You are here: Home: >> Legal Research: >> Federal Statutory Research:

Federal Statutory Research

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL LAW CENTER
JACOB BURNS LAW LIBRARY

INTRODUCTION

There are two types of federal laws:

• private laws
• public laws

Private laws generally benefit a particular person or group of individuals. Public laws are of general application. This research guide focuses on how to research federal public laws.

THE PUBLICATION OF FEDERAL STATUTES

Slip Laws

Public laws or statutes are published officially first in the form of a pamphlet, a “slip law”, and assigned a designated public law number. The public law number is the unique identification number for each law. Public laws are numbered sequentially starting with each new Congress. In the following citation: Pub. L. No. 101-123.

“101” indicates the Congress. The second number is a sequential number assigned to the law by the General Services Administration. In the above example, “ 123” indicates that this was the 123rd public law adopted during the 101st Congress. Since 1974, citations to the United States Code have been included in the text of the law and indicate where the statute appears in the Code. Since 1975, a brief legislative history also has been included on the law.

Statutes at Large

Eventually slip laws are compiled into bound volumes known as session laws. “Session laws” refers to the publication, in chronological sequence, of laws enacted during a legislative session. The official bound volumes containing session laws of the U.S. Congress are called the Statutes at Large (LOCATION: LLI). An example of a citation to the Statutes at Large is: 80 Stat. 931.

“80” is the volume number of the Statute at Large and “931” is the page which contains the text of the law. Session laws are also published in the unofficial United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN! (LOCATION: LLI). Since 1975, USCCAN has included the Statutes at Large pagination.

United States Code (U.S.C.)

The most useful form of a federal law is not its session law format, but its codified format. A “code” rearranges laws into a subject format. In the process of creating a subject arrangement of the law, a code incorporates later amendments into the text of the original law. Repealed laws are deleted and minor technical adjustments made to the text. The result is the most up-to- date version of the law. Statutory codes often appear in both official and unofficial editions.

The official code of federal laws is the United States Code (U.S.C.) (LOCATION: LL1, 2nd Floor Stockton). In the U.S.C., the laws are grouped into 50 “titles”, each title representing a particular subject area. For example, Title 12 of the U.S.C. contains the current text of banking laws. An example of a citation to the U.S.C. is: 5 U.S.C. ' 555 (1988).

“5” is the title of the U.S.C., “555” is the section number, and “1988” indicates the year of the edition of the U.S.C. being cited. The U.S.C. is completely revised every six years and updated between these revisions with annual supplements.

Unofficial versions of the U.S.C are more current than the official version and contain useful annotations to cases and secondary materials. Two unofficial versions of the U.S.C. are:

• United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.):U.S.C.S. is published by Lawyer’s Cooperative. Like U.S.C.A., it is updated annually with pocket parts as well as with periodic supplemental pamphlets. Extensive annotations provide citations to court decisions, federal regulations, statutory history, federal agency decisions and law review articles. (LOCATION: LLl).
• United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.):U.S.C.S. is published by Lawyer’s Cooperative. Like U.S.C.A., it is updated annually with pocket parts as well as with periodic supplemental pamphlets. Extensive annotations provide citations to court decisions, federal regulations, statutory history, federal agency decisions and law review articles. (LOCATION: LLl)

Federal Statutory Research - (Continued on Page 2)