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Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria

Victoria became a separate colony from New South Wales in 1851, and the laws then in force in New South Wales were continued in force. From 1851 to 1856, the Governor legislated with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council. These acts were published as Acts and Ordinances of Victoria. Since 1856, the laws of Victoria have been published in three series, though the spine title has remained consistent as Victoria: Acts of Parliament. From 1856 until 1986, these Acts were numbered continuously from year to year. In 1958, all previous Victorian acts were repealed, and selected acts were re-enacted.

Since 2000, the annual volumes of acts have included Explanatory Memoranda for bills that have been passed, in front of the text of the act itself.

Victorian acts and regulations have been online in consolidated form since 1997.

Current Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria

Previous Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria

Further Reading of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria

Index of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria



Current Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria:

Acts of the Victorian Parliament
1988-
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Web Publications | NLA | NSW | NT | SA | TAS | VIC | WA

Acts of the Victorian Parliament, Reprints
1958(?)-
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Web Publications | NLA | NT | VIC


Previous Series of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria:

Acts and Ordinances of Victoria
1851-1856
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NLA | NSW | SA | VIC

Acts of the Parliament
1901-1987
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NLA | NSW | NT | SA | TAS | VIC | WA

Acts of the Parliament of Victoria
1856-1900
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NLA | NSW | SA | TAS | VIC | WA

Victorian statutes : the general public Acts of Victoria [consolidation]
1958

This is the latest multi-volume consolidation of Victorian acts, in eight volumes, with an additional volume of annotations. It contains the laws of Victoria as re-enacted in 1958: all previous acts were repealed if not included in this edition. Since the 1958 consolidation, amended Acts have been updated and reprinted in pamphlet form: see reprints.

Previous re-enactments of Victorian statutes took place in 1866, 1890, 1915, and 1928.

A Cumulative Supplement to the 1958 consolidation was published by the Law Book Company covering the period 1959-1996. It was then retitled the Victorian Statutes Annotations.

Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | NSW | NT | VIC | WA


Further Reading of Acts/Ordinances/Statutes - Victoria:

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 - Victoria:

Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation
1999-
Subject indexes to Victorian laws have been published as follows:
  • Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation, 1999-
  • Subject Index of Legislation Victoria, 1992-1997
  • Index to the subject matter of the public general acts, 1894-1966 at the end of the annual volume of acts, and 1967-1982 as a separate volume issued with the acts
.
Locate a copy of this publication:
NLA | 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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