The Introduction to The Chronological Table of Local Legislation 1797-1994 (HMSO 1996 - ISBN 0 11 043002 6) is reproduced with abridgement and updating for this online version.
The Chronological Table of Local Legislation (’the Local Act Table’) was completed to 1994 by the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission 1 and published in 1996 by HMSO under the authority of the Advisory Committee on Statute Law as successor to the Statute Law Committee 2 which originally authorised the project in 1974.
This online version of the Local Act Table to December 2008 has been edited and prepared for publication by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, Publishing Services team. For availability of full texts of the Acts in the Local Act Table see section 6 of this Introduction. Texts of Local Acts 1998-current are available on this site.
This online version of the Local Act Table lists in their chronological sequence all those Acts passed by the Parliaments at Westminster between 1797 and the end of 2008 3 which have come to be generally described as Local Acts, and the Orders confirmed by local 4 Provisional Order Confirmation Acts in the sequence in which they are scheduled to their confirming Acts.
Until 1797 there were two official series of Acts - Public and Private - but in that year the Public Acts were divided into two further series of Public General Acts and Public Local and Personal Acts. The Local Act Table is confined to the successive categories of Local Acts : ’Public Local and Personal Acts’ (1797-1802); ’Local and Personal Acts to be judicially noticed’ (1802- 1814); ’Local and Personal Acts declared public and to be judicially noticed’ (1815-1867); ’Local and Personal Acts’ (1868); ’Local and Private Acts’ (1869); Local Acts (1870 onwards).
The Local Act Table records the effects on the listed Acts and orders of the following categories of legislation enacted or made between 1797 and the end of 2008.
(i) Public General Acts of the Parliaments at Westminster;
(ii) Measures of the Church Assembly and the General Synod of the
Church of England;
(iii) Local, Personal and Private Acts of the Parliaments at
Westminster;
(iv) Acts of the Scottish Parliament
(v) Statutory Rules and Orders (before 1948) and Statutory
Instruments (from 1948) which are classified as general and the
most readily available texts of those which are classified as local
5
(vi) Scottish Statutory Instruments
(vii) Public General Acts of the Northern Irish Parliament
1922-1972 so far as they affect pre-1922 United Kingdom local
Acts;
(ix) Local and Personal and Private Acts of the Northern Irish
Parliament 1922-1972 so far as they affect pre-1922 United Kingdom
local Acts;
(vii) Northern Ireland Statutory Rules so far as they affect
pre-1922 United Kingdom local Acts;
(viii) A small number of Orders in Council.
The Local Act Table does not show the effect of repeal or cesser provisions in general terms 6 on local enactments except where the repeal or cesser has been translated into, and contained in, specific repeal schedules to public general or local and personal Acts.
Generally the Local Act Table has the same layout and uses the same conventions as the Chronological Table of the Statutes 7 Where it has been necessary to adopt different conventions to deal with special features of local legislation, attention is drawn to such differences in the appropriate place. See also section headed Repeals below.
The Local Act Table follows the modern practice of distinguishing the chapter numbers of Public General Acts, Local Acts and Private (since 1948 styled Personal) Acts, namely:
It should be borne in mind that this method of distinguishing the different series of Acts is not necessarily reflected in the texts of the Acts themselves. For instance, between 1797 and 1814 the printed series of Local and Personal Acts were officially numbered in arabic numerals.
Where an Act has an official short title it is, so far as practicable, referred to by that title. In other cases a brief description of the subject matter is used. Anyone needing to research Local Acts by title should refer to the Index to the Local and Personal Acts 1850-1995 and the Index to the Local and Personal Acts 1797-1849. 8
In accordance with the convention used in the Chronological Table of the Statutes, the title of an Act which has been wholly repealed or discontinued, or which has expired, is shown in italic type.
Where the title is shown in bold type, it indicates that the Act is or may be in force.
Titles of Orders confirmed by Provisional Order Confirmation Acts
Under each local Provisional Confirmation Act the user will find a complete list of the titles of all the Orders confirmed by the Act. The title of an Order which has been wholly repealed is shown in italic type. Where the title is shown in ordinary type, it indicates that the Order is or may be in force.
In contrast the Chronological Table of the Statutes lists in ordinary type only those Orders which have been wholly or partially repealed or amended. 9
Place names
The spelling of place names has been modernised and made consistent where necessary. As a result the spelling of place names in the Local Act Table sometimes differs from that in the titles of the officially printed texts of the Acts themselves. The following further rules have been followed in regard to place names:-
(a) Where different places have the same name, they have been identified by the addition (in brackets) of the county or other relevant area. Examples are Ely (Cambridgeshire), Ely (Glamorgan); Newport (Isle of Wight), Newport (Monmouthshire), Newport (Salop.). The references given are to the counties mentioned in the Acts themselves and not to counties as reconstituted by later legislation. 10
(b) Where an Act or Order extends to more than one county or place, the relevant counties and places have been identified by the addition of the necessary references in square brackets. An example is the Derwent Valley Water [Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield] Act 1899 (c.cclxix).
Repeals
Where an Act, or particular provisions of an Act, have been repealed more than once, all the repealing enactments are listed in their chronological order without comment.
Where an Act has been partially repealed, and afterwards wholly repealed, all the repealing enactments are listed in their chronological order. 11 It should be borne in mind that the enactment effecting the final repeal of an Act is not necessarily the one which repeals the greatest number of provisions of that Act.
Some of the local Acts passed as a consequence of the operation of section 262(9) of the Local Government Act 1972 repealed a considerable number of local enactments only in so far as they applied within a particular local government area. 12 Where it has been possible to ascertain that such enactments applied only within the area for which they have been repealed, or that they have been repealed for all the areas in which they applied, their repeal is entered in the Local Act Table as final. Where it is uncertain whether any particular enactment applied outside the area for which it has been repealed, or where it is clear that it remains unrepealed for one or more of the areas in which it originally applied, the enactment is treated as partially repealed and the geographical limitation on the repeal is indicated in brackets.
’Expired: see Introduction’
The English and Welsh turnpike road Acts which have the annotation ’Expired: see Introduction’ have been identified as having expired on the ground that the last turnpike trust is officially recorded as having ceased to exist in 1895. For the history of turnpikes see S & B Webb, The Story of the King’s Highway (1913); W. Albert, The Turnpike Road System in England 1663-1840 (1972).
’Repealed: see Introduction’
The Scottish local road and bridge Acts listed in the Local Act Table which have the entry ’Repealed: see Introduction’ have been identified as having been repealed by virtue of the Roads and Bridges (Scotland) Act 1878 or the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, in so far as they apply in Scottish Counties, and by virtue of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1970 or the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 in so far as they apply in Scottish Burghs or Counties of Cities. The entry ’Repealed: see Introduction’ has been inserted in respect of those Acts so identified and which have not been expressly repealed or the expiry of which cannot be satisfactorily established.
Provisions extending time limits
Up to the end of 1929 provisions extending time Iimits are noted both as amendments of the sections in question and as partial continuations of the Acts concerned. Only the latest extension of time is shown since reference to this will normally enable any earlier extensions to be traced.
After 1929 provisions extending time limits are mainly noted as amendments.
The annotation ’see’
The annotation ’see’ is used to draw attention to a number of different provisions which are difficult to record in any other way. Examples are provisions which are relevant in considering the legislation concerned but do not act directly upon it, those whose effects on earlier legislation are not clear or cannot be expressed succinctly and those laying down uncertain time limits for their duration or for the duration of other provisions.
Details of repeals and amendments made to Local Acts after 2008, of later Local Acts and of any corrections to the Local Act Table, will be given on this site which will be updated annually. See also section 6.
While every possible effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the Local Act Table, in a work of this size it is obvious that there is scope for omissions and errors. Details of any omissions or errors noted in the Local Act Table, or any other correspondence about it, may be addressed to the Publishing Services team. For availability of full texts of the Acts in the Local Act Table see section 6 of this Introduction.
Texts of Local Acts 1991 - 2008 are now on this website. Individual copies may be ordered from The Stationery Office Ltd.
For availability of the texts of Local 13 (and of printed Private) Acts 1797-1990 the following may be helpful with the caution that the names and locations of libraries mentioned may have changed.
Local Acts and Private (Personal) Acts of Parliament
This list of libraries and record offices housing major collections of Local Acts(13) and Private Acts of Parliament has been compiled (at the Law Commission in 1994) from information received in response to notices in certain library journals, from correspondence with some of the libraries and record offices themselves and from D.L Jones and C. Pond, Parliamentary Holdings in Libraries in Britain and Ireland (House of Commons Library 1993). On the basis of those sources of information and that correspondence, each entry on the list provides a broad indication of the extent of the relevant collection.
Many of the libraries and record offices housing major collections also house collections of local importance only which are not recorded on this list. However, three additional lists - for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively - identify libraries and record offices holding collections of local importance.
With the exception of the Original Acts in the House of Lords Record Office and the enrolled Acts in the National Archives at Kew the collections listed here are of printed Acts. No Private Acts were officially printed before 1797, and many continued not to be so until 1815. Thereafter a residue of Divorce, Name and Naturalisation Acts was not officially printed at all and the only available authoritative texts are the Original Acts in the Parliamentary Archives, formerly the House of Lords Record Office (M.F. Bond, Guide to the Records of Parliament (1971) p. 102). Some Private Bills, which are entitled ’An Act ...... were privately printed before 1797. These may only be accepted as the text of Bills as passed, i.e. as Acts, if the date of Royal Assent is printed at the beginning or end.
A number of the libraries listed below are accessible only to particular categories of users. Any inquiry concerning the use of a particular collection of Acts should be addressed to the library or record office concerned.
British Library, Official Publications and Social Sciences
Service
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Private Acts 1815-1877 and (published with the Local and Personal
Acts) 1878 onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1800 (incomplete); 1801
onwards.
Private Acts 1899 onwards.
Local Acts 1837 onwards.
Local Acts 1810-1968. Private Acts 1815-1878.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1962 (incomplete); 1963
onwards.
Private Acts 1539-1963 (incomplete).
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Local Acts 1798 onwards. Private Acts 1779 onwards.
Local Acts and Private Acts 1869 onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards. Private Acts 1885 onwards.
Original manuscript Acts 1497-1641, 1661-1849; printed Original Acts 1849 onwards. For Ordinances 1642-1660 see M.F. Bond, Guide to the Records of Parliament (1971), pp.30, 96, 171, 208; C.11. Firth and R.S. Rait, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum 1642-1660 (1911); S.Lambert (editor), Printing for Parliament 1641-1700 (List and Index Society, Special Series, vol.20 (1984)). Printed Local Acts and Private Acts are also available.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Private Acts 1705-1877 (1792 and 1794 missing).
Local Acts 1803 (incomplete), 1804-1806, 1807 (incomplete), 1808-1816, 1817 (incomplete), 1818, 1819, 1820 (incomplete), 1821-1823, 1824 (incomplete), 1825-1862; Local Acts 1863 (incomplete), 1864-1888, 1889 (incomplete), 1890 (incomplete), 1891 onwards. Private Acts 1816-1818, 1820-1854, 1856-1861, 1863-1875, 1878 onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards. Private Acts
1700-1893.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards. Private Acts 1815-1877. Private Acts not printed by the King’s Printer (relating principally to inclosures, estates, etc.) 1727-1838.
Local Acts 1801 onwards. Private Acts 1815 onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Enrolled Acts. Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards. Private Acts 1815 onwards.
Local Acts 1801 onwards. Private Acts 1772 onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1839 (incomplete), 1840
onwards.
Private Acts 1815-1840.
Local Acts 1830 onwards.
England and Wales (outside London)
Local Acts 1815-1899.
Local Acts 1798-1897 (almost complete). Local Acts and Private Acts 1898 onwards. Private Acts 1716-1762 (incomplete), 1763-1897 (incomplete).
Publications Department, Boston Spa
Local Acts 1889 onwards.
Aylesbury, Secretary and Solicitor’s Department Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards. An almost complete collection in which the main gaps are for the years 1799-1801, 1810, 1839-1840, 1847-1849 and 1858-1860.
Cambridge
Local Acts 1877 onwards.
Cambridge
Local Acts and Private Acts 1826-1973.
Private Acts 1777, 1794-1800, 1811-1814.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1979.
Private Acts 1714-1817 (incomplete).
Chester
Local Acts 1797-1837, 1888-1971 (virtually complete).
Truro
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3)-1972.
Private Acts 1814-1925.
Carlisle
Local Acts and Private Acts 1805-1876, 1894-1969.
Kendal
Local Acts and Private Acts 1808-1838, 1843, 1910-1972.
Local Acts 1800-1845 (incomplete).
Local Acts and Private Acts 1848-1957.
Matlock
Local Acts and Private Acts 1798-1973.
Exeter
Local Acts 1816~1979.
Local Acts 1798-1970.
Cardiff
Local Acts 1799-1801, 1802-1845 (incomplete), 1846-1971.
Private Acts 1816, 1818-1841, 1843-1844, 1846, 1848-1864,
1866-1869, 1871-1877, 1879-1889, 1891-1906.
Gloucester
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1974. Private Acts 1815-1906.
Cwmbran
Local Acts 1815-1972.
Worcester
Local Acts and Private Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Hertford
Local Acts and Private Acts 1873-1965.
Beverley
Local Acts 1804-1974.
Preston
Local Acts and Private Acts 1798-1973.
Local Acts 1853-1972 (incomplete), 1972 onwards.
Local Acts 1810-1818, 1922-1985.
Local Acts and Private Acts 1802-1904, 1951 onwards.
Norwich
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1973.
Northampton
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1972.
Morpeth
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1950, 1951 onwards (incomplete).
Nottinghamshire Archives
Local Acts and Private Acts 1811-1936
Central Library, Nottingham
Local Acts 1811-1947 (less 1831-1836), 1971 onwards.
Haverfordwest
Local Acts 1812-1814 (incomplete), 1815, 1816-1824 (incomplete),
1825, 1826-1831 (incomplete), 1832, 1833-1838 (incomplete),
1839-1884 (virtually complete), 1887, 1917-1923 (incomplete),
1927-1929.
Private Acts 1816-1824 (incomplete), 1825-1885 (virtually
complete), 1899.
Shrewsbury
Local Acts and Private Acts 1830-1886 (incomplete), 1887-1970.
Taunton
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1866.
Private Acts 1815-1889.
Hartley Library
Local Acts 1836-1939, and 1961 onwards.
Bury St Edmunds
Local Acts 1806-1831, 1834-1838, 1840-1851, 1901-1970.
Private Acts 1814-1819, 1821-1823, 1825-1831, 1834-1837, 1840-1843,
1845-1851, 1901-1970.
Kingston upon Thames
Local Acts 1809-1971.
Reference Library, Brighton
Local Acts 1798 onwards.
Lewes
Local Acts 1798-1972.
Private Acts 1816-1922.
Chichester
Local Acts 1889-1923.
Private Acts 1889-1933.
Shire Hall, Warwick
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Private Acts 1814-1914.
British Official Publications Section, Coventry
Local Acts 1880 onwards.
Cardiff
Local Acts 1812, 1845-1854 (incomplete), 1855-1906 (virtually
complete), 1907-1927 (incomplete), 1928-1966, 1967-1986
(incomplete), 1987 onwards.
Trowbridge
Local Acts and Private Acts 1798-1973.
Northallerton
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1972 (virtually complete).
Wakefield Headquarters
Local Acts and Private Acts 1815-1982.
Local Acts and Private Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Edinburgh (available at National Library of Scotland,
Edinburgh)
Local Acts and Private Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Local Acts and Private Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Local Acts and Private Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards, Scottish Acts only.
Glasgow
Local Acts and Private Acts 1895-1922, 1923-1956 (incomplete), 1957
onwards.
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) onwards.
Private Acts 1815-1885.
Edinburgh
Local Acts 1797 (38 Geo.3) - 1884 (virtually complete). Private
Acts 1815-1884.
Edinburgh
Local Acts 1900 onwards. For the period 1900-1971 the holding is of
Scottish Local Acts only.
Edinburgh
Local Acts 1801 onwards. Private Acts 1815 onwards.
Stormont
Local Acts 1810, 1812, 1813, 1815, 1816, 1821, 1822, 1826,
1828-1835, 1837, 1839, 1854, 1862-1864, 1873-1901, 1903 onwards.
Local and Personal Acts passed by the Parliament of Northern
Ireland 1921-1972.
City of Dundee District Libraries
City of Edinburgh District Libraries
Queens University, Belfast, Government Publications Department,
Main Library
Local Acts are frequently repealed or amended by local Statutory Rules and Orders and local Statutory Instruments. The details of such repeals and amendments are generally difficult to trace because the annual editions of Statutory Rules and Orders published between 1890 and 1947 and of Statutory Instruments published between 1948 and 1988 list only the numbers, titles and subject matter of such local orders and instruments but do not contain their actual texts. After 1988 the annual edition of Statutory Instruments includes the texts of selected local instruments. Copies of local instruments recently issued by HMSO may be obtained from that office.
No comprehensive collection of the texts of local Statutory Rules and Orders for the period 1890-1921 has yet been found. The most comprehensive collections of the texts of local orders and instruments for the period after 1922 is held by the Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU (Tel:020 8876 3444) and the British Library, Official Publications and Social Science Service, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB (Tel. 020 7412 7000). 14
The Solicitor’s Library and Information Centre, Department of Trade and Industry, 10-18 Victoria Street, London SW1H ONN (Tel 020 7215 3039) holds the texts of local orders and instruments made by the Board of Trade between 1920 and 1945 and of local orders and instruments in general made between 1946 and 1987.
[1] The Statute Law Committee was succeeded in 1991 by the Advisory Committee on Statute Law whose members are listed in Dod’s Parliamentary Companion and Whitaker’s Almanack. [ back ]
[2] see: Report on the Chronological Table of Local Legislation (1996) Law Com No 241; Scot Law Com No 155; Cm 3301. [ back ]
[3] This online version of the Local Act Table incorporates the cumulative annual supplements 1995-2000 prepared by the Statutory Publications Section of His Majesty’s Stationery Office which in April 1997assumed responsibility for the Table of both the Statutory Publications Office and the Law Commission. [ back ]
[4] Until the end of 1867 Provisional Order Confirmation Acts were included in the Public General Acts. Included in this Table are 1) Provisional Order Confirmation Acts classified as Public Acts of a Local Character (1868-1963) and Provisional Order Confirmation Acts 1964-1980 and 2) Acts confirming Provisional Orders made under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1899 or under the consolidating Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936. [ back ]
[5] It has not been possible to record the effects of all local subordinate legislation in the Local Act Table. No comprehensive collection of the texts of local Statutory Rules and Orders for the period 1890-1921 has yet been found. The Statutory Publications Office holds the most readily available comprehensive collection of local orders and instruments for the period after 1922, but there are gaps in that collection notably for 1942, 1950, 1951 and part of 1952 (Statutory Instruments 1994 (HMSO 1995), Part 1, Section 1, p.vii). See also the note on Local Subordinate Legislation below. [ back ]
[6] Examples of these are: Electricity Act 1947, ss.57(3) proviso, 57(7); Gas Act 1948, ss.56(2) proviso, 67(2), 76; Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950, ss.15(3), 17(2), 24(2); Transport Charges &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1954, s.14(2)-(5); Local Government Act 1972, s.262(9); Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, s.225(6); Water Act 1973, s.30(9)(10); New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, ss.101(1)-(3), 160(1)-(3). [ back ]
[7] This work is published annually in cumulative form by The Stationery Office Limited. Modern editions are arranged in four sections comprising: 1. Acts of the Parliaments at Westminster from 1235 onwards as they affect Great Britain but excluding the series of private Acts (1539 onwards) and the series of local and personal Acts (1797 onwards). 2. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland (1424-1707). 3. Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999 onwards). 4. Church Assembly Measures (1920-1971) and General Synod Measures (1972 onwards). There is a separate Chronological Table of the Statutes, Northern Ireland, arranged in four parts, which covers Irish legislation from 1310 onwards and United Kingdom legislation as it affects Northern Ireland.work is published annually in cumulative form by H.M. Stationery Office. [ back ]
[8] HMSO 1996 ISBN 0 11 043003 4 and The Stationery Office Ltd 1999 ISBN 0 11 043003 4 respectively. This Alphabetical Index with cross references also covers the titles of the Private Acts between the dates 1850-1995. The index was compiled (Rosemary Devine) at the Private Bill Office, House of Lords. [ back ]
[9] The Chronological Table of the Statutes gives details of repeals and amendments of Orders confirmed by Provisional Order Confirmation Acts which were included in the Public General Acts until the end of 1867. [ back ]
[10] e.g. Local Government Act 1972; Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. [ back ]
[11] In contrast, the Chronological Table of the Statutes generally lists only the total repeal of the Act concerned. Details of earlier partial repeals of Acts which are recorded as wholly repealed in the Chronological Table of the Statutes can be found in earlier editions of that work. Such details for Local Acts are recorded in this Table since they would otherwise never be recorded at all. [ back ]
[12] e.g. Cheshire County Council Act 1980 (c.xiii), s. 112(1), sch.3 pt.l; West Yorkshire Act 1980 (c.xiv), s.95(1), sch.5 pt.l; Derbyshire Act 1981 (c.xxxiv), s.65(1), sch.6 pt.1. [ back ]
[13] Local Acts were between 1797 and 1869 officially styled ’Local and Personal Acts’ (see section 3 above) and researchers are asked to bear this in mind when making enquiries in Law libraries. [ back ]
[14] There are gaps in these collections notably for 1942, 1950, 1951 and part of 1952 (Statutory Instruments 1992 (HMSO 1994), Part 1, Section 1, p.vii). [ back ]
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