There are two kinds of legislation at the federal and provincial level: statutes (also known as Acts) and regulations. Statutes are laws made by Parliament or legislative assemblies. They can establish a new law or amend or repeal an existing one. Regulations are laws that address the specifics and practical applicability of a statute. They are usually created by government agencies and derive their authority from statutes. Both statutes and regulations have the full force of law[1].
For more information about the legislative process, consider reading Justice Canada’s website “How New Laws and Regulations Are Created.”
What kinds of statutes/acts and regulations are available on CanLII?
CanLII reproduces consolidations of statutes and regulations as published by official printers from the federal and provincial jurisdictions.
Constitutional Acts
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada[2]. Its written components consist of:
CanLII’s Constitutional Acts database contains the texts of the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Constitution Act, 1982 as they were originally passed with the addition of extensive endnotes that indicate where an amendment has been made, provide additional historical context, and link to other related legislation.
Consolidated Statutes
When changes to a statute are made, they are usually passed separately as their own amending acts. Therefore, cross-referencing between multiple pieces of legislation is often required in order to understand the current law. This can be a burdensome task, especially with statutes that are frequently amended. However, consolidated statutes incorporate amendments directly into the original or previously in-force text of a statute. They act as ‘updates’ to the law and help simplify it[3].
As of April 2022, CanLII hosts consolidated statutes databases for the following jurisdictions:
Historical Revised Statutes
In the past, many jurisdictions chose to construct and pass their consolidated/revised statutes all at one time. However, in the name of efficiency this practice has largely been abandoned in favour of revision on a case-by-case basis – the last collection of revised federal statutes was created in 1985 and published in 1988[4].
As of April 2022, CanLII hosts historical revised statute databases for the following jurisdictions:
Annual Statutes
Annual Statutes are collections of all the statutes passed in a given calendar year by Parliament or a legislative assembly, including both new legislation and amendments to previously enacted legislation[5].
As of April 2022, CanLII hosts annual statute databases for the following jurisdictions:
Consolidated Regulations
CanLII hosts regulations databases for the following jurisdictions:
Each page of a regulations database is organized into two columns: the regulations themselves are listed on the left and the corresponding Acts that authorize their enforcement are listed on the right.
More details can be found on our Legislative Help and CanLII Guides pages.
