Law & Government Publications: Legislation

FINDING SOUTH AFRICAN LEGISLATION

All acts in South Africa are published in the Government Gazette. It is the official and first publication of legislative material for the information of all citizens.

Juta publishes an annual set classified statutes. Juta volumes are published in a handy and compact format.

Butterworths Classified and Annotated Statutes of South Africa is a loose leaf edition. It is updated twice annually . Acts are published in Afrikaans and English. The set contains statutes in force from 1910. Volume 1 has an alphabetical index to the titles (groups) used, also a chronological table of acts and an alphabetical table to acts.

Butterworths also publishes a set of selected acts often used in practice (i.e. the Deeds Act; the Magistrates Court Act). The set is known as Butterworths Consolidated Legislation Service. Each volume contains the text of the act, regulations in terms of the act and a list of fitting cases. This loose leaf publication is updated regularly.

Juta's Legislation Service  issues individual acts with regulations in Afrikaans and English.

Electronic editions of statutes

South African acts are published in

• Jutastat database. Acts are classified and chronological and alphabetical lists are available in the contents pages.

• LexisNexis Butterworths database has a full text edition of South African acts (with regulations) and regional legislation. 

• SABINET Legal (Netlaw)
• SAFLII

Provincial legislation

Each province in South Africa has an Official Gazette. All provincial legislation is published in these gazettes. Proclamations and provincial notices are also published.

Ordinances and provincial acts are also published in loose leaf editions by different publishers.Electronic copies available on LexisNexis Butterworths database.

Municipal regulations  

Municipal regulations and notices are published in the Official Gazette of the province where the municipality (local authority) is situated.

Regulations

Regulations are published in Regulation Gazettes. Regulation Gazettes are also Government Gazettes and have both Government Gazette numbers and Regulation Gazette numbers.

The electronic Government Gazette is available on SABINET Legal and LexisNexis Butterworths database.

Indexes to legislation:

Windex (Juta's Index to the South African Government and Provincial Gazettes) was, until 1989, the most important index to legislation. It is no longer published.

Government Gazette Index is published since 1979. The GGI indexes all Government Gazettes and it is a useful reference source to legislation and subsidiary legislation i.e. regulations and bills.

In 1990 the title changed to Juta State Library Index to the South African Government Gazette. It is published every 3 months and cumulates annually.