Before 1963 an Act was cited according to the regnal year (that is, the number of years since the monarch's accession). You may see references to legislation in this format in early publications – for example, Act of Supremacy 1534 (26 Hen 8 c1). However, for all Acts (including pre-1963) you should use the short title of the Act, with the year in which it was enacted. Most Acts and parts of Acts are now available as PDFs or web pages to be viewed online, so reference the website where you located the Act.
NB As the date appears in the title of the Acts, there is no need to repeat the date in round brackets after the title.
If you are referencing documents from more than one country (jurisdiction), include the country (jurisdiction) in round brackets after the title of the documentation.
Most legislation is now available online, so to reference an Act of Parliament (post 1963) your citation order should be:
- Title of Act including year and chapter (in italics)
- Country/jurisdiction (only include this if you are referencing legislation from more than one country)
- Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
For example (whole Act):
Your in-text citation would be:
Recent social care legislation (Health and Social Care Act 2012) ...
Your reference list entry would be:
Health and Social Care Act 2012, c.7. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/7/contents/enacted (Accessed: 17 September 2018).
For example (section of an Act):
Your in-text citation would be:
As defined in section 10(2) of the Act (Children Act 2004) ...
Your reference list entry would be:
Children Act 2004, c. 31. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/31/contents (Accessed: 17 September 2018).
This advice is courtesy of Cite Them Right, 11th edition, or for more information on referencing see our Referencing Library Guide: https://libguides.brunel.ac.uk/referencing
