British law goes online

Statute books available for the first time

The British government has made the entirety of the country's law statutes available online.

The Statute Law website contains the 'official revised edition' of the UK's primary legislation - that is, any acts passed by parliament. The database includes details of how laws have changed over time, as well as how existing laws will be amended by future legislation that is not yet in force.

The content - all 30,000 items - is available for free for private use. In addition to acts of parliament, the website also contains secondary legislation - laws passed directly by the goverment of the day - that has come into effect since 1991.

In addition to national law, the database also contains acts of the Scottish parliament and the Northern Ireland assembly.