Case in Point: Research examples from the Law Library
How do I know which version of an Act to use for a date from a few years ago?
A lawyer asked for help in figuring out which version of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) to use for the 26 April 2022, and 31 May 2023. A straightforward request, but it needs some backstory.
Why are there different versions of an Act?
Acts are changed all the time by parliament. These changes are called amendments. Acts that have been around for a long time might have lots of amendments, but some Acts can have very few.
Each time there is an amendment, a new version of the Act is published to the official source. In Victoria, the official source is the government’s Victorian Legislation website.
Going back in time
Sometimes you need to view legislation as it was at the time an event occurred. This 'point in time' research is especially common in criminal law.
Another reason for needing to view past versions of legislation is to track how the law has changed over time, requiring a comparison of versions.
The year is 1996, the birth of the Macarena, and digital legislation
Legislation before 1996 is hard copy only (with some exceptions on AustLII). You can request to view hard copy legislation at the Supreme Court Library.
To find previous versions of Victorian legislation dating from 1996 onwards, including the ‘as made’ version, go to the Victorian Legislation website.
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Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic)
We searched on the Act name to bring it up on the Victorian Legislation website. Here we found the ‘in force’ (current) version of the Act, plus its ‘Version History’ (a list of past versions and the dates when there was a new amendment).
We can see from this list there was no version published between 1 Dec 2021 and 1 Feb 2024.
To view the Act as it was on the 26 April 2022 and 31 May 2023, we directed the lawyer to use Version 019, the last amendment published before those dates.
To be 100% sure we suggested the lawyer open the Act and check the margins at each section they were interested in. These handy margin notes will tell you if the section was amended.
If you don’t see any notes at all next to the section, it means there have been no changes since the Act was originally made.
Bonus round
The Endnotes, located on the last couple of pages of the Act, list Amending Acts. Checking this section also confirmed there have been no amendments made between 1 Dec 2021 and the latest Amending Act (1 Feb 2024).
And that is how we knew which version of the Act to use for a specific point in time.
Librarian at Murdoch University and Department of Justice
1moInteresting! I have been under the impression though to use the later version, as it would include these changes plus any further changes up to the latest amending act.