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Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales

From 1788 to 1823, the governors of New South Wales legislated by General Orders and proclamations. Orders to 1803 were reprinted in the Historical Records of Australia, Series I (see library catalogues for holdings). Orders from 1804-1823 were published in the Sydney Gazette.

The New South Wales Legislative Council was established in 1824, and its acts were published as Acts and Ordinances of [the Governor and Council of] New South Wales, covering the period 1824-1857.

The New South Wales Parliament was established in 1856. Acts continued to be published as Acts and Ordinances of New South Wales until 1862, and thereafter under the title Statutes of New South Wales. There were also various nineteenth-century collections of acts. New South Wales acts are available online from 1990.

Consolidated editions of NSW Acts were published in 1937 and 1957, and were updated by the Cumulative Supplement (1942-1979). Loose reprints are available from about 1979. Current consolidations are available online.

Current Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales

Previous Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales

Further Reading of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales

Index of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales



Current Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales:

Reprinted Acts [consolidations]
c. 1943-
Update sheets for New South Wales reprinted acts were published 1978-1999. Most collections of complete reprints of consolidated acts begin about 1978.
Locate a copy of this publication:
Web Publications | NLA | NSW | VIC

Statutes of New South Wales
1862-
Locate a copy of this publication:
Web Publications | NLA | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | VIC | WA


Previous Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales:

Acts and Ordinances of [the Governor and Council of] New South Wales
1824-1861
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW | QLD | TAS | VIC | WA

Cumulative Supplement to the Public Acts of New South Wales
1942-1979
The Cumulative Supplement updated the multi-volume consolidations of New South Wales acts produced in 1937 and 1957, as well as the supplements to 1971.
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA

Incorporated Acts [consolidations]
1925-1942
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW | VIC | WA

The Public Acts of New South Wales 1824-1957 [consolidation]

This is the latest multi-volume consolidation of New South Wales acts, in 15 volumes. It was followed by two volumes of Permanent Supplement 1958-1966, and two volumes of the Second Permanent Supplement 1967-1971.

An earlier multi-volume consolidation covered the period 1824-1937, in 13 volumes.

The annual Cumulative Supplement (1942-1979) updated all of these.

Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | WA


Further Reading of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales:

Australian Government Attorney-General's Department
The Attorney-General's Department provides information on law and justice related resources available nationwide.
Locate a copy of this publication:
Web Publications

Halsbury's Laws of Australia
1991-
This multi-volume encyclopaedia of Australian law, published since 1991, gives detailed access to laws and relevant law cases. It is also available electronically as the Australian Legal Research Library and is regularly updated.
Locate a copy of this publication:
ACT | NLA | NSW | NT | QLD | TAS | VIC | WA

The Laws of Australia [LBC]
1993-
This multi-volume encyclopaedia of Australian law, published since 1993, gives detailed access to laws and relevant law cases. It is also available electronically as the Complete Legal Research System, and is regularly updated.
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW | NT | VIC | WA


Index of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - New South Wales:

Acts Tables
1987-
This title includes tables of
  • Acts passed, amended or repealed,
  • Proclamations published in relation to the commencement of Acts, and
  • Reprints of Acts.
Locate a copy of this publication:
Web Publications | NLA | NSW | QLD | VIC

New South Wales Statutes Annotations
1988-
This title includes regular updates and supplements about New South Wales acts. From 1993, it has a separate volume for repealed legislation.
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW

New South Wales Statutes Annotations and References
1824-
This title includes regular updates about New South Wales acts, as well as a subject index to the acts and regulations of New South Wales, and short descriptions of the acts of New South Wales. The period 1824-1988 is covered by a bound volume, with loose-leaf updates for the remainder.
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | QLD | SA | VIC

State and Territory Laws - Retrospective Indexes

Locating older State acts, particularly from the 19th century, can be difficult if the year is not known. This is because legislation is published chronologically by year and most current indexes to legislation list only legislation in force, i.e. acts not repealed. Older acts which have been repealed are deleted from most current indexes. In addition, before the practice of citing acts by short titles, older acts were cited by slightly different titles. Lastly, State acts were originally numbered by regnal years and running numbers rather than by calendar year e.g. 26 Vic. no.1.

A listing of collections of 19th century state legislation may be found in Annotated bibliography of printed materials on Australian law 1788-1900, by Alex Castles, under the Index heading "Legislation". The list also includes separately published individual acts.

Most States have published retrospective chronological or alphabetical indexes which list ALL acts passed, their short titles and both calendar and regnal year. These enable researchers to verify and locate legislation in annual bound volumes.


 

 

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