Statutory Law

What is Statutory Law?

There are three types of law which prevail at the federal, state, and local levels of government in the United States: Statutory Law, Judicial (or Case law) , and Regulations (or Administrative Law). Statutory law consists of the acts of legislatures. Statutory law is published in several forms and by different publishers. If laws need to be cited in court, use the official editions published by the Government Printing Office.

Legal Citations

The legal citation for a statutory law can be to the the Public Law / Statute version or to the codified version of the law.

A Public law citation has the abbreviation P.L. (or Pub. L.), the Congress number, and the law number.

P.L. 93-247
P.L. [Public Law] 93 [Congress number] 247 [number assigned to law as it was passed]

A Statutes citation has the volume number, the abbreviation "Stat." for Statutes at Large, and the page number where the law begins.

88 Stat. 4
88 [volume number] Stat. [Statutes at Large] 4 [page number]

A citation to the law in the United States Code has the title number (used instead of volume number), the abbreviation of the edition of the code, the section or part number, and the year of the edition of the code (or the abbreviation "supp" and the year of the latest supplement to the code). The symbol § may be used to indicate a section or §§ to indicate a range of sections. Optional: if an unofficial edition of the code is used, include the name of the publisher in parentheses.

42 U.S.C. 5101 (2000)
42 [title number] U.S.C. [United States Code] 5101 [section number] (2000) [year of latest edition]

5 U.S.C.A. § 8902(j) (1996)
5 [title number] U.S.C.A. [United States Code Annotated] § 8902(j) [section and subsection]

Bills

Bills, resolutions, etc. are the forms in which legislation is proposed. The full text of bills is available electronically from 1989 (101st Congress) to present. Prior to 1989 it is difficult to find copies of bills which were never passed into law. In these cases, bill summaries are useful.

LexisNexis Congressional. LOCATION: Library Databases [restricted to UD]: Contains the full text of bills from 1989 (101st Congress) to present. Select "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws."

Congressional Bills: GPO Access. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. LOCATION: Internet (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html): Contains full text of bills from 1993 (103rd Congress) to present. Available in ASCII text and PDF formats.

Thomas. LOCATION: Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov) (congress.gov): Web site maintained by the Library of Congress. Contains full text of bills from 1989 (101st Congress) to present, in ASCII text. Additionally, from 1993 (103rd Congress) to present, Thomas includes links to the PDF format on GPO Access. Also has a Bill Summary and Status database.

Bill Summaries

The essential features of bills and resolutions and changes made to them during the legislative process. It includes information on the bill sponsor(s). Before 1989, it is very difficult to find the text of bills that were never enacted. Bill summaries can fill in the gap.

Thomas. (BSS). LOCATION: Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/109search.html): Bill Summary and Status database covers 1973 (93rd Congress) to present.

Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions. (Bill Digest). Washington, DC: Library of Congress. LOCATION: Morris Library - U.S. Documents (U.S. Doc LC 14.6:): Covers 1943-1946, 1949-1990. Continued by the Bill Summary and Status database in Thomas.

Slip Laws / Public Laws

A bill becomes law and is published individually, numbered with the Congress number, and a sequential number assigned in the order that it is passed. The Statute number is assigned to the law at the same time as the Public Law number.

Public and Private Laws: GPO Access. (P.L.). LOCATION: Internet (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html) LOCATION: Morris Library - U.S. Documents (U.S. Doc AE 2.110:): The slip or pamphlet print of all the laws passed by Congress, both public and private. Slip laws are retained until the bound volumes of Statutes at Large are available. The online version through GPO Access contains full text of public and private laws dating from 1995 (104th Congress) to present. Available in ASCII text and PDF formats.

LexisNexis Congressional. (P.L.). LOCATION: Library Databases [restricted to UD]: Contains the full text of public laws from 1988 (100th Cong, 2nd sess) to present. To locate, select "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws."

Thomas. (P.L.). LOCATION: Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov/): Contains full text of Public Laws from 1989 (101st Congress) to present, in ASCII text. Additionally, from 1993 (103rd Congress) to present, Thomas includes links to the PDF format on GPO Access. Note: the only access is by P.L. number. To search by subject, go to the Bill Summary and Status section.

Statutes

The permanent bound collection of all laws and resolutions (public and private) enacted during each session of Congress. Chronologically arranged. Sometimes called session laws.

United States Statutes at Large. (Stat.). (title varies) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
LOCATION: Morris Library - U.S. Documents (U.S. Doc AE 2.111:) v. 20 (1877)-
LOCATION: Internet (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/statutes/index.html) via GPO Access (2003-04; 108 Cong)
LOCATION: Morris Library - U.S. Documents (U.S. Doc Microfiche S 7.9:) v.1(1789)-v.37(1903)
LOCATION: Library Databases (via Early American Imprints, Series I) prior to 1800
LOCATION: Morris Library - Microforms (Microfiche S 269.5) Early American Imprints, Series II, 1801-1819
LOCATION: Internet (http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS30184) via Library of Congress (1789-1875): The print edition of Statutes at Large is the official compilation of the laws passes in a session of Congress. It is a chronological arrangement of public and private laws, bound into volumes and containing indexes. The indexes in each volume cover only that session of Congress. The entire set covers 1873 (43rd Congress) to present. Pages are printed with both PL and Stat numbers. Prior to 1873, the statutes were published by private printers, not by the Government Printing Office. See the guide Early United States Statutes at Large for more information.

U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. (USCCAN). St. Paul, MN: ThomsonWest Publishing. 1959-. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF48): USCCAN is the Statutes at Large published by a commercial printer, with added notes and finding aids. Includes a legislative history for many laws. Covers 1959 (86th Congress) to present. Volumes are arranged chronologically and pages are printed with both PL and Stat numbers. The indexes in each volume cover only that session of Congress. In general, do not cite laws as USCCAN; use the PL or Stat form or cite to a code.

Codes

A Code is a subject arrangement (codification) of all the public laws currently in force. It includes all the laws of a general or permanent nature. There are two annotated versions of the US Code available from commercial publishers. Annotations often include notes, histories, and references to cases.

United States Code. (U.S.C.). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF61 .U5a and supplement) LOCATION: Internet (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html) or (http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS2873) via GPO Access: The print edition of the United States Code is the official compilation of the laws of the United States. It is arranged by subject and grouped within 50 broad subject categories, called "titles". There is a subject index, a popular names table, and a conversion table (statute to code). U.S. Code is revised every six years, with annual supplements appearing in the intervening years. Note: the Library does not hold out-of-date bound copies of the Code. Those who need older codes should contact a law library. GPO Access has an online version of the Code is a searchable database that combines the code and its supplements. The site also has the 1994 Code.

United States Code Annotated. (U.S.C.A.). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing/Thomson Gale. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF62 1927 .T5): USCA is the U.S. Code published by a commercial printer. It is arranged in the same format: by subject and grouped within 50 broad subject categories, called "titles". Includes notes or explanations of points of law and cases construing these points. The indexing is more sophisticated than the U.S. Code. USCA is kept up to date by frequently issued pocket parts. Includes a popular names index.

U.S. Code Service. (U.S.C.S.). LOCATION: Library Databases (via LexisNexis Academic) [restricted to UD] LOCATION: Library Databases (via LexisNexis Congressional) [restricted to UD]: USCS is the United States Code published by a commercial printer. The Library subscribes to USCS as part of the LexisNexis Academic and the LexisNexis Congressional databases. In LexisNexis Academic, select Legal Research, then Codes & Regulations, then Federal code. Or, go to "Sources", search United States Code Service and use the "Search this title" feature. In LexisNexis Congressional, go to Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws.

U.S. Code Collection. LII (Legal Information Institute), Cornell Law School. LOCATION: Internet (http://www2.law.cornell.edu/uscode/): This is the only online version of the Code that displays search results in context within the code and provides breadcrumbs, links, and other navigation tools. The Updates option identifies if any changes have been made since the publication of the code. Includes the Popular Names of Acts table.

Index

Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names: Federal and State. Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's, 1999. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF90 .S52 1999 and supp.) Reference Desk: Good as a starting point to identify a particular law, using the popularly known name. Note: not all acts have a popular name.

This page is maintained by Rebecca Knight, Reference Department.

Version: 9/2009
Last modified: 10/04/09

Statutory Law:

A Research Guide