A statute is the formal written enactment of a legislative body. The legislative enactments of the United States Congress are called federal statutes. They are published in three formats: Slip Laws, Session Laws and Codes.
Statutes are increasingly voluminous and complex, reflecting the growth of America and its legislatures. Statutes are primary sources of law which, along with the cases that interpret them, are frequently cited in all forms of legal documents. If a federal statute treats the law of a given subject, it is mandatory authority and must be examined carefully.
A slip law is the first version of a newly enacted statute. Each law is issued as a single pamphlet with its own pagination. While paper copies of slip laws are available, slip laws of recently enacted statutes are most readily obtained on Westlaw, Lexis or the Internet.
The laws passed in each session of Congress are known as session laws. Session laws are published chronologically and each law is assigned a public law number. An example of a session law citation is: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 327. In this example, Pub. L. No. 101-336 refers to the 336th statute enacted by the 101st Congress. 104 Stat. 327 refers to volume 104 of U. S. Statutes at Large and 327 is the first page of the law.
Session laws are printed in bound volumes for each session of Congress in U. S. Statutes at Large (KF 50 U5), which are available back to 1789 on the 4th Floor of Biddle. Recently enacted laws are available as slip laws and are shelved at the end of Statutes at Large. Each volume of Statutes at Large has a subject and popular name index.
Session laws are essential to legal research when you want to know exactly what Congress enacted in a given year and what was enacted in the most recent few months or weeks (although the latter will be online before it is in print).
Federal statutes are most frequently used in one of their codified forms: the U.S. Code, the U.S. Code Annotated, and the U.S. Code Service. Codified statutes provide access to current law, with obsolete earlier laws dropped .
The first comprehensive codification of federal statutes occurred with the publication of Revised Statutes of the United States in 1874. The U.S. Code was first published in 1926, the U.S. Code Annotated in 1927 and the U.S. Code Service in 1972.
The U.S. Code (U.S.C.) (KF62 2000 A2) is the official government publication which is arranged by 50 subject areas, each known as a title. Titles are subdivided into chapters and then sections. A reference such as 11 U.S.C. 507(a)(3) refers to title 11, section 507, sub-section a(3), of the U.S. Code. Current volumes of U.S.C. are available on the 4th floor of Biddle. Superseded volumes are shelved in the Lewis Collection in Silverman Hall and may be requested through the Circulation Desk.
The U.S. Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) (KF62 1927 W45) is a commercial publication produced by the West Group which follows the same arrangement as that found in U.S.C. In addition, it provides references to the related sections of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) and to legislative materials in the U. S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.). U.S.C.A. also contains abstracts of judicial decisions which have considered the particular section of the Code under which they are found. U.S.C.A. is updated annually with pocket parts and every two months with free-standing pamphlets. Current volumes of U.S.C.A. are available on the 4th floor of Biddle. Superseded volumes are shelved in the Lewis Collection in Silverman Hall and may be requested through the Circulation Desk.
The U.S. Code Service (U.S.C.S.) (KF62 1972 L38), which is a commercial publication produced by Lexis Law Publishing, also follows the title arrangement found in U.S.C. Like U.S.C.A. it contains numerous notes, cross-references and abstracts of judicial decisions. However, it carries far fewer digests of decisions than U.S.C.A., limiting its coverage to those decisions its publisher deems most relevant. U.S.C.S. is updated annually with pocket parts, and twice a year with free-standing pamphlets. Current volumes of U.S.C.S. are available on the 4th floor of Biddle. Superseded volumes are shelved in the Lewis Collection in Silverman Hall and may be requested through the Circulation Desk.
When you know the topic or subject matter of a statute, use the alphabetical General Index in U.S.C., U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. to locate all statutes dealing with that subject.
If you know the common or popular name of a law, use the Popular Name Index in U.S.C., U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S.
The section captioned "Notes of Decisions" in U.S.C.A. or "Interpretive Notes and Decisions" in U.S.C.S. contain cases citing a particular statute.
The "notes" included in the U.S. Code Section of U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. under the heading "Code of Federal Regulations" will refer you to related sections in the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.).
If you know a Statutes at Large citation, you can find the corresponding U.S. Code sections by using the table captioned Statutes at Large in the Tables volumes in U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S.
In the history and historical notes section found with the code section in U.S.C.S. or U.S.C.A., cross-references refer you back to the original Statutes at Large citation (STAT), including the Public Law Number.
Shepardizing a statute can only be done online. Westlaw's KeyCite and Lexis' Shepard's provide up-to-date notices of statutory amendments and citing cases. KeyCite can be accessed by clicking on the "KeyCite" tab located at the top of any Westlaw page; Shepard's can be accessed by clicking on the "Shepard's" tab located at the top of any Lexis page. Since a court may mention a session law prior to its being codified or to make an historical point, it is wise to Shepardize a statute under both its U.S.C. and Stat. citation.
Statutes can be updated through pocket parts and supplementary pamphlets to U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. Both of these sources provide updated information about a statute's validity and amendment. Westlaw and Lexis can also be used to update a statute, either by using the online versions of U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. or the Public Laws database. Finally, Shepardizing a statute will provide updated information about a statute.
The various versions of the U.S. Code contain the United States Constitution (Title 1), the Rules of Federal Civil Procedure (Title 28), Rules of Federal Criminal Procedure (Title 18), Federal Sentencing Guidelines (Title 18), the Rules of Appellate Procedure (Title 28), and the Federal Rules of Evidence (Title 28), which are frequently requested by legal researchers.
Westlaw carries both U.S.C. and U.S.C.A. databases: USC AND USCA.
Slip laws are available on Westlaw: Database: US-PL.
Lexis carries the U.S.C.S. (Library: CODES; File: USCODE). Slip laws are also available on Lexis (Library CODES; File: PUBLAW).
An internet version of the U.S. Code is provided at www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/. This version of the code may be searched by title, popular name, section number or key word. Slip laws, session law, and current bills can obtained from Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
For further information, consult the book How to Find the Law, Ninth Edition 1989, Chapter 5, "Statutes," pp. 143-176, by Morris L. Cohen, Robert C. Berring and Kent C. Olsen (KF240.C538/1989). This title is located in the Ready Reference area, the Reserved Reading Room and Closed Reserve.
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