Information Sources

This is a list of all the sources currently searched by The Signet Online. Registered users are welcome to recommend additional uploads and links using the Feedback form.

BAILII

The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) website offers access to a large number of searchable databases free of charge. It covers seven jurisdictions, including England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK.

Legislation, judgements and Law Commission papers published throughout these jurisdictions can be found on the site, but there is great variation in the dates from which these items are available. For example, English Court of Appeal cases from July 1996 are available , but Irish Supreme Court and High Court decisions date back largely to February 2001. Some pre-1999 Scottish cases are available.

http://www.bailii.org

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

This website allows users to search for the meaning of legal abbreviations for, among others, UK, Commonwealth and US publications.

http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) – Employment Guidance.

This section of the BERR site provides guidance and links on employment legislation.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/index.html

EUR-Lex

Eur-Lex is the central site for accessing all types of European Union law-treaties, international agreements, legislation (including consolidated texts), cases and proposed legislation. It also allows access to the Official Journal of the European Union.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm

Lexis Nexis Online Legal Catalogue

Registered users of The Signet Online can access the following resources from the LexisNexis Online Legal Catalogue:

Scottish Case Digests – these are short case summaries linked to the full opinion. Cases are digested and appear online within a day or two of the judgement becoming available. They are fully searchable and additional information is provided as and when it becomes available.

Scottish Civil Law Reports – this resource includes all of the Scottish Civil Law Reports from 1987 to date, including quantum reports and notes. Updated every two months, the archive provides, in full text, cases heard by the House of Lords, the Privy Council, the Court of Session , and Sheriff Courts.

Scottish Court Opinions – these are full text judgements from the Court of Session and High Court dating back to 1998.

Scottish Criminal Case Reports – this resource provides registered users with access to all of the Scottish Criminal Case Reports from 1981 to date. Updated every two months, its archive provides, in full text, criminal cases heard by the Privy Council, the High Court of Justiciary and the Sheriff Courts. It also contains the Scottish Criminal Case Reports Supplement 1950 -1980.

Scottish Parliament Acts and Statutory Instruments – the full range of primary and secondary legislation from the Scottish Parliament., as amended.

The Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia – a comprehensive statement of and commentary on Scots Law that is searchable by topic.

UK Parliament Acts and Statutory Instruments – the full range or primary and secondary legislation from the UK Parliament, as amended.

Please note that there is an additional charge for downloading documents from the LexisNexis Online Legal Catalogue. Please refer to “Terms and conditions” for further details.

OPSI

This is the website for The Office of Public Sector Information- the body that redistributes government data. It has replaced the old HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office) website.

This site contains a searchable database of UK legislation from 1987. UK, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Acts, Explanatory Notes, Statutory Instruments, Draft Statutory Instruments and Church Measures are included. It shows the legislation as published, with no consolidations. Consolidated primary legislation can often be found on the UK Statute Law Database.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/

Scottish Courts

This is a centralised website, providing information on all the Scottish Courts. It also provides a searchable database of significant Court of Session and Sheriff Court judgements since September 1998 (commercial judgements since January 1998), and online listings of cases due to call in both the Court of Session and Sheriff Court.

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/

Scottish Law Online: An A-Z of the Law of Scotland

This site contains a collection of links to websites connected with Scottish Law, including government, academic, industry and general interest sites.

http://www.scottishlaw.org.uk/lawscotland/

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliamentary website provides details of the ongoing business of the Parliament, including agendas, official reports and minutes of Parliamentary proceedings; Committee agendas and reports; legislation and proposals for legislation; motions and amendments put forward by MSPs; research briefings and fact sheets.

http://www.scottish.parliement.uk/home.htm

The Law Society of Scotland

This is the Society’s website, with a searchable database of practicing solicitors and legal firms: a searchable database of rules and guidance; details of consultations and Society news, training courses and events.

http://www.lawscot.org.uk

The Signet Library’s catalogue

This site searches The Signet Library’s legal catalogue which includes law reports, text reports, journals, legislation and a comprehensive catalogue of legal and business text books. Users looking to reserve copies of books or order copies of cases or articles should contact The Signet Library’s information services team (“Contact us” ). Books can be collected or sent out via DX or Legal Post, and copies of cases and journal articles can be emailed to you as part of The Library’s Document Delivery Service

http://signet.nls.uk/webvoy2.htm

UK Statute Law Database

This site contains officially revised editions of UK primary legislation. It works from a base date of 1 February 1991, covering all new legislation- both from the UK parliament and the devolved legislatures –from that date. While secondary legislation is included, only primary legislation is currently revised.

Legislation relating to Northern Ireland takes a base date of 1 January 2006

http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk