united-kingdom legal-research
Where can I find actual UK law paragraphs?
<p>In case I want to try to check plain English interpretations of the law against the actual law.</p>

<p>All extant UK statute law can be found on <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/" rel="nofollow">legislation.gov.uk</a>, which is the official online repository for British legislation.</p>

<p>Most recent acts of Parliament and statutory instruments are accompanied by Explanatory Notes, which describe - in plain English - what the various parts of that piece of legislation mean.</p>

<p>The free source of legislation and case law in the United Kingdom is <a href="http://www.bailii.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BAILII</a> (British and Irish Legal Information Institute).</p>

<p>BAILII contains the text of judgements and legislation.
However, as for plain English interpretations of the law... that's possibly at odds with your question, which asks for "actual UK law paragraphs".</p>

<p>If it's actual UK judgements or legislation, it is possible that it will not be in plain English.</p>

<p>jimsug brought up BAILII, but it's limited. WestLaw and LexisNexis have more material, but you got to pay for them. </p>

<p><a href="https://www.bailii.org/bailii/faq.html#whatcase" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BAILII - Frequently Asked Questions</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <h3>Q. What case law can I find on BAILII?</h3>
  
  <ul>
  <li>For recent years (1996+), the case law available on BAILII is summarised <a href="https://www.bailii.org/bailii/summary-cases.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</li>
  <li>For earlier years, BAILII is adding leading cases in the core subjects covered by academic law courses, with the benefit of funding from <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">JISC</a>: see <a href="https://www.bailii.org/openlaw/introduction.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. (Copyright restrictions prevent BAILII from making all these judgments available in BAILII's database at this point in time.)</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://www.bailii.org/bailii/faq.html#whatcase" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BAILII - Frequently Asked Questions</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <h3>Q. Why are there not more English High Court judgments available on BAILII?</h3>
  
  <ul>
  <li>There is a restriction on the number of English cases from Divisions of the High Court which can be added to the BAILII database which arises from the fact that the shorthand-writers who transcribe judgments which have been given verbally (as opposed to judgments handed down on paper) may own the copyright in the transcribed version of the judgment. Copies of judgments in published law reports may also be subject to copyright. This prevents the judgment being added to the BAILII database without the consent of the shorthand-writer or law report publisher. BAILII, being a free web site, has no funds with which to acquire a licence to copy and display the transcripts. BAILII continues to press for the system to be changed so that all judgments may be freely available.</li>
  <li>Handed down first-instance decisions of the England and Wales and Northern Ireland High Courts are generally only provided to BAILII where the Judge giving the judgment indicates that they are of sufficient interest to be made available for publication on the Internet.</li>
  <li>Copies of unreported English judgments which are not available on BAILII can be requested from the court, via the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/order-a-transcript-of-court-or-tribunal-proceedings-form-ex107" rel="nofollow noreferrer">transcript request form EX107</a>.</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>
