2003 onwards, provided by The National Archives; it does not cover Scottish or Northern Irish courts.
  • CommonLII has the full English Reports series (cases from 1220 to 1873).
  • Supreme Court judgments are on the Court’s website.
  • House of Lords judgments are on the UK Parliament website from 1996 to 2009 (when the Supreme Court took over as the final court of appeal).
  • Tribunal judgments are available via the Judiciary website and Gov.uk.

3.2.4. Subscription Services

  • Lexis+ provides about fifty different law reports, including The Law Reports; the All England Law Reports; the All England Law Reports Reprint and All England Law Reports Reprint Extension (cases from 1558 to 1935); the Weekly Law Reports; and the English Reports. It also has transcripts, from 1980 onwards.
  • Westlaw UK has about fifty different law reports (not all the same ones that are on Lexis), The Law Reports; the Weekly Law Reports; Criminal Appeal Reports; and the English Reports. It also has transcripts, from 1967 onwards.
  • vLex offers The Law Reports (1865 – ), the Times Law Reports, Commercial Law Cases, the English Reports, and numerous other series, as well as a large collection of transcripts.
  • HeinOnline has the English Reports.

3.2.5. Citations

Cases are cited with the party names, year, law report abbreviation, and starting page. Case citations from around 2001 onwards also have a neutral citation assigned by the court, consisting of the year, the court abbreviation, and the case number.

Here is an example of a case citation in which:

  • UKSC = UK Supreme Court
  • AC = Law Report, Appeal Cases

Example citation

Abbreviations can be decoded using the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations, a free resource produced by Cardiff University. The leading printed guide to UK legal abbreviations is Donald Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 4th ed. (Sweet and Maxwell, 2013).

The University of Oxford’s law faculty has developed a full citation system for law, covering cases, legislation, and secondary material: the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).

4. Encyclopedias

The leading legal encyclopaedia for England and Wales, covering all areas of law, is Halsbury’s Laws of England, published by LexisNexis. It is now in its fifth edition, consisting of more than 100 volumes. Halsbury’s Laws are also on Lexis+.

Sweet and Maxwell publishes multi-volume looseleaf encyclopedias focusing on particular areas of law; many of these are on Westlaw UK.

5. Indexes and Digests

5.1. Legislation and Case Indexes

The Chronological Table of the Statutes, published by TSO, lists amendments to:

  • acts of the Parliament of England / Great Britain / the United Kingdom, 1235 onwards;
  • acts of the Parliaments of Scotland from 1424 to 1707;
  • acts of the Scottish Parliament, 1999 onwards;
  • acts of the National Assembly for Wales and Senedd Cymru, 2012 onwards;
  • measures of the National Assembly for Wales, 2008-2011;
  • Church Assembly measures and General Synod measures, 1920 onwards.

Until the early 1990s, there was also a subject index to primary legislation, the Index to the Statutes, published by HMSO (TSO’s predecessor), but this has been superseded by online sources.

Sweet and Maxwell’s Current Law Legislation Citator and Current Law Statutory Instrument Citator list amendments to UK primary and secondary legislation as well as citations in case law.

Cases are indexed and summarized in two main print titles:

  • The Digest (LexisNexis): summaries of cases from 1919 onwards, with law report references and details of citations in subsequent case law; has cumulative indexes by party name and subject.
  • Current Law (Sweet and Maxwell). The Current Law Year Book and monthly updates contain summaries of cases from 1947 onwards; the Current Law Case Citator gives law report references (1947 – ) and lists citations in subsequent case law.

Online case citators are available on Westlaw UK, Lexis+, and vLex. There is also a free online citator, LawCite, (developed by AustLII), which covers the UK and other English-speaking jurisdictions.

5.2. Periodical Indexes

Legal Journals Index, which is integrated into the journals collection on Westlaw UK, goes back to 1986. For many years it covered around 800 titles, but it currently indexes about 240.

Journals Index, on Lexis+, goes back to 1995. It used to cover over 500 titles, but in recent years it has been indexing fewer than 150.

Index to Legal Periodicals and Books has good coverage of the more academic UK law journals.

6. Parliamentary Information

The UK Parliament website provides information on the current and past business of the two Houses of Parliament and their committees. The House of Commons and House of Lords libraries and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology publish thousands of detailed research briefings on the Parliament site.

Most types of parliamentary publications – such as select committee reports and minutes, business papers, and debates – are available on the Parliament website. For command papers (policy papers, treaties, and other publications presented to Parliament “by command of her/his majesty”), see Gov.uk.

UK Parliamentary Papers, a ProQuest subscription database, provides House of Commons publications from 1715 to the present and a historical collection of House of Lords publications (mainly from the nineteenth century). The database includes bills, select committee reports, command papers, parliamentary debates (Hansard), and other material.

6.1. Debates

The debates of the UK Parliament at Westminster are published in Hansard, also known as the Official Report or Parliamentary Debates; there are different series for the House of Commons and House of Lords. When Parliament is sitting, Hansard is published daily; it then cumulates into sessional volumes.

The debates of the House of Commons Public Bill Committees (formerly “Standing Committees”) were once published separately, but they are now included in Commons Hansard.

The Hansard database on the Parliament website includes Commons and Lords Hansard from 1803 onwards and public bill committee debates from about mid-2015 onwards. The public bill committee debates are included with the Commons debates, not searchable separately; however, they can be browsed and downloaded separately on the Commons Hansard page for each day. Public Bill Committee / Standing Committee debates from 1997/98 to 2015/16 can be found in the Public Bill Committee debates archive.

Further information about Hansard is available on the Parliament website.

6.2. Bills

Bills are draft acts of Parliament. Bills currently going through Parliament are available on the Parliament website, together with details of each stage of the legislative process. Bills from previous sessions are on the Parliament site from 2002/03 onwards.

The progress of old bills through Parliament – including bills that were not passed – is detailed in the Sessional Information Digest, an annual title compiled by the House of Commons Information Office from 1983 until 2012. It is available online from 1995/96 to 2010/12.

Current Law Statutes Annotated (Sweet and Maxwell, 1948 – ) gives Hansard references for every stage of the legislative procedure in its introduction to each act. The printed indexes to Hansard are an alternative means of tracing a bill’s parliamentary stages.

7. United Kingdom Government

The government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is headed by the Prime Minister, supported by the Cabinet (senior members of the government), and other ministers. The official Gov.uk portal brings together the websites of each government department.

7.1. Departmental publications

Most departmental publications are published by The Stationery Office (TSO), the privatized incarnation of the old official publisher, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO). Part of HMSO remains within the National Archives, handling the statutory functions of official publishing and administering crown and parliamentary copyright. Some official publications are published by individual government departments or agencies, rather than by TSO.

Policy papers, consultation documents, reports, guidance, treaties, and other government publications are available on Gov.uk, under Official Documents, Policy Papers, and Consultations, or Guidance and Regulation. They can also be found on the pages of the issuing department or agency.

Older government publications may be available in one of the following sources:

  • the UK Government Web Archive;
  • British Non-Parliamentary Publications (formerly BOPCRIS), a digitized collection of publications by government departments and other official bodies, provided by the University of Southampton;
  • print collections held by national, university, and other libraries;
  • UK Parliamentary Papers, a subscription database published by ProQuest.

The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue (formerly HMSO Annual Catalogue and other titles) has detailed indexes to government publications.

8. Law Reform

The Law Commission, an independent body set up in 1965, keeps the law of England and Wales under review and recommends reforms. Its reports, consultation papers, and publications are on the Law Commission website.

The Scottish Law Commission was also set up in 1965 and the Northern Ireland Law Commission was established in 2007, but the Northern Ireland Law Commission has not been operational since 2015. Both provide their publications on their websites.

9. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their legislatures, established in the late 1990s. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their court systems, while Wales is covered by the unified court system of England and Wales.

9.1. Scotland

Background

The Scottish legal system is in part separate from that of England and Wales. It is a mixed system, combining elements of civil law and common law. When Scotland became part of Great Britain, under the Treaty of Union in 1707, it lost its independent legislative powers. Nearly three hundred years later, a new Scottish Parliament was established under the Scotland Act 1998.

The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas not reserved to the UK Parliament at Westminster. Reserved matters include foreign affairs, trade, defense, and national security (Scotland Act 1998, schedule 5). The Scottish court system is separate from that of England and Wales. The principal law officer is the Lord Advocate. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals website contains information about the court system.

The Court of Session is the supreme civil court, subject to appeal to the Supreme Court in London. Most civil cases are dealt with in the sheriff courts. A civil Sheriff Appeal Court was established in 2016. The supreme criminal court for Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary; below that is the criminal Sheriff Appeal Court, which hears summary (less serious) appeals. The lower criminal courts are the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts (formerly “district courts”).

9.1.1. Legislation

Primary Legislation

Acts passed by the old Scottish parliaments (up to 1707) were collected in the nineteenth century and published in a twelve-volume set, The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, edited by Thomas Thomson. They are also available free online:

Acts passed by the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh (1999 onwards) are published individually by TSO, then cumulated into the official annual set, Acts of the Scottish Parliament. The original and revised texts of acts of the Scottish Parliament (ASPs) are on Legislation.gov.uk.

Acts passed by the UK Parliament at Westminster may apply wholly or partly to Scotland; those applying wholly to Scotland have “(Scotland)” in the title, for example, the Partnerships (Prosecution) (Scotland) Act 2013. Westminster acts are published individually by TSO, then cumulated in the official annual set of UK statutes, Public General Acts, and General Synod Measures. They are also on Legislation.gov.uk.

Westlaw UK has revised versions of all acts relating to Scotland, whether passed by the UK (Westminster) or the Scottish parliament. Lexis+ has revised versions of all Scottish Parliament Acts and revised versions of Westminster Acts except those that apply only to Scotland. vLex has the original versions of Scottish Parliament acts and Westminster acts applying to Scotland, with lists of amendments. Some Scottish acts may be available in consolidated versions on vLex.

Delegated Legislation

Since 1999, most secondary legislation for Scotland has been made by the Scottish government, in the form of Scottish statutory instruments (SSIs). They are published in TSO’s Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs) series. A few UK statutory instruments applying to Scotland are still made; these appear in the UK Statutory Instruments (SIs) series. SSIs and SIs are available as originally made on Legislation.gov.uk and vLex. Westlaw UK and Lexis+ both have revised SSIs and SIs, including SIs only applying to Scotland.

9.1.2. Case Law

The main series of Scottish law reports is Session Cases (1822 – ), published by the Scottish Council of Law Reporting. It covers cases heard in the Court of Session, the Supreme Court, the House of Lords, and the High Court of Justiciary. It is on Lexis+ and Westlaw UK. Session Cases is cited with the abbreviation “SC,” except for pre-1907 volumes, which are cited by names of the successive editors: Shaw (S.), Dunlop (D.), MacPherson (M.), Rettie (R.), and Fraser (F.).

The Scots Law Times (1893 – ) is a weekly publication containing Scottish law reports; it is available on Westlaw UK. There are also other Scottish series, and some significant Scottish judgments are reported in the Weekly Law Reports and All England Law Reports.

BAILII provides Scottish cases from the High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session, and the Sheriff Court, as well as UK Supreme Court judgments.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals website has a database of cases from the High Court of Justiciary, Court of Session, Sheriff Appeal Courts, and Sheriff Court. Coverage goes back to about 1998.

9.1.3. Official Publications

The Scottish Government website provides current publications and a large archive of older material, including consultation papers and reports. The Scottish Parliament site has parliamentary publications such as bills, debates, and committee reports. The Scottish Law Commission website provides its law reform reports, consultation papers, and other publications from the 1960s onwards.

9.2. Wales

Background

Wales has been united with England administratively, politically, and legally since the 16th century, but in the late 1990s, some legislative power was devolved to new Welsh institutions. The names and functions of the devolved institutions have changed over the years:

  • 1999: Welsh Assembly established, with power to make secondary legislation only.
  • 2006: Government of Wales Act 2006 established an executive body for Wales, the Welsh Government, replaced the Welsh Assembly with the National Assembly for Wales, and gave the new legislature limited powers to pass laws (known as “measures”).
  • 2020: the National Assembly for Wales changed its name to Senedd Cymru, or Welsh Parliament.

The first National Assembly measure was passed in 2008. Each measure within a year has a serial number prefixed by “nawm” in the English-language version, or “mccc” in the Welsh-language version.

Welsh laws passed from 2012 onwards are called acts, not measures (Government of Wales Act 2006, s.107 (1)). Acts passed by the National Assembly for Wales have a number prefixed “anaw” in the English version and “dccc” in the Welsh; acts passed by Senedd Cymru use the prefixes “asc” in the English version and “dsc” in the Welsh version.

Further details about Welsh law are given in the GlobaLex guide Researching Welsh Law: What is Unique in Wales?, by Lillian Stevenson and Dr. Catrin Huws; see also Daniel Greenberg, “Welsh Devolution,” (2013) 13 LIM 134, and the official Law Wales website.

9.2.1. Legislation

Welsh primary and secondary (also known as “subordinate”) legislation is published in hard copy by TSO. It is available online via Legislation.gov.uk and BAILII.

For updated Welsh legislation (primary and secondary), use Westlaw UK or Lexis+. On Legislation.gov.uk, some Welsh primary legislation is available in updated versions, but Welsh secondary legislation is in its original form on both Legislation.gov.uk and BAILII.

For Westminster legislation applying to Wales, see Westlaw UK, Lexis+, Legislation.gov.uk, or BAILII.

9.2.2. Case Law

There is no separate Welsh case law, as England and Wales have a combined court system (see section 3.2).

9.3. Northern Ireland

Background

The island of Ireland was divided into North and South by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, passed by the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster. The Act was rejected by the South, which left the UK to form the Irish Free State (now Ireland). What had been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland consequently became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Parliament of Northern Ireland opened in 1921; since 1932, it has been located at Stormont, near Belfast. It was given the power to legislate in most policy areas, but certain matters were still to be dealt with by the UK Parliament. Civil unrest led to the suspension of the Stormont Parliament in March 1972. A new legislature, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established in 1973, but suspended in May 1974, when the British government resumed direct rule.

In 1998, a political settlement for Northern Ireland was reached in the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the “Belfast Agreement” (UKTS 50, 2000). The Northern Ireland Act 1998 implemented the Agreement, and the Northern Ireland (Elections) Act 1998 established the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The situation in Northern Ireland has remained somewhat unstable and devolution has been suspended periodically: see House of Commons Library research briefing, “Devolution in Northern Ireland” (November 2023), and Institute for Government explainer, “Direct rule in Northern Ireland.”

The websites of the UK Government’s Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Assembly provide information about the devolution settlement. There is a collection of information and documents concerning the Northern Ireland conflict on the University of Ulster’s CAIN website.

For details of Northern Ireland legal publications since devolution, see Alison Lorimer, “Northern Ireland Legal Material Since Devolution: A Practical Guide” (2013) 13 LIM 152; and Sarah Semple, “Researching the Law of Northern Ireland” (2008) 8 LIM 283.

Northern Ireland has its own court system, but the final court of appeal is the UK Supreme Court. The NIdirect website, an official service for citizens, gives an overview of the Northern Irish courts.

9.3.1. Legislation

Primary Legislation: Acts, Measures, and Orders in Council

Since 1921, acts applying to Northern Ireland have been passed at various times by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the UK Parliament at Westminster, and the current Northern Ireland Assembly.

The laws passed by the 1970s Northern Ireland Assembly were called measures, not acts.

Northern Ireland Orders in Council are a third type of (quasi-) primary legislation; they are made under the Northern Ireland Acts. Each order has two reference numbers, an NI (Northern Ireland) number and an SI (statutory instrument) number: for example, The Budget (Northern Ireland) Order 2007, SI 2007 no. 914 (NI 8). Westlaw UK does not give the NI numbers, however.

Sources:

  • The acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921-72) were published by HMSO Belfast in annual volumes, under the title Public General Acts (also known as Northern Ireland Statutes). They are included in Statutes Revised Northern Ireland (revised to 1981); revised versions are also on Legislation.gov.uk.
  • The measures of the 1973/74 Northern Ireland Assembly were published in the 1974 volume of Northern Ireland Statutes, under “Measures and Orders in Council.” Revised versions are available on Legislation.gov.uk. Legislation revised to 1981 can be found in the print publication, Statutes Revised Northern Ireland.
  • The acts of the current Northern Ireland Assembly are published in Northern Ireland Statutes, also known as Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly. They are on Legislation.gov.uk and Westlaw UK, as passed and in revised versions.
  • Northern Ireland Orders in Council appear in Northern Ireland Statutes from 1972 onwards. Revised versions as of 1981 appear in Statutes Revised Northern Ireland. Orders made from 1987 onwards (and some earlier ones) are on Legislation.gov.uk (original and revised versions, the latter not always completely up-to-date) and Westlaw UK (fully revised 1991 onwards, original versions 1987 to 1990).
  • Westminster acts applying to Northern Ireland appear in the usual UK sources (see above).

Statutes Revised Northern Ireland includes statutes of all the above types, except Westminster acts from 1921 onwards and acts of the current Assembly. Statutes Revised also includes old acts still applying to Northern Ireland which were passed by the Parliaments of England/sGreat Britain/the UK between 1226 and 1920 and those passed by the Parliament of Ireland at Dublin from 1495 to 1800. The last printed edition of Statutes Revised Northern Ireland was the second, giving the text in force as of 31 March 1981; it has now been incorporated into Legislation.gov.uk, where it has been revised further but not brought fully up to date.

Secondary Legislation: Statutory Instruments and Statutory Rules

Secondary legislation applying to Northern Ireland takes two forms:

  • Northern Ireland statutory rules (SRs), made by Northern Ireland government departments. These have an SR number, for example, the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 1994, SR 1994/74. They are published in the Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland (also known as Northern Ireland Statutory Rules). They are all on Legislation.gov.uk from 1996 onwards, together with a large selection from 1974 to 1995, all in their original versions; revised SRs are available on Westlaw UK, 1991 onwards.
  • UK statutory instruments (SIs): these have an SI number, for example, The Maximum Number of Judges (Northern Ireland) Order 2001, SI 2001/958; they are distinguished from Northern Ireland Orders in Council (see above) by the lack of an NI number. Sources of UK SIs are covered in section 3.1.2.

9.3.2. Case Law

Northern Ireland Law Reports (1925 – ) is the official series for the province. It covers cases from the superior courts and appeals from those courts to the House of Lords or the UK Supreme Court. The series was originally published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for Northern Ireland but is now a LexisNexis title; there is an online version on Lexis+.

Another Northern Ireland series is the Northern Ireland Judgments Bulletin (1978 – ), also published by LexisNexis and available on Lexis+. The Bulletin of Northern Ireland Law (SLS Legal Publications, 1981-2012) includes case summaries. Judiciary NI has a database called Judicial Decisions and Directions; most of the cases are from 2002 onwards. BAILII covers Northern Ireland court decisions, the majority dating from 2000 onwards.

England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their legal professions.

There are two main kinds of lawyers in England and Wales: solicitors and barristers. Barristers represent clients in the courts on the instruction of solicitors. Some solicitors, known as “solicitor advocates,” also represent clients in court, while many solicitors are not involved in litigation at all. Barristers are organized into groups called “chambers,” but are essentially self-employed. Solicitors are organized into firms of varying sizes or employed by companies and other organizations as in-house lawyers; they provide all legal services and instruct barristers.

The Bar Council is the representative body for barristers in England and Wales, while the regulatory body is the Bar Standards Board. The Law Society of England and Wales is the representative body for solicitors and the Solicitors Regulation Authority is the regulator.

In Scotland, the legal profession is divided into solicitors and advocates. Solicitors are represented and regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Advocates are members of the Scottish bar, the Faculty of Advocates, which is their regulator as well as their professional body.

Northern Ireland has its own solicitors and barristers and its own Law Society and Bar.

Law degrees in England and Wales are at the undergraduate level. Professional training for law graduates is provided using the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) for barristers, and the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for solicitors. Students with a first degree in a subject other than law must follow a one-year qualifying course known as the GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law) before being eligible for the professional courses; alternatively, they may choose the route offered by the

Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

To complete their training, student solicitors must find a post in a law firm as a trainee solicitor, and bar students must obtain a pupillage in a set of barristers’ chambers.

For information about legal education in Scotland, refer to the websites of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates. For Northern Ireland, see the websites of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and the Bar of Northern Ireland.

The best-known UK legal publishers, both more than 200 years old, are LexisNexis (formerly Butterworth’s), owned by RELX, and Sweet & Maxwell, owned by Thomson Reuters. Other law publishers include Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Hart (part of the Bloomsbury group), Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Edward Elgar.

The leading law publisher for Scotland is W. Green, owned by Thomson Reuters. Other publishers include Edinburgh University Press. Some of the UK publishers mentioned above also cover Scottish law.

Books on the law of Northern Ireland are published by Bloomsbury, Hart, Routledge, and other UK publishers. The Northern Irish law specialist, SLS Legal Publications, closed in 2012.

The following is a small selection of websites, online magazines, and blogs providing free legal news:

In addition to free resources, subscription databases such as Westlaw UK and Lexis+ provide current awareness and legal news.

LIS-LAW is the main email discussion list for law librarians in the UK.