Justis FAQ – How do calendar years correspond to regnal years?
Q – What are regnal years, and how do they correspond to calendar years?
A – Prior to 1963, Acts of Parliament were numbered using the year of the sovereign’s reign in which the Act was passed, a system known as regnal years.
Under the regnal year system, an Act passed early in a parliamentary session has a citation such as 5 Edw. 7, c. 9, for the ninth chapter in the session that commenced in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward 7th. It was common for a session to extend into a second regnal year, giving rise to a citation such as 8 & 9 Geo. 6, c. 4. Occasionally, a session could extend into a third regnal year, with citations such as 12 13 & 14 Geo. 6, c. 87.
To determine the regnal year(s) corresponding to a calendar year, select the century in the following list, and look for the calendar year in the first column of the table for that century.
