Guide last updated by Hester Swift, August 2025
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Legislation is arranged in the library according to jurisdiction and is identified by the letter E in the middle of the classmark (with some exceptions - see codified legislation, below). For example:
GA2.E.1 Great Britain: Statutes in force
To find the location of a classmark in the library, check the floor directory or the guide to Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.
You can look up printed legislation on Library Search by classmark, subject or other criteria.
Classmark search
Look up the jurisdiction in the Guide to classmarks. This gives you the general classmark for the jurisdiction, e.g. GH3 for Ghana.
Add .E to create a legislation classmark: GH3.E denotes Ghanaian legislation. (Except for codes, legislation always has .E in the classmark; see below for information about codified legislation.)
Enter the classmark on the Advanced page of Library Search:
To find out which floor the classmark is on, see the floor directories next to the library lift, or check the guide to Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.
Subject search
On the Advanced page of Library Search, select Subject + contains exact phrase.
Enter law and the jurisdiction you are interested in, for example, law denmark.
This will find our holdings of legislation for Denmark (and general books about Danish law.)
NB This type of search will not find codes: see 'Finding codified legislation', below.
To find out which floor the classmark is on, see the floor directories next to the library lift, or check the guide to Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.
Finding codified legislation in the library
The codes of civil law countries - Argentina, France and so on - are treated as books at IALS, so they do not have .E in the classmark. To find codified legislation, use the following strategies:
Author/title search
On the Advanced page of Library Search, enter the jurisdiction as the author, then add the title of the code on the line below:
If you are unsure of the title of the code, check the Jurisdiction Research Guide, if available. Alternatively, consult the Foreign Law Guide database, which gives details of legislative publications for almost every country.
To find out which floor a classmark is on, see the directories next to the library lift, or check the guide to Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.
Subject search for a code
Select the Subject option on Library Search and enter the area of law and the jurisdiction, for example, civil law argentina or criminal law germany.
To find out which floor a classmark is on, see the floor directories next to the library lift, or check the guide to Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.
Finding legislation for a particular jurisdiction online
The library subscribes to a wide range of databases containing legislation. Some, such as Westlaw International Materials and Lexis International, have legislation for multiple jurisdictions; others cover a single jurisdiction. To select the right database:
Free legislation websites are listed in our Jurisdiction Research Guides, in the Globalex foreign law research guides, and on the Eaglei portal. To find them on Eagle-i, select a jurisdiction and select the resource type 'Legislation'.
It is not possible to search for individual statutes or statutory instruments on Library Search, so you will need to follow the guidance for Finding legislation for a particular jurisdiction, above. Once you have the classmark and location of a publication, find it on the shelves and check its contents list or index for the specific statute (or other instrument) that you want.
Finding a specific piece of legislation online
The library subscribes to a wide range of databases containing legislation, all of which are listed on the Law Databases page. Some databases, such as Westlaw International Materials and Lexis+, have legislation for multiple jurisdictions; others cover a single jurisdiction. To select the right database:
Free legislation websites are listed in the IALS research guides, in the Globalex foreign law research guides and on the Eagle-i portal. To find legislation sites on Eagle-i, select a jurisdiction and choose the resource type 'legislation'.
If you are looking for legislation on a specific subject, try the following options.
The library subscribes to a wide range of databases containing legislation, all of which are accessed via the Law Databases page. Some databases, such as Westlaw International Materials and Lexis+, contain legislation for multiple jurisdictions; others cover a single jurisdiction. Select a database, navigate to the legislation collection for the jurisdiction you are researching, then search by key word.
If you aren't sure which database to use:
Free legislation websites are listed in the IALS research guides, in the Globalex foreign law research guides and on the Eagle-i portal. To find legislation sites on Eagle-i, select a jurisdiction and choose the resource type, 'legislation'.
1. Check the indexes/tables of the relevant legislative publication, e.g. Halsbury's statutes of England and Wales (GA2.E.40). (See above for guidance on finding out what publications are available for each jurisdiction.)
2. Check digests and encyclopaedias for the relevant jurisdiction, e.g. Australian current law reporter (GD1.H.6); these generally summarise legislation by subject. For titles of digests/encyclopedias, see the IALS jurisdictional research guides, Globalex guides and other research guides.
3. Books provide an introduction to the key pieces of legislation in a particular area of law: see Library Search.
If you need to locate legislation which is not available at IALS Library in either printed or electronic form, here are some suggestions for tracking it down elsewhere:
If you need help, please ask at the Enquiry Desk, email us at ials@sas.ac.uk, or use our live chat facility.
UK
Look up the act or regulation on Lexis+ or Westlaw, or on the free site, Legislation.gov.uk.
Westlaw and Legislation.gov cover legislation from all parts of the UK, but Lexis does not cover Westminster legislation that only applies to Scotland, nor Northern Ireland orders / acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Alternatively, check both these volumes of Halsbury's Statutes , plus the Noter Up binder, all kept at GA2.E.40:
Is it in Force?, part of Halsburys' Statutes - has commencement (in force) dates for acts passed since 1 January 1960, including acts of the Scottish Parliament; check for recent updates in the Noter Up.
Halsbury’s Statutes Citator - lists statutes alphabetically by year, with details of any amendments or repeals; check the Noter Up for recent updates.
Other jurisdictions
Refer to an online source - see Finding a specific piece of legislation online. Not all online sources cover in-force dates and amendments, but many do.
Alternatively, look for a citator, index or table of legislation in the IALS print collections. For example, for Canada, look at classmark GC1.E (Canadian legislation), for Barbados, look at BN3.E. (Barbadian legislation). Digests may also have information about the status of legislation: see classmarks with '.H' in the middle, e.g. GC1.H for Canadian digests. More about IALS classmarks and shelf locations.
Consult the IALS jurisdictional research guides, the Globalex foreign law research guides and other research guides for more information about finding up-to-date legislation, or checking the status of legislation.