Editing English law (section)

== Statute law ==
{{See|Statutory law}}
'''Primary legislation''' in the UK may take the following forms:
* [[Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom|Acts of Parliament]]
* [[Acts of the Scottish Parliament]]
* [[Act of the Senedd|Acts of the Senedd]], or previously [[Act of the National Assembly for Wales|Acts of the National Assembly for Wales]] and [[measures of the National Assembly for Wales]]
* [[Statutory rules of Northern Ireland|Statutory rules]] of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]]

[[Order in Council|Orders in Council]] are a ''[[sui generis]]'' category of legislation.

'''Secondary (or "delegated") legislation''' in England includes:
* [[Statutory instrument (UK)|Statutory instrument]]s and [[ministerial order (UK)|ministerial order]]s
* [[By-law]]s of [[metropolitan borough]]s, [[county council]]s, and [[town council]]s

Statutes are cited in this fashion: "[[Short title|Short Title]] Year", e.g. [[Theft Act 1968]].{{efn|Before 1963 Acts were cited with a comma between the Short Title and the year, e.g. "Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Act, 1962".[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1962/34/pdfs/ukpga_19620034_en.pdf] The comma has since been dropped, e.g. "[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/24/pdfs/ukpga_19630024_en.pdf British Museum Act 1963]"}}<ref>See also: acts listed in First Schedule to [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1896/14/pdfs/ukpga_18960014_en.pdf Short Titles Act, 1896]) where the title is the "[[short title]]", and ends in "Act", as in "Interpretation Act 1978".</ref> This became the usual way to refer to Acts from 1840 onwards; previously Acts were cited by their [[long title]] with the [[regnal year]] of the [[parliamentary session]] when they received [[royal assent]], and the chapter number. For example, the [[Pleading in English Act 1362]] (which required [[Pleading (England and Wales)|pleadings]] to be in English and not [[Law French]]) was referred to as ''[[36 Edw. 3]]. c. 15,'' meaning "36th year of the reign of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], chapter 15".{{efn|Although in the past this was all spelled out, together with the long title.}} (By contrast, American convention inserts "of", as in "[[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Act ''of'' 1964]]").