{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/copyright-act-1956/section-42",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/copyright-act-1956/section-42.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Eliz2/4-5/74",
  "legislation_title": "Copyright Act 1956",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/copyright-act-1956",
  "path": "section/42",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "42",
  "heading": "Special provisions as to public records",
  "text": "(1) Where any work in which copyright subsists, or a reproduction of any such work, is comprised in—\n(a) any records belonging to Her Majesty which are under the charge and superintendence of the Master of the Rolls by virtue of an Order in Council under section two of the Public Record Office Act, 1838, and are open to public inspection in accordance with rules made under that Act, or\n(b) any public records to which the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland), 1923, applies, being records which are open to public inspection in accordance with rules made under that Act,\nthe copyright in the work is not infringed by the making, or the supplying to any person, of any reproduction of the work by or under the direction of any officer appointed under the said Act of 1838 or the said Act of 1923, as the case may be.\n(2) In the preceding subsection “records ”—\n(a) in paragraph (a) of that subsection has the same meaning as in the Public Record Office Act, 1838 ;\n(b) in paragraph (b) of that subsection has the same meaning as in the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland), 1923.\n(3) Any reference in this section to the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland), 1923, shall be construed as including a reference to that Act as for the time being amended or re-enacted (with or without modifications) by any enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/4-5/74/section/42",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:14:18.136002+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}