Coat of ArmsHMSO online * images of openness and innovative e-services
*
* *
Any  All  Exact  advanced search spacer spacer
* * *
* * HOME New Legislation | Contact HMSO | FAQs | Sitemap | A - Z Site Index | Privacy Policy   
* * *
* * *
* * *
 
 

Updated Statutes of Northern Ireland 1921 to 2003

 
 

Guide and Explanations

rule

Click to return to the Home page of Updated Statutes to Northern Ireland 1921 to 2003


  1. Content of the Site

      2. This site reflects the statute law (primary legislation) at 31 December 2003 by taking the changes set out in the "Cumulative Supplement to the Statutes Revised" and integrating them into the Statutes of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 2003.

      The updating has been undertaken by the Statutory Publications Office of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

  2. Amendments and Revisions

    1. Amending text is enclosed within double quotes, e.g. "text amending another statute". When a direct "textual" amendment has been incorporated as a revision in the text then it is displayed in red type and is enclosed within square brackets for example— [F001 revised text]. The opening square bracket is followed by a reference to the statutory authority for the revision and is shown in blue superscript type and prefixed with the letter "F". The statutory authority for the amendment can be displayed by hovering the mouse over the blue footnote reference. To ensure that the full text of the footnote is clearly visible click on the footnote which will display the full text of the footnote in the footnote list.
    2. An indirect amendment which modifies a provision without changing its wording is indicated by a footnote reference which gives the appropriate statutory authority.
    3. All amendments which come into force after 31 December 2003 are not actioned in the text; but a footnote (e.g. F002) is inserted at the appropriate place. Hovering the mouse over the blue footnote reference will indicate the statutory authority and also that the effect is "prosp." (prospective).
    4. Pre-1981 amendments are shown as black text within brackets, not in red as post-1981 amendments.

  3. Repeals

    1. Where a whole Order in Council or Act is repealed it is omitted without explanation. The authority for the repeal can be found in the Chronological Table of the Statutes, Northern Ireland.
    2. Where a complete unit of text (such as an article/paragraph/section/subsection/definition/schedule etc.) is repealed, an italicised note gives the authority for the repeal, e.g. Article 2 rep. by 1997 NI 12.
    3. Where a small amount of text (such as a word/words/phrase) is repealed, this is shown by a series of dots and the repealing enactment is indicated in a footnote. The following is an example of how it appears: — [. . .] F003. The statutory authority for the repeal can again be displayed by hovering the mouse over the blue footnote reference.
    4. All repeals which come into force after 31 December 2003 are not actioned in the text, but a footnote (e.g. F004) is inserted at the appropriate place. Hovering the mouse over the blue footnote reference will indicate the statutory authority and also that the effect is "prosp." (prospective).

  4. References

    1. References which affect a complete Order in Council or Act (and which are often of fundamental importance to an understanding of its current application) generally appear at the end of the long title (or at the first Article of an Order in Council, or section of an Act).
    2. What were previously known as "marginal citations" now appear in blue type, in superscript and prefixed with the letter "M" e.g. M1The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954. Hovering the mouse over the blue reference will indicate the year and number; in this case 1954 c.33.

  5. Fines and Penalties

    1. A standard scale of fines for offences punishable on summary conviction was introduced by the Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 NI 3. For the convenience of the the customer, this has been implemented in the Updated Statutes.
    2. Offences punishable on conviction on indictment were changed by the Fines and Penalties Order to allow for an unlimited amount. These changes have also been implemented in the Updated Statutes. In order to show these effects, information which has been substituted is shown in red preceded by a footnote and where words have been removed, a series of dots enclosed in brackets followed by a footnote will appear.
    3. The table below shows the monitory value of each level of the standard scale with increases made by amending legislation. It also shows the 'prescribed sum'.

      4. <<
      Level on the standard scale Amount of fine under 1984 NI 3 Amount of fine as increased by SR 1984 No. 253 Amount of fine as increased by 1994 NI 15
      1£25£50£200
      2£50£100£500
      3£200£400£1000
      4£500£1000£2500
      5£1000£2000£5000
      prescribed sum£1000£2000£5000

  6. Name changes of Departments

      7. Only name changes made by direct amendments will show in the Updated Statutes, therefore not all Departmental changes have been noted.

  7. Footnote and M-notes

      8. When you click on the blue type of a Footnote or M-note a new page will be displayed showing all the Footnotes and M-notes for this item of legislation.

  8. Tables

      9. Some complicated tables do not appear exactly as they do in the original legislation. There should not, however, be any difficulty in understanding exactly what is meant.

      Article 21(1) Trespassing with a firearm in any building (a) Summary 1 year or a fine of £400 or both
          (b) Indictment (but not if the weapon is an air weapon) 10 years or a fine or both

  9. Formulae

      10. Formulae in the original legislation are pressented as a matrix as dispalyed below:

      A + B  
      ——— = D
       C  

      Since this does not display well the presentation has been changed, in this example, to:

      (A + B) / C = D

      This change should not cause difficulty in understanding exactly what is meant.

  10. Browsers

      11. The Updated Statutes of Northern Ireland are best viewed on Internet Explorer version 5.0, or later. Variations between browsers will result in differences of layout and font colour.

  11. Chunking

      12. "Chunking" is the term used to describe the splitting up of large documents into smaller units to facilitate display across the web. The smaller documents result in faster download times. Since the majority of the legislation within Updated Statutes of Northern Ireland are comparitively small they are not "chunked". (NB. The legislation on the main part of the HMSO site is "chunked".)



Click to return to the Home page of Updated Statutes to Northern Ireland 1921 to 2003

  
 
 
  rule
 

© Crown Copyright