How to find the up to date text of an Act of Parliament?
May 27, 2010 3:22 PM Subscribe
How do legal professionals obtain up to date texts of statutes? This is for lawyers in "common law" jurisdictions--The former British commonwealth and the USA, basically.
Prompted by this article, I am trying to find out how legal professionals in common-law countries (in which I am including the USA--the federal government and all 50 states) work out what the law actually says. In all common-law countries the basis of the law is now mostly statute and statutes are frequently amended. Some countries publish up-to-date texts, some do not. I want to find out how legal professionals, in countries that do not, establish what the law is. Please believe me, this is not a stupid question--some countries seem to waste a lot of court time arguing about what the text of a statute actually is (that is, to what extent it has been amended). So if you are a legal professional in a country/state that doesn't publish an "official" text, what do you do? Rely on services like LexisNexis (on line or on paper), on your own research or that of a small army of research assistants, or what?
I realise this might be a bit far off the beaten track, but for the life of me I can't think of another forum I could post this to with any reasonable expectation of a useful answer in any reasonable time. I'm involved professionally with this general issue, I should add.
Thanlks in advance for any help you can give.
Prompted by this article, I am trying to find out how legal professionals in common-law countries (in which I am including the USA--the federal government and all 50 states) work out what the law actually says. In all common-law countries the basis of the law is now mostly statute and statutes are frequently amended. Some countries publish up-to-date texts, some do not. I want to find out how legal professionals, in countries that do not, establish what the law is. Please believe me, this is not a stupid question--some countries seem to waste a lot of court time arguing about what the text of a statute actually is (that is, to what extent it has been amended). So if you are a legal professional in a country/state that doesn't publish an "official" text, what do you do? Rely on services like LexisNexis (on line or on paper), on your own research or that of a small army of research assistants, or what?
I realise this might be a bit far off the beaten track, but for the life of me I can't think of another forum I could post this to with any reasonable expectation of a useful answer in any reasonable time. I'm involved professionally with this general issue, I should add.
Thanlks in advance for any help you can give.
Westlaw or LexisNexis is the best bet for reasonably accurate, up-to-date information -- they are, of course, unreasonably expensive if you're not in government or at a law school.
Google Scholar is trying to end Westlaw and Lexis' monopoly on organized, searchable legal information, but isn't there quite yet.
If all else fails, you can go to your local law school library and ask the librarian for help.
posted by eugenen at 3:38 PM on May 27, 2010
Google Scholar is trying to end Westlaw and Lexis' monopoly on organized, searchable legal information, but isn't there quite yet.
If all else fails, you can go to your local law school library and ask the librarian for help.
posted by eugenen at 3:38 PM on May 27, 2010
Lexis or Westlaw, yes. Sometimes if I'm just looking for the statute, I'll go directly to the state's website, where they keep the text of the code online.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 3:40 PM on May 27, 2010
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 3:40 PM on May 27, 2010
In Canada, there are a few different ways.
One is to look at the provinces' or the federal websites, for example. New amendments are published in the various Royal Gazettes, the official proclamations of the week.
Alternatively, you can use LexisNexis, or Westlaw, or CanLii (by the way, I strongly suggest taking a look at worldLii.
And then alternatively, there are books, from the big commercial groups, or yearly published by the government printer. Generally speaking, the print material is the best way to do historical research - finding old amendments and old versions is near-impossible online.
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:40 PM on May 27, 2010 [1 favorite]
One is to look at the provinces' or the federal websites, for example. New amendments are published in the various Royal Gazettes, the official proclamations of the week.
Alternatively, you can use LexisNexis, or Westlaw, or CanLii (by the way, I strongly suggest taking a look at worldLii.
And then alternatively, there are books, from the big commercial groups, or yearly published by the government printer. Generally speaking, the print material is the best way to do historical research - finding old amendments and old versions is near-impossible online.
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:40 PM on May 27, 2010 [1 favorite]
The vast majority of lawyers in the United States use Lexis and or Westlaw for all of these things. (Those services also usually provide relatively easy access to the amendment history of the statute, prior versions of the statute, etc.). For federal statutes, I prefer working out of a PDF of the U.S. Code (available here), but only once I know that the statute hasn't been changed too recently.
Municipal codes are a little trickier, since they don't seem to universally indexed by West or Lexis, but third party websites usually have them (like municode). I don't know any lawyer under the age of 50 who works out of books.
posted by willbaude at 4:13 PM on May 27, 2010
Municipal codes are a little trickier, since they don't seem to universally indexed by West or Lexis, but third party websites usually have them (like municode). I don't know any lawyer under the age of 50 who works out of books.
posted by willbaude at 4:13 PM on May 27, 2010
USA: Lexis, Westlaw, CCH (both online and books). Those are the tools I use. But I deal mostly with federal law, and federal law is generally codified into the US Code. So one needn't read the text of acts of Congress -- the acts are generally framed in terms of the amendments they make to the US Code, whose up-to-date text then constitutes the body of statutes in force.
(All of these sources have up-to-date US state statutes as well.)
posted by grobstein at 4:29 PM on May 27, 2010
(All of these sources have up-to-date US state statutes as well.)
posted by grobstein at 4:29 PM on May 27, 2010
I am in a jurisdiction where an "official" text is published; however I would use LexisNexis or Westlaw in any event. This is the case with every other lawyer I know.
Not only can you locate a current version of the law, but you can be linked to the previous versions of the statute and/or the legislation amending the statute.
There are books that do this too (I have had to use them at the law library when looking up changes to a law that happened decades ago) but the online resources are faster.
Lawyers at firms without librarians usually delegate research tasks like this to interning law students or junior associates.
posted by AV at 4:33 PM on May 27, 2010
Not only can you locate a current version of the law, but you can be linked to the previous versions of the statute and/or the legislation amending the statute.
There are books that do this too (I have had to use them at the law library when looking up changes to a law that happened decades ago) but the online resources are faster.
Lawyers at firms without librarians usually delegate research tasks like this to interning law students or junior associates.
posted by AV at 4:33 PM on May 27, 2010
I'm having trouble understanding your question - Do you ONLY want to hear from people who work in jurisdictions where the law is not updated? In my jurisdiction, the state puts out new laws every 2 years, plus some in special sessions. We carry along the most recently updated text on just the criminal laws - so it's one book to bring to court. Then we use the internet (a free service for bar members called Fast Case) to check for older versions or changes to the law. This is also how we check for changes to the law caused by Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions in our state.
posted by Happydaz at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2010
posted by Happydaz at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2010
Your link is more about how statutes and common law are not drafted in a way that is understandable by non-lawyers. So, is your question about how non-lawyers can get the same information that lawyer have about updated law?
The thing is, the entire body of law changes at a rapid rate, and a lot of new precedent is made every day. But not all of those changes are relevant to every lawyer. Also, these changes are usually fairly incremental, meaning that if you have a good basic understanding of the law, then you just need to learn a bit more about a few new nuances when the law changes.
In a sense, legal updates are crowd-sourced. I am personally updated on a few areas of the law as the changes are made in 2 ways: (1) keeping my eye on how the legislature is changing the statutes I care about, and (2) reading daily journals that identify new changes from the appellate courts. I only care about a few legal issues, so I can ignore most of the changes. Other lawyers do the same thing, but in their own legal specialties.
If I am suddenly faced with an issue that I don't normally keep track of, I can find another lawyer that does keep track of it and ask him what the up-to-date law is. In fact, there is a network of lawyers that I keep in touch with that specialize in different areas that I can call when I have a question about that area of law. That's the crowd-sourcing I speak of.
At the end of every year, there are people (usually lawyers) that put on seminars discussing recent changes in different areas of law. I might go to these to keep updated on things I may have missed, or in legal areas that are tangential to my specialties. Also, some people keep updated treatises on different legal specialties.
Luckily, places like Westlaw and LexisNexis also keep track of all of these updates (but not necessarily in a format that is easy to digest).
So, if you want to keep updated on the law like legal professionals, pick an area to specialize in. Find out what the relevant statutes are and just pay attention when they are updated. Additionally, find out what cases are going through the courts that are relevant to your specialization, and pay attention to how they are decided. Every year, find out who is giving legal seminars on updates in your specialty to attend. And make sure you have the updates to the legal treatises in your specialty. Finally, network with other people that are keeping track of other legal specialties.
This is really kind of a gloss. Keeping updated on current law something you learn beginning in law school, and over time during your profession as a lawyer.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:31 PM on May 27, 2010
The thing is, the entire body of law changes at a rapid rate, and a lot of new precedent is made every day. But not all of those changes are relevant to every lawyer. Also, these changes are usually fairly incremental, meaning that if you have a good basic understanding of the law, then you just need to learn a bit more about a few new nuances when the law changes.
In a sense, legal updates are crowd-sourced. I am personally updated on a few areas of the law as the changes are made in 2 ways: (1) keeping my eye on how the legislature is changing the statutes I care about, and (2) reading daily journals that identify new changes from the appellate courts. I only care about a few legal issues, so I can ignore most of the changes. Other lawyers do the same thing, but in their own legal specialties.
If I am suddenly faced with an issue that I don't normally keep track of, I can find another lawyer that does keep track of it and ask him what the up-to-date law is. In fact, there is a network of lawyers that I keep in touch with that specialize in different areas that I can call when I have a question about that area of law. That's the crowd-sourcing I speak of.
At the end of every year, there are people (usually lawyers) that put on seminars discussing recent changes in different areas of law. I might go to these to keep updated on things I may have missed, or in legal areas that are tangential to my specialties. Also, some people keep updated treatises on different legal specialties.
Luckily, places like Westlaw and LexisNexis also keep track of all of these updates (but not necessarily in a format that is easy to digest).
So, if you want to keep updated on the law like legal professionals, pick an area to specialize in. Find out what the relevant statutes are and just pay attention when they are updated. Additionally, find out what cases are going through the courts that are relevant to your specialization, and pay attention to how they are decided. Every year, find out who is giving legal seminars on updates in your specialty to attend. And make sure you have the updates to the legal treatises in your specialty. Finally, network with other people that are keeping track of other legal specialties.
This is really kind of a gloss. Keeping updated on current law something you learn beginning in law school, and over time during your profession as a lawyer.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:31 PM on May 27, 2010
In your question of "how to find out what the law is," I think you are giving undue precedence (heh) to statutes. As jabberjaw alluded, you can't get the whole picture by reading statutes alone. Since you're specifically asking about common-law jurisdictions, keep in mind what exactly that means: judges interpret and fine-tune the application of a given statute in given real-life situations. This is contrasted by a civil law regime like in Quebec.
If you just pick up a piece of legislation and read it dry without reference to the line of cases that follows, you may be seeing only a small piece of the puzzle.
Luckily, services like Westlaw (and in Canada, CanLii and eCarswell) allow you to "note up" (or "Sheperdize") statutes as well as cases, so you can get the whole picture at a glance.
Often the best thing to do is read a textbook/encyclopaedia entry on a given area of law, and that will give you the whole picture including the statute itself and judicial interpretations of it. Then all you have to do is head to your computer and ensure the legislation hasn't changed, and the cases cited haven't been overturned and/or distinguished.
Even with all that work, you're right: there can still be reasonable arguments on both sides about what the law "really is" on a given issue. That's what keeps us all paid!
posted by Pomo at 5:51 PM on May 27, 2010
If you just pick up a piece of legislation and read it dry without reference to the line of cases that follows, you may be seeing only a small piece of the puzzle.
Luckily, services like Westlaw (and in Canada, CanLii and eCarswell) allow you to "note up" (or "Sheperdize") statutes as well as cases, so you can get the whole picture at a glance.
Often the best thing to do is read a textbook/encyclopaedia entry on a given area of law, and that will give you the whole picture including the statute itself and judicial interpretations of it. Then all you have to do is head to your computer and ensure the legislation hasn't changed, and the cases cited haven't been overturned and/or distinguished.
Even with all that work, you're right: there can still be reasonable arguments on both sides about what the law "really is" on a given issue. That's what keeps us all paid!
posted by Pomo at 5:51 PM on May 27, 2010
In US law: At least for regulations, you can get RSS feeds of updates for your desired agency/commission/department at the following link:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#rss
If you're practicing in, say, customs law, you can get updates, rulings, etc., in your Google Reader as they're updated. Very convenient.
posted by holterbarbour at 6:17 PM on May 27, 2010
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#rss
If you're practicing in, say, customs law, you can get updates, rulings, etc., in your Google Reader as they're updated. Very convenient.
posted by holterbarbour at 6:17 PM on May 27, 2010
Best answer: This is one of the reasons why, in the US, lawyers tend to treat librarians well (unlike most other professions). Good law librarians can make a very good living.
If you are interested in specific bits and bobs, some law schools will allow the public to use their libraries. Most federal courthouses in the US have a library, many of those are open to the public. Some will have access to non-US material.
Westlaw isn't that cheap if you are in the government.
posted by QIbHom at 6:38 PM on May 27, 2010
If you are interested in specific bits and bobs, some law schools will allow the public to use their libraries. Most federal courthouses in the US have a library, many of those are open to the public. Some will have access to non-US material.
Westlaw isn't that cheap if you are in the government.
posted by QIbHom at 6:38 PM on May 27, 2010
Response by poster: OK, time to drop the mask a bit. I said I was "professionally involved"--I actually work in the Irish legislative drafting office. Previously I was a legislative drafter in Australia and I have also drafted in the UK. In Australia (Commonwealth) there is Comlaw, and I know about AustLii, BaiLii and WorldLii. Comlaw publishes an up to date "as amended" text as soon as the amendment happens, and the texts although not guaranteed error-free are reliable enough that most people rely on them. What I was looking for is, if there isn't a service like Comlaw available, what do professionals do? I accept that in specialised areas like corporate law or family law people tend to use published services with annotations, but these don't cover everything. I use LexisNexis's online service in the UK, but it isn't absolutely error-free. In Ireland there is nothing with complete coverage. IrLii just publishes all the Acts and statutory instruments as enacted and leaves you on your own from there. I assume all the other WorldLii's are similar unless there is an official text available--in Australia, AustLii used to take their up to date texts from the official Comlaw text.
I also accept that Vincent Browne gave the drafting a bit of a serve, although he loaded the dice a bit by setting the quotation out as one long paragraph rather than as it would have been when originally published. No, I didn't draft it.
But thanks for all the help. Basically, things are pretty much as I thought. I'll mark QIbHom's as "best answer" because of the reference to law librarians.
Pomo: Then all you have to do is head to your computer and ensure the legislation hasn't changed ... This is the bit I'm interested in! Some places make this harder than others. Ireland is one that makes it unreasonably (IMHO) difficult.
posted by Logophiliac at 12:16 AM on May 28, 2010
I also accept that Vincent Browne gave the drafting a bit of a serve, although he loaded the dice a bit by setting the quotation out as one long paragraph rather than as it would have been when originally published. No, I didn't draft it.
But thanks for all the help. Basically, things are pretty much as I thought. I'll mark QIbHom's as "best answer" because of the reference to law librarians.
Pomo: Then all you have to do is head to your computer and ensure the legislation hasn't changed ... This is the bit I'm interested in! Some places make this harder than others. Ireland is one that makes it unreasonably (IMHO) difficult.
posted by Logophiliac at 12:16 AM on May 28, 2010
This is the bit I'm interested in!
Ah! Sorry, I was thrown by the "what the law really is" portion, and got off on the jurisprudence tangent.
I would most trust the version of a statute published on the given legislative body's website, because that at least has an "current to" date even though the site disclaims it as the official version. Makes it a bit better than CanLii or QuickLaw. If you want the real deal, it's back to dead trees:
This Internet version of the Statutes and Regulations of British Columbia is for private study or research purposes only, and is not the official version. The Province of British Columbia does not warrant the accuracy or the completeness of this electronic version of the Statutes and Regulations, nor that this website will function without error, failure or interruption. In no event will the Province be liable or responsible for damages of any kind arising out of the use of this website.
Persons who need to rely on the text of the Statutes and Regulations for legal and other purposes may obtain the Queen's Printer official printed version of the 1996 Revised Statutes of British Columbia and subsequent consolidations, individual consolidated Acts or Regulations from Crown Publications, Queen's Printer(www.crownpub.bc.ca), Telephone: 800 663-6105 or 250 387-6409.
posted by Pomo at 7:33 AM on May 28, 2010
Ah! Sorry, I was thrown by the "what the law really is" portion, and got off on the jurisprudence tangent.
I would most trust the version of a statute published on the given legislative body's website, because that at least has an "current to" date even though the site disclaims it as the official version. Makes it a bit better than CanLii or QuickLaw. If you want the real deal, it's back to dead trees:
This Internet version of the Statutes and Regulations of British Columbia is for private study or research purposes only, and is not the official version. The Province of British Columbia does not warrant the accuracy or the completeness of this electronic version of the Statutes and Regulations, nor that this website will function without error, failure or interruption. In no event will the Province be liable or responsible for damages of any kind arising out of the use of this website.
Persons who need to rely on the text of the Statutes and Regulations for legal and other purposes may obtain the Queen's Printer official printed version of the 1996 Revised Statutes of British Columbia and subsequent consolidations, individual consolidated Acts or Regulations from Crown Publications, Queen's Printer(www.crownpub.bc.ca), Telephone: 800 663-6105 or 250 387-6409.
posted by Pomo at 7:33 AM on May 28, 2010
If you want the real deal, it's back to dead trees:
That depends on the jurisdiction, though. If you're looking at the federal govt of Canada, then it is the official version on the web.
Are the consolidated Acts and regulations the official versions?
Yes. As of June 1, 2009, all consolidated Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Web site are "official", meaning that they can be used for evidentiary purposes. This is the result of the coming into force on that date of amendments made to the Statute Revision Act, which has been renamed the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act. For more information see the Important Note page and section 31 of the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act.
posted by Lemurrhea at 8:27 AM on May 28, 2010
That depends on the jurisdiction, though. If you're looking at the federal govt of Canada, then it is the official version on the web.
Are the consolidated Acts and regulations the official versions?
Yes. As of June 1, 2009, all consolidated Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Web site are "official", meaning that they can be used for evidentiary purposes. This is the result of the coming into force on that date of amendments made to the Statute Revision Act, which has been renamed the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act. For more information see the Important Note page and section 31 of the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act.
posted by Lemurrhea at 8:27 AM on May 28, 2010
That's fantastic, Lemurrhea! Hadn't heard about the new rule as I rarely reference federal legislation. Good to know.
posted by Pomo at 8:50 AM on May 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Pomo at 8:50 AM on May 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
I use LexisNexis's online service in the UK, but it isn't absolutely error-free. In Ireland there is nothing with complete coverage. IrLii just publishes all the Acts and statutory instruments as enacted and leaves you on your own from there.
Interesting. It seems that there is a legitimate gap in information access here that needs to be filled. I suppose if you are industrious enough, you might be able to capitalize on this.
posted by jabberjaw at 10:38 AM on May 28, 2010
Interesting. It seems that there is a legitimate gap in information access here that needs to be filled. I suppose if you are industrious enough, you might be able to capitalize on this.
posted by jabberjaw at 10:38 AM on May 28, 2010
I find Westlaw to be superior to LexisNexis in England, FWIW. The icons next to acts/parts/sections tell you whether it's been amended, repealed, or even facing amendment. It's at-a-glance "is it up to date?"
posted by djgh at 11:46 AM on May 28, 2010
posted by djgh at 11:46 AM on May 28, 2010
Those types of features are helpful, djgh, but the service-providers still refuse to guarantee the results. Their small print tells you to consult the official government version if you are relying on the statute wording for legal purposes. Reasonable enough, I suppose, but still extra work if you want to be absolutely certain you're up-to-date.
posted by Pomo at 1:32 PM on May 28, 2010
posted by Pomo at 1:32 PM on May 28, 2010
Logophiliac undoubtedly knows this, but for the benefit of other readers -
Laws aren't always made by the legislature. Some are "delegated" - they are made by the order of a minister, officer or some official body, or by reference to laws made by other legislatures. This is much easier than passing new legislation every time you want to, e.g., control a new variety of medication, but it can make it very hard to work out what the law (including applicable regulations) currently is or what it was at a particular point in time. You just have to hope that the body making the regulations makes them easily available, or that the service you use keeps track of them. Things are especially tough for J Random Notalawyer who wants to comply with the law - they need to know what legislation governs the thing they're interested in, what powers it delegates, and how to find a record of the delegated legislation.
Here's an example. A few years ago an Australian guy imported a quantity of some new "designer drug". He didn't know that a recent regulation had made it illegal. He was found guilty of arranging for its importation and the fact that he had actually tried to find out whether it was illegal - and failed - was no defense.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:53 AM on May 30, 2010
Laws aren't always made by the legislature. Some are "delegated" - they are made by the order of a minister, officer or some official body, or by reference to laws made by other legislatures. This is much easier than passing new legislation every time you want to, e.g., control a new variety of medication, but it can make it very hard to work out what the law (including applicable regulations) currently is or what it was at a particular point in time. You just have to hope that the body making the regulations makes them easily available, or that the service you use keeps track of them. Things are especially tough for J Random Notalawyer who wants to comply with the law - they need to know what legislation governs the thing they're interested in, what powers it delegates, and how to find a record of the delegated legislation.
Here's an example. A few years ago an Australian guy imported a quantity of some new "designer drug". He didn't know that a recent regulation had made it illegal. He was found guilty of arranging for its importation and the fact that he had actually tried to find out whether it was illegal - and failed - was no defense.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:53 AM on May 30, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Hard-copy publications are less than useful because it takes so long to publish and so you're always updating and throwing out reams and reams of paper. Once upon a time "pocket parts" used to be the updated version used to modify or change a publication over time. These would be updated regularly by someone working in the library (many firms and government agencies have libraries of their own), until the new publication came out which would have incorporated all of those changes. As a researcher, you would need to check that pocket part in order to make sure that you weren't missing something crucial.
Now, with electronic cross-referencing, that's become less of an issue. You can not only see that something has been changed, but you can see when and you can usually get linked to useful related information.
posted by greekphilosophy at 3:34 PM on May 27, 2010