Law - Acts and Regulations

Headings on this page :

Examples
Introduction
Looking at Acts and Regulations - the Net, libraries etc
Related web pages

Much of the CharityBags website focuses on the law on house-to-house collections - and how the law can be used to stop misleading and bogus collections. The 'law' here mostly means Acts and Regulations.

Acts and Regulations aren't rocket science - you don't need to be a lawyer to understand them. But there are a few basics you need to grasp. So we wrote this page to help.

By the way (although we did courses on law at college), we're not lawyers - so don't treat the information on this page as 100% authoritative.

1. Examples

Acts :

Regulations :

2. Introduction

Acts of Parliament

Acts are also known as 'Statutes'.

How is an Act created?

It starts life as a green paper (for consultation).
After this, the government issues a white paper with firm proposals.
The proposals are introduced into Parliament as a Bill - where it's debated and amended.
Finally it's approved by both Houses of Parliament (the House of Commons and the House of Lords).
The Queen gives 'Royal Assent' - by signing it. Then it becomes an Act.

The paragraphs of Bills are called clauses. Once a Bill becomes an Act, clauses are referred to as sections.

Subdivision. Acts are divided into parts, chapters, then sections, then subsections. There are appendices, called 'schedules'.

Dates. Sometimes there are several Acts with the same name (eg the Charities Act) - so you have to specify the year of the Act to avoid confusion.

Regulations (and Orders)

These are known as statutory instruments (SIs for short) and they deal with detail. They form subordinate, secondary legislation. They put the flesh on the bones of an Act.

Regulations can only be made if an Act makes provision for them. For example, the 1939 Act states in section 4(1) :

"4.(1) The Secretary of State may make regulations for prescribing anything which by this Act is required to be prescribed, and for regulating the manner in which collections ... may be carried out and the conduct of promoters and collectors in relation to such collections."

The Regulations which resulted from this are the House to House Collections Regulations 1947.

General points

'Legislation' means the law.

Statute law and common law :

Statute law - means Acts and Regulations.
Common law - means law which is based on cases decided in the courts (by judges).

Primary and secondary legislation :

'Primary legislation' - means Acts.
'Secondary legislation' - means Regulations.

When do Acts come into force?

Some Acts come into force immediately.
Some Acts come into force later - on a specified date.
Parts of some Acts don't come into force until a Regulation is issued.
Example - The Charities Act 2006 includes new rules for charitable collections. But these won't come into force until a Regulation is issued. As at November 2009, this is likely to be in 2011.

Amendments. Beware - the original versions of Acts and Regulations are often amended later, by subsequent legislation. Amendments consist of additions, deletions and/or modifications. Sometimes the entire Act is repealed. So, when you look at an Act, make sure you look at a copy that's up-to-date - in other words a copy which includes all the amendments.

Example - The 1939 Act (see above) was amended by the Local Government Act 1972. This transferred the licensing of house-to-house collections in all areas (except London) from the police to district councils.

Content. Acts and Regulations are very carefully worded. Also they have a strong, clear structure - an intense use of numbering, sub-divisions, cross-references etc. However, they can appear dry, soulless, almost pedantic and difficult to understand.

Guides to the law. To help people understand the law, various publishers have produced guides/commentaries to specific areas of legislation. These publishers include Butterworths, Sweet and Maxwell and the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).

These guides aim to present the law in a more digestible form, providing explanation, giving case law, and describing any alterations made later. Some are loose-leaf format (using ring binders), and the publishers send update sheets to subscribers every two months or so.

Most of the guides cover one area of law (such as charities, companies or data protection). An area of law usually has several Acts affecting it.

See the report on charitable collections by the Home Office (2003) for a nice summary of collection law.

3. Looking at Acts and Regulations

On the Net :

The original text - The website of the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) includes the full text of all Acts dating from 1988 onwards, and all Statutory Instruments from 1987.
The text is as originally enacted - in other words, it doesn't incorporate amendments.
There are two formats - a web version (HTML) and a print version (Acrobat PDF).
They can be searched, downloaded and printed. Access is free.
Note - HMSO is part of OPSI.
Amended text - The UK Statute Law Database (SLD) This includes amendments made by subsequent legislation. It's also produced by OPSI.

Libraries. You can see copies of Acts and Regulations in the reference sections of some larger public libraries and college libraries. You can photocopy them legitimately - see above.

Purchasing. You can buy up-to-date copies of Acts and Regulations from the Stationery Office Ltd (TSO) and via bookshops. The purchase price is intended to cover printing and distribution costs only.

'Statutes in Force'. This is a massive multi-volume loose-leaf publication (using ring binders). It's produced by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) - a central government agency - in conjunction with The Stationery Office (TSO). Subscribers to it (such as libraries) receive updated pages from time to time. It comprises all Acts and Regulations which are still in force. It's been largely superseded by the UK Statute Law Database (see above).

4. Related web pages

Government
Law
Copyright - the section concerning the waiving of Crown Copyright by HMSO in respect of Acts and Regulations
Useful links - eg for details of OPSI, HMSO and The Stationery Office
The law on house-to-house collections
House to House Collections Act 1939 - Our introduction
The law on street collections
The Government's charity law reforms (the Charities Act 2006)
Freedom of information (FoI) and open government