LibGuides: English Legal Materials: Historical Statutes

Guide to UK Statutes

Harvard Law Library's United Kingdom Statutory Research Guide

HeinOnline's World Constitutions Illustrated

United Kingdom Laws Concerning Constitutional Matters
From 1100 (Henry I) to 1952- (Elizabeth II); See also sources under commentaries, scholarly articles, bibliography of select constitutional works and external links for United Kingdom.

Historical Statutes

Note that early English statutes are often cited to based on the year of the monarch in power's reign (the regnal year) rather than the calendar year. You will likely want to consult a table of Regnal Years

Regnal years of English monarchs

Statutes of the Realm (1225-1713) (12 vols)
This set includes the Statutes or Acts of the Parliament of England and of Great Britain from 1235 to 1713. It is accompanied by an Alphabetical Index and a Chronological Index. It also includes statutes no longer in force.

2, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660
Contains statutes passed during the rule of Oliver Cromwell.

Library: KD 130 1642 .F57

3, Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility (1235-1910) (16 vols)

Library: KD 130 1235 .C343

Historical Legislative Materials

British History Online's Primary Sources & Secondary Texts
- "Built by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles." (from the "About Us" page)
- Includes Primary Sources (e.g. the journals of the houses of Parliament), Secondary Texts, Guides and Calendars, Gazetteers and Dictionaries, and Maps.
- Primary Sources include the full-text editions of the Debates of the Commons (Grey), 1667-94, in 10 volumes; Commons Journal, volumes 1-12 (1547-1699) & 85 (1830), in 13 volumes; the Records of Eyres (court records of intinerent justices) from the 13th century, in 2 volumes; and Lords Journal (the official record of the proceedings in the House), 1509-1717, 1832-4, in 23 volumes.
- Searching: Full-text simple searches or browsing by region, subject, period, type of source.
- Documents in HTML format.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1715 to present)
- The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) "now includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688."
- Searching: Full text searchable, along with detailed indexing or may browse the subject catalogue or the 19th century by year.
- "My Archive" allows users to create a personal account, in which searches and selected records may be saved.