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In this topic, you will learn how to source the number of an Act when you have its name and year, and how to find the name of an Act when you have its number and year.
The number and year notation of an act is also known as its "sessional details".
Finding Sessional Details Using the Federal Register of Legislation
Identify Sessional Details of a Commonwealth Act when you know its name
Your task: Use FROL to find the sessional details of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth).
Step 1: Locate the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth) on FROL following the steps in the previous topic: Finding an Act.
Step 2: Once you have located the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth) you can see the sessional details in the DETAILS pane, and at the start of the Act itself.
Finding a Commonwealth Act when you know its Sessional Details
Your task: Use FROL to find the Act with the sessional details 103 of 1957.
The example above shows you that it is relatively easy to find the sessional details of an Act when you have its name and year. More commonly, you will have the sessional details of an Act and need to find its name.
Step 1: From the FROL homepage, select Acts from the blue menu on the left. Select As made from the resulting drop-down menu.
Step 2: In the Filter results box, under Show results, select Sort by Year / Number from the drop-down list. This will automatically change the display on the right-hand side of the page.
Step 3: You will now see a calendar grouped by decade. Select the relevant year for your sessional details. In this case, 1957.
Step 4: Once you have located Act number 103 in the list of Acts for the year 1957, you will see that these sessional details belong to the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (Cth).
Using the Advanced Search feature to find an Act from its Sessional Details
It is also possible to find the title of an Act from its sessional details by using the Advanced Search feature on FROL.
Step 1: Go to the FROL homepage and select Search from the top right, and then select Advanced Search from the resulting blue box.
Step 2: Select the Unique ID Search tab to switch from the default setting of Advanced Search.
Step 3: Look down to the bottom left hand side of the screen and you will see Select ID type in a grey box. Click on the down arrow in this box. Select Act year and No.
Step 4: Add the year and number (sessional details) into the search box. Note the format required is YYYY/NNNN. So, 1957/103.
Step 5: Click on Search.
Note: This will take you to a list of versions of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (Cth).
When you find an Act using these methods, you will see a list of results 'as amended' and one 'as made'.
The Act 'as made' is the Act as it appeared when it was first passed, without any subsequent amendments.
Step 6: If you want the Act as it is in its current form, click on View Series on one of the search results.
This will take you to the list of compilations of the Act.
The first Act compilation you see in the list is often the current version.
Note: You will notice the blue map of Australia with the red tick through it on both the results list and the compilations list.
This symbol means that this is an authoritative version.
It is worth checking through to the Compilation series as there are some instances where the first authoritative version you see in the results list may not be the current version of the Act.
