Every Public General Act from 1840 to today is now on PIO

Public Information Online (PIO) now holds every Public General Act published from 1840 to date.

If you have ever needed an Act from a particular year and found the trail goes cold, this should help. Whether you are tracing the origins of a piece of legislation or checking the wording of an Act as it was first published, you can now find it in one place.

Why it matters

Public General Acts are the backbone of UK law. They apply across the country and shape everything from public services to property, trade and employment. Researchers, legal professionals, librarians, students and local historians often need to see an Act in the form it was originally enacted, not just as it stands today.

Until now, finding older Acts has meant checking several sources, and the early years in particular have been patchy. With the full run from 1840 now on PIO, you can go back to the source without the detective work.

How to find an Act

Browse by year or search by title. Each Act sits alongside the others from the same year, so you can see what Parliament was working on at the time as well as the one Act you came for.

Need your own copy? Buy it from the PIO shop

Every one of these Acts can also be bought from the PIO shop. That’s useful if you need a physical copy for a library or office, or a reference copy you can keep on the shelf.

Visit the PIO shop to find and order the Act you need: https://www.publicinformationonline.com/shop

Start exploring

Search the collection on PIO today. Whatever year or Act you have been trying to track down, the full run from 1840 to date is now available.