33 Finding Queensland Legislation
Queensland legislation by the Office of Queensland Parliamentary Counsel provides access to official Acts and subordinate legislation. The website can be searched or browsed to find legislation.
If unsure about the title of the legislation you are after, secondary resources can help you to identify key legislation:
- textbooks
- looseleaf services (commentary)
- legal encyclopaedias
- journal articles.
Finding current Acts
To find the most current version of an Act, look for In force legislation. Browse alphabetically if you know the title of the Act or choose the year it came into force.
Finding point-in-time Acts
The ability to find Acts as they looked at a particular point in time is an important skill. Using Queensland legislation Acts as passed, you can generally access reprints or historical versions from 1991 onwards.
For historical point-in-time research prior to 1991, access Queensland Statute Reprints, or look for printed consolidations in the Library’s collection.
Download and watch How do I use the timeline to find historical reprints? (MP4, 17MB)
Finding historical Acts
There are a number of historical legislation databases, the chief one being Queensland Law, which contains:
- The Public Acts of Queensland 1828-1936
- Queensland Commencement Legislation
- Letters Patent Establishing Boundaries for Queensland
- Queensland Criminal Code 1879-1899.
The Queensland Historical Acts in AustLII is also a valuable database.
