W101 Skills – 1: How to read legislation

© The Open University

Remember that legislation is also known as statute or written law or Acts of Parliament. There is a standard format used in presenting Acts of Parliament, as shown in the picture above. Most statutes show:

• parts – each part deals with a different aspect. Each part is divided into:
  • sections – abbreviated as s (singular) and ss (plural). Sections lay out the actual provisions of the Act and are further sub-divided into:
    • sub-sections – abbreviated as sub-s (singular) and sub-ss (plural) and further sub-divided into:
      • paragraphs – abbreviated as para (singular) or paras (plural) and further sub-divided into:
        • subparagraphs – abbreviated as sub-para (singular) or sub-paras (plural).

At the end of the statute there will often be schedules and these are numerically divided. They relate to the sections of the Act and usually deal with the detail referred to from the sections. They cannot create anything new that is not contained in the main body of the Act.

© The Open University

A great resource for lawyers and law students is the Parliament webpage (upcoming and new legislation) and the Government’s official legislation webpage, where one can find most of the statutes that are in effect (and all from 1988).

Here is a PDF file with more details on how to read statutes, from the Georgetown University Law Centre. You can also view a video here from Oxford University Press which explains Acts of Parliament and also how to read them.