Statute Law database

The Statute Law Databse was released to the public on 20 December 2006. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/.

-DCA Press release

Read some of background about the SLD in these Guardian articles:

-At last, the price is right for access to our laws

-Access denied to the laws that govern us

With SLD you can:

- view amended legislation as it has changed over time
the green "A" icon will reveal the "attributes" of the legislation (e.g. start date, extent) and let you move between versions

- see how legislation will be affected by amendments not yet in force
the blue "P" icon indicates provisions, and versions of amended provisions, that have not yet been brought into force

- see how legislation has been amended for different jurisdictions
the yellow "C" icon denotes provisions that have "concurrent versions" (e.g. one for England and Wales and another for Scotland)

- navigate links between affecting and affected legislation
the purple arrow appears in affecting legislation against an amendment etc that has been applied and will take you to the affected legislation

- search the text of legislation for words and phrases
when you complete a text search, the red star icon will appear in the results list to show you which provisions match your search criteria