Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them
Released: 2012-03-21T00:00:00

This report provides a brief overview of federal statutes and where to find them, in print format and on the Internet. When Congress passes a law, it may amend or repeal earlier enactments or it may create new law. Newly enacted laws are published chronologically, first as separate statutes in "slip law" form and later cumulatively in the bound volumes of the Statutes at Large . Additionally, most statutes are also incorporated into the United States Code ( U.S.C. ). The U.S.C. and its commercial counterparts, United States Code Service ( U.S.C.S.) and United States Code Annotated ( U.S.C.A.) , take the federal statutes that are of a general and permanent nature and arrange them by subject into 51 separate titles. As the statutes that underlie the Code are revised, superseded, or repealed, the provisions of the Code are updated to reflect these changes.

Public Laws and Private Laws

When a piece of legislation is enacted under the procedures set forth in Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, it is characterized as a "public law" or a "private law." Each new statute is assigned a number according to its order of enactment within a particular Congress (e.g., the 10 th public law enacted in the 112 th Congress was numbered as P.L. 112-10; the 10 th private law was numbered Priv. L. 112-10). Private laws are enacted for the benefit of a named individual or entity (e.g., due to exceptional individual circumstances, Congress enacts a law providing a government reimbursement to a named person who would not otherwise be eligible under general law). In contrast, public laws are of general applicability and permanent and continuing in nature. Public laws form the basis of the Code . The first official publication of the law is called the slip law.

The Government Printing Office's (GPO's) Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides free online access to official federal government publications. Individual slip laws in printed pamphlet form can be obtained from the GPO. Federal Depository Libraries, located throughout the United States, also provide free public access to federal publications and other information. A list of Federal Depository Libraries and their locations is accessible on the Internet at http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp . Some private and public libraries compile the laws in looseleaf binders or in microfiche collections.

Commercial Sources of Public Laws (Print Format)

The United States Code Congressional and Administrative News ( U.S.C.C.A.N. ) compiles and publishes public laws chronologically in their slip law version. U.S.C.C.A.N. 's annual bound volumes and monthly print supplements include the texts of new enactments and selected Senate, House, and/or conference reports. The U.S.C.S. and the U.S.C.A. publish new public laws chronologically as supplements.

The United States Statutes At Large

Slip laws (both public laws and private laws) are accumulated, corrected, and published at the end of each session of Congress in a series of bound volumes entitled Statutes at Large . The laws are cited by volume and page number (e.g., 96 Stat. 1259 refers to page 1259 of volume 96 of the Statutes at Large ). Researchers are most likely to resort to this publication when they are interested in the original language of a statute or in statutes that are not codified in the Code , such as appropriations or private laws.

Public Laws, as Amended

Most statutes do not initiate new programs. Rather, most statutes revise, repeal, or add to existing statutes. Consider the following sequence of enactments.

In 1952, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (P.L. 82-414, 66 Stat. 163). This law generally consolidated and amended federal statutory law on the admission and stay of aliens in the United States and how they may become citizens. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was codified at Title 8 of the U.S.C. §§1 et seq. In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ( P.L. 99-603 , 100 Stat. 3359). Section 101 of this act amended Section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (codified at 8 U.S.C §1324) by adding Section 274a (codified at 8 USC §1324a). This new section (Section 274a) made it unlawful for a person to hire for employment in the United States an illegal alien. In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ( P.L. 104-208 , Division C, 110 Stat. 3009). Section 412 of the 1996 act amended the employer sanctions process by requiring an employer to verify that a new employee is not an illegal alien. As with the 1986 act, the 1996 act expressly amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (Section 274A in this case) and Section 1324a in Title 8 of the U.S.C. (8 U.S.C. §1324a).

As the above sequence illustrates, the canvas upon which Congress works is often an updated, stand-alone version of an earlier public law (e.g., Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended), and not the U.S. Code . On the "Titles of United States Code " page of the Code an asterisk appears next to some of the titles. The asterisks refer to a note that states: "This title has been enacted as positive law." If the title is asterisked, the Code provides the authoritative version of the public law, as amended. For example, there is no asterisk beside Title 42 of the U.S.C . Thus, the provisions codified in Title 42 are not authoritative. Should there be a discrepancy, a court will accept the language in the Statutes at Large as the authoritative source and not the Code . It should be noted that there is no substantive difference between the language of the public law as published in the Statutes at Large and that of the Code .

It is often difficult to find current, updated versions of frequently amended public laws. Many congressional committees periodically issue committee prints containing the major public laws within their respective jurisdictions. Alternatively, the various commercial publishers, discussed herein, print updated versions of major public laws. In addition, the amended versions of some major public laws can be found on the Internet.

United States Code

The United States Code (U.S.C.) is the official government codification of federal legislation. This resource has been printed by the GPO every six years since 1926 and supplemented by annual cumulative bound volumes. The latest edition is dated 2006. The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives and FDsys provide authoritative and current online access to the U.S.C .

In the U.S.C . , statutes are grouped by subject into 51 titles. Each title is further organized into chapters and sections. A listing of the titles is provided in each volume. Unlike the statutes, the Code is cited by title and section number (e.g., 28 U.S.C. §534 refers to Section 534 of Title 28). Notes at the end of each section provide additional information, including statutory origin of the Code provision (both by public law number and Statutes at Large citation), the effective date(s), a brief citation and discussion of any amendments, and cross references to related provisions.

Annotated Editions of the United States Code

The United States Code Annotated ( U.S.C.A .) published by Thomson/West and the United States Code Service ( U.S.C.S. ) published by LexisNexis are unofficial, privately published editions of the Code . These publications often include the text of the Code , annotations to judicial decisions interpreting the sections, cross references to the Code of Federal Regulations ( C.F.R. ) provisions, and historical notes. Both also provide references to selected secondary sources. For example, the U.S.C.S . includes selected law review articles.

Bound volumes of the U.S.C.A. and the U.S.C.S. are updated by annual inserts ("pocket parts") or supplements. These updates include newly codified laws and annotations. Both U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. issue pamphlets containing copies of recently enacted public laws arranged in chronological order. Since there is a time lag in publishing the official U.S.C. , codified versions of new enactments usually appear first in the U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. supplements.

General Index

Each edition of the Code has a comprehensive index that is organized by subject. The index is updated in each annual supplement to the Code .

Popular Name Table

Each edition of the Code also has a table that can be used to find an act and where it was codified in the Code . The public laws are arranged alphabetically and can be searched under their commonly known names. This reference also provides the public law number and the citations to the Statutes at Large , U.S.C ., and their amendments. For example, searching for the "Stone Act" in the table shows that it has been codified at 30 U.S.C. §161.

Statutes at Large Table

The Statutes at Large table is one of the most useful research tools because it shows the relationship between public laws, the Statutes at Large , and the U.S.C . A researcher who has either a public law number or a Statutes at Large citation can use this table to ascertain where that law is codified and its present status. The table is particularly useful when searching in one section of a law that contains many subsections because it can be used to find where individual sections and subsections of a public law have been codified. For example, the table indicates that P.L. 99-661 , Section 1403 is codified in the U.S.C. at 20 U.S.C. §4702.

U.S.C.A. and the U.S.C.S. also have their own versions of the research tools discussed above.

Finding Federal Statutes on the Internet

Legal resources, including federal statutes, are widely available to both scholars and the general public through the Internet. Several considerations should be taken into account when using Internet materials.

Materials on Internet sites may not be up-to-date, and it may be difficult to discern how current the material is or whether it has been revised. It may be difficult to find current federal statutes, especially in the case of "popular name" statutes that are amended frequently. On their websites, federal agencies do not always include the current versions of the statutes they administer, however, they may provide useful summaries and discussions of the statutes. Websites are constantly changing. The inclusion and location of information may differ from time to time. The address or URL of a website may also change. In addition, each website has its own search capabilities and format.

With the foregoing caveats in mind, the following are public resources for the selected statutory materials described in this report.

Public Laws

Library of Congress - American Memory http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsllink.html

This page provides access to the Statutes a t Large from the 1 st Congress (1789 - 1790) to the

43 rd Congress (1873 - 1874). An index is also available for the first eight volumes of the

Statutes a t Large .

Library of Congress: THOMAS

http://thomas.loc.gov/

This page provides access to the full-text of public laws from the 101 st Congress (1989 – 1990) to present.

GPO's Federal Digital System http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action

This page provides access to the Statutes at Large and public and private laws from the 104 th Congress (1995 - 1996) to the present. The "Advanced Search" capability enables more than one collection to be searched at a time by adding "more search criteria."

United States Code

Office of the Law Revision Counsel U.S.C. http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml

This page provides access to the 2006 edition and its supplements. The page also links to the previous editions and supplements.

GPO's Federal Digital System http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action

This page provides access to the 1994 through 2006 editions and their supplements. The "Advanced Search" capability enables more than one collection to be searched at a time by adding "more search criteria."

Popular Name Index

Office of the Law Revision Counsel http://uscode.house.gov/popularnames/popularnames.htm#letterE

This page provides a list of the popular and statutory names of Acts in alphabetical order.

Other Resources

U.S. Code Classification Tables http://uscode.house.gov/classification/tables.shtml

This page shows where recently enacted laws will appear in the United States Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. The tables only include those provisions of law that have been classified to the Code .