The extent attribute is set to the widest geographical coverage to which the version applies. This example shows the widest extent available:
For a higher level division, the extent must be wide enough to encompass the extents of all versions of any provisions beneath it in the hierarchy. The possible extents are:
England (E)
Wales (W)
Scotland (S)
Northern Ireland (N.I.)
or any combination of these.
Thus, UK extents are represented as E+W+S+N.I. and GB extents are represented as E+W+S. Church of England Measures, which generally extend to the provinces of Canterbury and York, are treated as ‘E’.
The extent attribute is not intended to represent precisely the actual extent of the provision in question but rather to ensure that all versions are returned that may be relevant to the user’s search criteria. You should refer to any extent provision in the legislation or to any extent annotations (E-notes) for detailed extent information. Where there are concurrent versions of a provision, it is the sum of the extents of these versions that will represent the widest extent for the provision as a whole.
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NOTE that, although there will usually be one or more provisions in an Act determining the extent of the Act, this is not always the case. If an Act of the UK parliament is silent as to its extent, this means that it extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. One curious consequence of this is that the extent attributes of Local Acts, which rarely specify any extent, will usually be set to ‘E+W+S+NI’, even where the practical effect of the Act is confined to a small geographical area (e.g. the Hereford Markets Act 2003 (c. iv)). |
You should treat with caution the extent attributes for amending or repealing provisions where it is provided that the extent of any amendment etc. is the same as that of the provision being amended. The “effective extent” in these cases is not researched for the purpose of setting the attributes. Practice has varied over time. Formerly, the attributes for such provisions were set to a special extent category of 'Co-extensive' that has translated onto the new system as ‘UK’. Present practice in these cases is to set the attribute initially to the extent the provision would otherwise have had but for the ‘co-extensive’ provision and only to revisit it if the provision in question is itself subsequently amended.
All Acts of the ‘pre-UK’ parliaments have been set initially to the extent appropriate to the relevant jurisdiction. Thus, all Acts of the old English parliament are set to ‘E’, all Acts of the old Scottish parliament to ‘S’ and so on. The extent attributes of these Acts will not reflect any territorial extensions made to them before the basedate. Any extent changes after the basedate will be reflected.
The extent attributes for secondary legislation are determined at present only by the legislation type and do not necessarily reflect the true extent. Thus, all UK Statutory Instruments are set to ‘E+W+S+N.I.’ (except for Welsh Statutory Instruments denoted by a ‘W’ series number, which are set to ‘W’), Scottish Statutory Instruments are set to ‘S’, and Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland are set to ‘N.I.’.
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