Sources for the United States Code |
| Avanced Google Search Tips |
| 1. Office of the Law Revision Counsel, US House of Representatives (linked on engs.net) |
| 2. United States Government Printing Office (linked on engs.net) |
| 3. Cornell Legal Information Institute (linked on engs.net) |
| 4. The official publication by the US Gov't. United States Code published under the authority of 2 USC s. 285b by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Problem is the bound copy is several years out-of-date. |
| 5. United Stated States Code Annotated (USCA). Thomson/West 1996- |
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6. Westlaw: (linked on engs.net) |
| 7. United States Code Service (USCS). Lexis Law Publ. 1998- |
| 8. Lexis: (linked on engs.net) File=USCS (United States Code Service) File=USNAME (Table of Acts by Popular Name. Offers all the functionality of the hardcopy USCS Popular Name Table plus click-through to cited statutes. But as of this note (Fall 2004) ignore the online instructions appearing at the beginning of the web page, which appear to have been copied over from the Lexis software version, and are irrelevant). File=USSALT (USCS Statutes at Large Table) File=USREVT (USCS Revised Title Table) Files= US1992 - US2002 (Historical versions of the USCS). |
| 9. Lois: United States Code, with Popular Name Table Quick Links |
| 10. Westlaw tip: When searching under the USCA database, it's often helpful to use the Index to find items by subject. |
Sources for United States Session Law |
| 1. Lexis Online has Statutes at Large going back to the very beginning. xx PL xx. or xx Stat. xx. The free online sites only start in the mid 1990s. |
| 2. United States, United States Statutes at Large, Washington, US Gov't Printing Office |
| 3. US GPO Access, Public and Private Laws (linked on engs.net) |
| 4. Library of Congress, Thomas: Legislative Info on the Internet: Public Laws (linked on engs.net) |
| 5. United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN): West/Thomson |
| 6. Westlaw Database= USCCAN-PL |
| 7. United States Code Service: LexisNexis |
| 8. Lexis Library and File= GENFED; PUBLAW |
| 9. Lois: Jurisdiction= Federal, File = Public Laws of the United States |
Sources For New Federal Session Laws |
| 1. US, GPO Access, Public and Private Laws (linked on engs.net) |
| 2. Library of Congress, Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet: Public Laws (linked on engs.net) |
| 3. USCCAN |
| 4. Westlaw Database = USCCAN-PL |
| 5. USCS |
| 6. Lexis: Library and File = GENFED; PUBLAW |
| 7. Lois: Jurisdiction = Federal, File = Public Laws of the United States |
Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories |
| 1. Nancy P. Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein. Looseleaf publication sponsored by the American Association of Law Libraries, lists in Public Law number order the legislative histories included in government documents, law review articles, books, and microfiche sets. For each compliled legislative history listed, the nature of its contents is noted: i.e., whether it contains cites or full text, and of which legislative history components. |
| 2. Bernard D. Reams, Jr., Federal Legislative Histories. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. This bibliography covers narrower ground, since it only includes legislative histories published by the government, but it includes much more descriptive detail about each one. |
| 3. Congressional Information Service, CIS Index. Bethesda, Md.
: LexisNexis. Annual publication since 1970, pulls together the components
of a basic legislative history for each Public Law enacted; since 1984,
the annual Legislative Histories volumes have complied comprehensive lists
of legislative history components, including background history from earlier
Congresses. CIS accession are in three parts: typically they start with "H" or "S" for House or Senate. Within the House and Senate sections of the Abstracts, the documents are categorized according to the Congressional committee (arranged in alphabetical order) that produced them. The committee involved and also the type of material are indicated by the number immediately following the "H" or "S." e.g. H 520 are Documents; H 521 are Hearings; H 522 are Prints; and H 523 are Reports. Finally the third component of the accession number is the sequential number assigned to each individual document within its category. Sometimes you'll get 02H523-54. The 02 refers to the volume of the CIS Index in which the document is described. |
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4. Lexis: Legal> Legislation and Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S.
Congress > Legislative Histories |
| 5. USCCAN |
| 6. Westlaw: All Databases > U.S. Federal Materials > Legislative History |
|
7. The principal kinds of legislative history documents for the U.S.
Congress are (in rough order by their order of production): Of these, the Committee Reports are universally regarded as the most
important. |
Sources of Committee Reports |
| 1. In print, USCCAN. From 1948 to present. |
| 2. Thomas: Legislative History on the Internet. http://thomas.loc.gov (link on engs.net). Coverage begins in 1995. |
| 3. US, GPO Access, Congressional Reports. www. gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/index.html. Coverage begins in 1995 |
| 4. Westlaw. USCCAN-REP. From 1948. |
| 5. Lexis: Legal > Legislation and Politics -- U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Committee Reports (Library and File = GEN-FED; CMTRPT) |
| 6. Congressional Universe. CIS Index, "the gold standard for legislative history research since 1970." |
Sources of Committee Hearings |
| 1. United States, GPO Access, Congressional Hearings. Coverage begins in 1997. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html |
| 2. Congressional Information Service, CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings on Microfiche, covers 1833-1969 |
| 3. Congressional Information Service, CIS Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings on Microfiche, covers 1823-1980. |
| 4. CIS Unpublished US House of Representatives Committee Hearings on Microfiche, covers 1833-1972. |
Sources of Administrative Law
|
| The Federal Register Act, c. 417, 49 Stat. 500 (1935) requires the timely publication of all federal regulations. The Administrative Procedure Act, c.324, 80 Stat. 237 (1946) requires agencies to publish notices of proposed rules in the Federal Register. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), P.L. 84-487, 80 Stat. 237 (1966) requires agencies to publish much more detail about their structures, activities, rulemaking, and other information. The Sunshine Act, P.L. 94-409, 90 Stat. 1241 (1976) requires agencies to hold open meetings and to publish notices about those meetings. All this information and more finds its way to the Federal Register, which is published every business day of the year. Every federal agency empowered by Congress to make rules of general application must list every action they take, or plan to take, that might add, remove or change exisitng regulations. Each day at 6 A.M., the current day's Federal Register is posted on http:// www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. Federal law provides that this e-version is as official as the printed version. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)is reprinted in its entirely every year, according to a rolling schedule but there is no annotated, commercially published version of the CFR. See Armstrong & Knott, Where The Law Is: An Introduction to Advanced Legal Research, Thomsom-West, 2004, p.140-43. |
Titles of USC and CFR Compared |
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| United States Code | Code of Federal Regulations | |
| Title 1 | General Provisions | General Provisions |
| Title 2 | The Congress | [Reserved] |
| Title 3 | The President | The President |
| Title 4 | Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States | Accounts |
| Title 5 | Government Organization and Employees | Administrative Personnel |
| Title 6 | Domestic Security | Homeland Security |
| Title 7 | Agriculture | Agriculture |
| Title 8 | Aliens and Nationality | Aliens and Nationality |
| Title 9 | Abritration | Animals and Animal Products |
| Title 10 | Armed Forces | Energy |
| Title 11 | Bankruptcy | Federal Elections |
| Title 12 | Banks and Banking | Banks and Banking |
| Title 13 | Census | Business Credit and Assistance |
| Title 14 | Coast Guard | Aeronautics and Space |
| Title 15 | Commerce and Trade | Commerce and Foreign Trade |
| Title 16 | Conservation | Commercial Practices |
| Title 17 | Copyrights | Commodity and Securities Exchanges |
| Title 18 | Crimes and Criminal Procedure | Conservation of Power and Water Resources |
| Title 19 | Customs Duties | Customs Duties |
| Title 20 | Education | Employees' Benefits |
| Title 21 | Food and Drugs | Food and Drugs |
| Title 22 | Foreign Relations and Intercourse | Foreign Relations |
| Title 23 | Highways | Highways |
| Title 24 | Hospitals and Asylums | Housing and Urban Development |
| Title 25 | Indians | Indians |
| Title 26 | Internal Revenue Code | Internal Revenue |
| Title 27 | Intoxicating Liquors | Alcohol, Tobacco Products, and Firearms |
| Title 28 | Judiciary and Judicial Procedure | Judicial Administration |
| Title 29 | Labor | Labor |
| Title 30 | Mineral Lands and Mining | Mineral Resources |
| Title 31 | Money and Finance | Money and Finance: Treasury |
| Title 32 | National Guard | National Defense |
| Title 33 | Navigation and Navigable Waters | Navigation and Navigable Waters |
| Title 34 | Navey [Repealed] | Education |
| Title 35 | Patents | Panama Canal |
| Title 36 | Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies, and Organizations | Parks, Forests, and Public Property |
| Title 37 | Pay and Allowances of the Uniform Services | Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright |
| Title 38 | Veterans' Benefits | Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief |
| Title 39 | Postal Service | Postal Service |
| Title 40 | Public Buildings, Property, and Works | Protection of Environment |
| Title 41 | Public Contracts | Public Contracts and Property Management |
| Title 42 | The Public Health and Welfare | Public Health |
| Title 43 | Public Lands | Public Lands: Interior |
| Title 44 | Public Printing and Documents | Emergency Management and Assistance |
| Title 45 | Railroads | Public Welfare |
| Title 46 | Shipping | Shipping |
| Title 47 | Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs | Telecommunication |
| Title 48 | Territories and Insular Possessions | Federal Acquisition Regulations System |
| Title 49 | Transportation | Transportation |
| Title 50 | War and National Defense | Wildlife and Fisheries |
| Dates of Annual Revision of CFR titles |
| Titles 1-16 : January 1 |
| Titles 17-27: April 1 |
| Titles 28-41: July 1 |
| Titles 42-50: October 1 |
Tables of sources drawn predominantly from Where the Law Is: An Introduction to Advanced Legal Research by J.D.S. Armstrong & Christopher A. Knott, American Casebook Series, First Ed., Thomson/West 2004.