| Official .gov.uk web sites | |
| www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts.htm |
The full text of all UK Parliament Public General Acts (from 1988 onwards)
and all Local Acts (from 1991 onwards) as they were originally enacted.
However, you need a pretty good idea of
where you're headed before you go there - preferably knowing exactly which act
of which year you're after.
(This page states that legislation made prior to 1988 is only available in its original print format as before this date legislation was not produced electronically) |
| www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/stat.htm | All published Statutory Instrument from 1987 onwards. Although numbered in the same Statutory Instrument series, non-print/unpublished Statutory Instruments which are generally of local application are not published. As above, you need to know what you want to see. |
| www.statutelaw.gov.uk/Home.aspx |
The UK Statute Law Database (SLD) from the Department for Constitutional
Affairs is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the
United Kingdom made available online.
The importance of this one is that notwithstanding what www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk says, acts can be found here that predate 1988 by a long way - for example, the Highway Act, 1835 (interestingly enough, only two clauses of that remain current, and one of them is that you mustn't ride on the pavement). Within the help system of this web site there's a pretty good brief overview of UK legislation which covers what primary or secondary legislation is, statutory instruments, bye-laws etc. |
| http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/ | The Highway Code is not generally law, but it really is essential reading for everyone that goes out on the highway (including pavements) alone. The web site is useful, but I earnestly believe that everyone that rides a bike should have a real paper copy too, and buy a new one every time it's revised. An aside: once upon a time this was usefully found at the address www.highwaycode.gov.uk. The some ignorant, stupid, unimaginative clot decided that it would be easier to put (and I quote) "Public services all in one place", and came up with the snappy URL you see here. If you should ever meet the person that made this decision, please tell them they are a fool, from me. |
| Other law reference sites | |
| www.bailii.org |
This one is not an official government website, but has a much wider range of
content than any of teh government sites.
The British and Irish Legal Information Institute website has British
and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission
reports, and other law-related British and Irish material.
For the avoidance of doubt, my site does not consider Irish law - because I personally am not interested in (subject to) it. |
| Other sites and articles | |
| bike for all - cycling and the law | A one-page summary of some key legal cycling issues. Quite an easy read, with some stepping-off points to more detailed investigations (including case law references). |
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