This guide is the first of three guides to sources of information on the legal process available at the IPFW Helmke Library. This guide covers the legislative branches of government, federal, state, and local, and their relevant publications. The implementation of the legislative process is carried out by the executive branch and is covered by the guide to Federal and State Regulations. Lastly, the judicial branch's interpretation of the law is covered by the guide to Court Decisions. Statutory law thus includes laws passed by the U. S. Congress or the Indiana state legislature, or the Fort Wayne City Council.
Legislation goes through a number of steps before becoming law.
For an overview of the federal process see How Our Laws are Made and for Indiana see How a Bill Becomes a Law . After passage, laws are made available to the public by both government and commercial publishers in various formats. IPFW provides access to both print and electronic versions of government and commercial versions of federal, Indiana state statutes, and Fort Wayne City ordinances. Once a law has passed both houses of Congress and has been signed by the President it becomes a public law. Large - At the end of each session of Congress all of the public laws passed in that session are cumulated and bound together in order of their passage.