Statutes or Acts are considered primary sources of law. They are enacted by the federal and provincial legislatures in order to reform the common law, to amend existing statutes, to codify the common law, or to deal with issues not addressed by the common law. They are the most formal expression of the will of the State.
Statutes are created and amended by Bills, which are introduced in the legislatures. In order for a bill to become law in British Columbia, it must be read three times in the provincial legislature and then receive Royal Assent. Many bills become law when they receive Royal Assent; others come into force on a later date specified in the statute, or when the statute is brought into force by regulation. Check for a commencement section near the end of the statute. This section gives information about when the statute is to come into force. If there is no commencement section, the statute comes into force on the date of Royal Assent pursuant to the Interpretation Act, RSBC 1996, c 238, s 3(2).
Includes Ordinances passed by the Legislative Council of British Columbia 1864-1871 and a collection of the public general statutes of the colony of Vancouver Island.
Lexis+ This link opens in a new windowLegal information, cases, and a QuickCite feature to help verify currency and validity of cases and legislation.
LLMC Digital (Law Library Microform Consortium) This link opens in a new window Includes historical BC statutes 1858-1995. Quickscribe This link opens in a new windowOffers many tools for researching BC statutes such as point in time consolidations. Good historical source from the mid-1990s to present. Comprehensive current BC legislation, bills, orders-in-council, regulations, etc.
WestLaw Edge This link opens in a new windowLaw students have individual passwords for WestlawNext Canada and WestlawNext. Cases and consolidations of statutes and regulations, citator (note up) tool, annotations, legal texts and other commentary. Material in US, UK and other jurisdictions available in WestlawNext.
In British Columbia, before a law is enacted, it begins as a bill. A bill introduced by a minister in the legislature is known as a government or public bill. Other types of bills include private bills and members bills.
Private bills are introduced by a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the benefit of a particular person or special interest group, and members' bills are introduced by a member of the opposition or government backbencher.
After a bill has been introduced into the Legislature, it is received, printed, and disseminated. Bills are not debated at their first reading.
The bill is debated by Members of the Legislative Assembly. At the end of the debate, a vote is taken to determine whether the bill will proceed to the committee stage or die.
The Committee of the Whole House debates the bill clause by clause. Amendments to the bill may be proposed at this stage.
The Committee reports the bill as complete, with or without amendments.
The Legislature passes the bill as it has been reported by the committee. The bill is then printed in its final, 3rd reading form, including any amendments. This copy is what usually becomes law.
Royal Assent completes the enactment of a bill into law.
Courthouse Libraries | B.C. (2010). How a bill becomes law in B.C. Retrieved March 12, 2010 from
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. (2009). How a bill becomes law. Retrieved March 14, 2010 from
Instituted in 1970, BC's Hansard is the official record of the debates in the provincial legislature. It also includes the transcripts of speeches and votes, and more recently, has begun to include webcasts. Prior to 1970, the official record of motions and debates in the B.C. legislature was recorded in the Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia.
Freely available Queen's Printer source for: current consolidated (unofficial) statutes and regulations of British Columbia; Private, Special and Local Acts; Corporate Registry Notices; Gazette Part I; Gazette Part II; Orders-in-Council; Expropriation Compensation Board Decisions; Historical Supreme Court Rules; Archived Journals; First and Third Reading Bills; Debates of the Legislative Assembly (Hansard); Regulation Bulletins.
CanLII This link opens in a new windowFree access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions, plus case summaries in CanLII Connects and a small collection of online works of commentary. CanLII is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. CanLII's goal is to make Canadian law accessible for free on the Internet.
Quickscribe This link opens in a new windowOffers many tools for researching BC statutes such as point in time consolidations. Good historical source from the mid-1990s to present. Comprehensive current BC legislation, bills, orders-in-council, regulations, etc.
LLMC Digital (Law Library Microform Consortium) This link opens in a new window Includes historical BC statutes 1858-1995. Statutes from 1872-2015.Includes Ordinances passed by the Legislative Council of British Columbia 1864-1871 and a collection of the public general statutes of the colony of Vancouver Island.
A revision and consolidation of the public general acts and other selected acts of the Legislature of British Columbia published under authority of the Statute Revision Act.
Law Reference collection 15 v. 1996
