What is the common structure of an Act or Regulation and where are the amendments found?

The common structure of a principal act or regulations usually contains the following attributes:

First Page

  • Title;

  • Year of Making;

  • Number and Year.

Second or Third Page

  • Table of Provisions/Contents.

Third or Fourth Page

  • Long Title - statement of what the Act does (generally Regulations do not have a long title; a summary may be in the accompanying explanatory statement or in the objective provision).

Subsequent Sections (Body of Legislation):

  • Body of the Act/Regulation – may be divided into a standard hierarchy - Chapters, Orders, Parts, Divisions, Subdivisions or sometimes legislation may simply contain sections/regulations/rules;

  • Sections or Regulations - the lowest groupings or levels;

  • An Act will always contain sections;

  • A regulation will always contain Regulations or Rules;

  • Section 1 usually states the short title of the Act or Regulation/Rules;

  • Section 2 usually contains information about when the Act or Regulation/Rules commences;

  • Sections (regulations) may be further divided into sub-sections (sub-regulations) and paragraphs.

At the End:

  • Schedules – optional; appear when a provision refers to a piece of information too lengthy or complex to include in the text of a provision. May also be referred to as annexures;

  • Application, Transitional or Savings provisions - provide additional information on how amendments will apply;

  • Table of Acts, Table of Statutory Rules, Table of Amendments and Endnotes including Table A provisions (which contain transitional provisions).

Amendments are usually listed in the following types of tables at the end of the Acts or Regulations once they have been consolidated:

Table of Acts - lists in three or four columns amending Acts that have affected the Principal Act.

Table of Statutory Rules - lists in three or four columns amending Regulations that have affected the Principal Regulation.

Table of Amendments - lists in two columns the provisions of a Principal Act or Regulation, and how each has been amended.

Juris

Acts

Regulations

Location

Table of Amendments

Location

Cth

Table of Acts

Table of Statutory Rules

Start or end

Table of Amendments

Below Table of Acts

ACT

Table of Legislation

Table of Legislation

Endnotes

Table of Amendments

Endnotes

NSW

Table of Acts

Table of amending instruments

Notes at end

Table of Amendments

Notes

Qld

List of legislation

List of legislation

Endnotes

List of annotations

Endnotes

SA

amending legislation

Amending legislation

Listed at start

Legislative History

Appendix at end

Vic

Table of Amendments

Table of Amendments

Notes at end

Notes on amended provisions

Beside amended provision

WA

Table of Acts

Table of Regulations

Notes at end

Notes on amended provisions

Below amended provision

NT

Table of Amendments

Table of Amendments

Endnotes

List of Amendments

Endnotes

TAS

Schedules

Table of Amendments

Manually updated by LT Editor

List of Amendments

Schedules

Click here for further information on Amendments and Consolidation Tables.