1. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT

These can be among the oldest printed items of local significance, although the earliest statutes are normally available in later compilations or reprints, one of the earliest being Statutes of the realm, published by the Record Commission and covering statutes to 1714 - copies are in Exeter Reference Library and the University of Exeter Library. Until 1798 there were only public and private acts. In that year the category of local acts was introduced. Prior to 1798 much local legislation was therefore to be located in the public acts. A chronological list of public acts is provided by the Stationery Office's Chronological table of the statutes ... from 1235 (annual). This does not include local or personal acts. Sessional and later annual volumes of the public acts were published and lengthy runs of these are to be found in the University of Exeter, Devon Record Office, and the main reference libraries. Copies of many individual statutes are to be found in local studies collections.

Local and personal acts are listed in broad subject categories in the Stationery Office's Index to local and personal acts ... 1801-1947 (1949) and the Supplementary index to the local and personal acts ... 1948-1966 (1967). Various earlier listings can be found, some including private acts. Local and personal acts are published individually, with annual or sessional indexes. Sets of annual volumes are rare; there is a set in the Devon Record Office warehouse covering 1816 to date but it is not complete. Many individual titles are held in the main local studies collections and the Record Offices also have examples, frequently with deposited plans and other documents.

Many statutes relating to Devon are listed under the heading "Local acts" by A.A.Brockett in The Devon Union List. In Plymouth and Exeter listings of local acts have been compiled and a list giving locations in various collections in Devon is in course of compilation. The headings used in catalogues vary, but they can normally be located under such headings as "Statutes" or "Great Britain. Statutes".

2 STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

Also known as Statutory Rules and Orders, SIs are pieces of subsidiary legislation, issued individually, with annual cumulations which omit local items. The Stationery Office's Index to government orders in force (biennial) and Table of government orders (annual) also omits local SIs, which can be difficult to trace. An incomplete chronological set of local SIs is held in WSL and these are enetered on the local studies catalogue so can be searched for by subject. Many orders do not appear as SIs but are published in the London Gazette, lengthy files of which are held in Exeter University Library and Exeter and Plymouth Reference Libraries. There are indexes (at present quarterly but earlier annual).

3 SESSIONAL PAPERS

The House of Commons sessional papers, which include reports from select committees, royal commissions, surveys and returns to the House, were organised in 1801 into three groups, bills, House of Commons papers, and command papers. The first two received numbers starting a new sequence each session, command papers were numbered in longer sequences: [1-4222] 1833-69, C.1-9550 (1870-99) Cd.1-9329 (1900-18), Cmd.1-9889 (1919-56) and Cmnd.1- (1956-). Papers were published separately with indexes to enable them to be bound in volumes at the end of each session. References frequently give the volume and page number as well as the paper number. Cumulated indexes by the Stationery Office include the General index ... 1801-52 (3 vol), General alphabetical index 1852-99 and the General index 1900 to 1948/9. For later periods there are decennial indexes. P. and G. Ford have produced lists and summaries of major parliamentary papers: Hansard's catalogue and breviate of parliamentary papers, 1696-1834 (1953), Select list of British parliamentary papers, 1833-1899 (Rev ed. 1970), Breviate of parliamentary papers, 1900-1916 (1957), and the same for 1917-1939 (1951) and 1940-54 (1961) - copies can be found in the larger reference libraries and the University of Exeter Library. The easiest way to track down references in such sources is by consulting complete sets of sessional papers. These are held for the 18th century onwards in original, hard copy reprint and microfiche in the University of Exeter. There are not as large a number of sessional publications relating specifically to the South West as there are for more industrialised areas in the 19th century. The county sections of census reports, containing statistics down to parish level, were published as sessional papers to 1921 (for enumerators' returns see Source guide S34) and the local sections of such reports as the Charity Commissioners (especially 1826-32 and early 20th century), the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations (1835), the reports on Boundaries of Municipal Corporations (1837), the Schools Inquiry Commission (1868) the Return of owners of land (1873) the Royal Commission on Agriculture (1895), the Prison Commissioners etc can be found in most of the main local studies collections.

There are also sessional papers for the House of Lords, but these are largely made up of bills and are not so useful for the local historian.

4. PROCEEDINGS

The verbatim reports of the House of Commons and House of Lords which can contain debates and questions of local interest, are to be found in Exeter and Plymouth Reference collections and in the University of Exeter. Coverage of debates in both Houses is full from 1803, first by Cobbet, later by Hansard and from 1909 by Parliament itself. Debates prior to 1803 are contained in a variety of unofficial sources. The official record of proceedings are contained in the Journal of the House of Commons (1547-) and Journal of the House of Lords (1509-). Prior to 1801 many committee reports were printed in the Journals. Sets of the journals are available in Exeter Reference and University of Exeter libraries.

5. DEPARTMENTAL PUBLICATIONS

Only a small proportion of official publications are statutory or sessional publications. Those that are published by the Stationery Office are listed in the the Stationery Office annual lists (1920-) which have cumulated indexes.

Examples of such Stationery Office publications include the local reports of the British Geological Survey and the county volumes of the census from 1931. There are also reports on economic development, especially since 1945. Among the earliest official publications that are generally available are the regional reports to the Board of Agriculture made by R.Fraser (1794), W.Marshall (1796), G.Vancouver (1808) and others.

From 1980 non Stationery Office publications are listed by Chadwyck-Healey in: Catalogue of British official publications not published by the Stationery Office. Prior to that it is often necessary to search in departmental publication lists as not all such publications appear in the British National Bibliography. Recent examples of departmental publications which include titles of local interest are the reports of Inspectors of schools, published by the Department for Education and Employment, Home Office publications, such as those of HM inspectors of constabulary and the publications of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory.

The main local studies collections attempt to collect such Stationery Office and departmental publications as they can identify, but much is missed. They can be located in catalogues under the name of the department or committee (sometimes as a subdivision of the heading "Great Britain") or under the name of the compiler or chairman. In cases where authorship is unclear the item may be located under title. The parish packs found in most branches and many schools normally include local extracts from the census reports and the Charity Commissioners.

Further reading: John E.Pemberton British official publications (2 ed, 1973)

6. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

From the 19th century the minutes of local authorities began to be circulated in print. These contain a wealth of detail, down to permissions for the development of individual properties but they are complex documents to work through as several committees could deal with the same matter and they are normally unindexed. The reports of individual officers and departments, such as the medical officer of health were also published, often with financial and statistical tables. Since 1945 there has been an ever increasing flood of planning documentation, much of it containing valuable surveys of the social and economic conditions in the county.

7. REPORT LITERATURE

Besides local councils, a wide range of bodies produce reports, often known as "grey literature" because it is difficult to tack down. Producers include health authorities, the public utilities, commercial companies and academic institutions. Some information is only available in these reports, which often receive limited circulation or are expensive to acquire. For example South West Water produced a wide range of information on climate in the 1970s and the regional surveys of the Agricultural Economics Unit at the University of Exeter include a wealth of statistical and economic data for the future historian of agriculture.