Research Assistants

Public Law: Public Law XX-XXX = P.L. [year of Congress] – [number of the bill – assigned in chronological order]

The law as published once the President signs it. In physical form, this is a soft bound booklet, depending on the size of the act. In electronic form, it is a standalone PDF. 

An example: The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act) is Public Law No. 108-187.

Session Law: XX Statutes at Large XXXX = [Volume] Stat. [Page – assigned in chronological order]

The exact same thing as the Public Law, only given new numbering and bound with the other public laws, in chronological order, into a larger volume. In electronic form, it is part of a larger document. 

The CAN-SPAM Act is also published at 117 Stat. 2699. Take a look at the PDF of Volume 117 of the Statutes at Large. The Public Law number and the Statutes at Large citations are listed at the top of the pages. CAN-SPAM is at page 2699.

Codified Version: XX United States Code XXX = [Volume] U.S.C. [Section]

The portions of law that are permanent (e.g., not the budget) are then codified by topic. (You can see the general topics in the Titles of the United States Code here.) This may involve creating new sections of the code to contain them, or fitting the language from them into previously established sections. Often, if there is a previously established section, the act itself will set out the changes to the codified version.

Sometimes codification can lead to one Act being broken up into different parts of a code. One common example is when an Act sets out certain behavior, and declares that not following that behavior can be charged as a crime. The portion related to the crime will be codified in Title 18, while the other portions will fall into whatever Title is most relevant –Copyright, Indians, Telecommunications, etc. 

The CAN-SPAM Act is mostly codified at 15 U.S.C. Chapter 103. However section 12 of the Act amends 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1). And Sections 4(a) and 4(b) are codified in Title 18 (Crimes and Criminal Procedure).

The Official Sources of Public Laws, Session Laws, and the United States Code: 

While the official sources are very important --and the sources to which you will often cite-- the annotated versions of the code, provided by different vendors, are often very useful:

There are a number of useful tools, designed to help you locate a law by the popular name, or by the subject it covers. Some of these are listed below. Also, don't ever forget to take a moment to look at the Table of Contents! Once codified, statutes are organized by topic, so relevant laws should be grouped together. 

There are many different ways to locate all the relevant statutory law you are concerned with. Here are some:

1. Start by looking in a useful secondary source! A good secondary source should provide the relevant statutory law.
2. If you already have a good case, identify what statutes the case cites. An opinion must cite the relevant statutory law. 
3. If you have been given the popular name of a law (e.g., the Affordable Care Act), check out a Popular Names Table. Several are listed in the Useful Resources section of this page. 
4. If you know the area of law you are concerned with, search an index! 
5. Browse the U.S.C. Table of Contents. 
6. Locate a good research guide for your area of law. Often, the important relevant federal law will be listed.

A note regarding codification and locating all the relevant sections:

Once you identify a particular code section, be sure to look at the surrounding sections. Generally, codification follows a certain format: purpose; definitions; application of the law; exceptions. You often need to be aware of all of these sections. Codified statutes are meant to be read and interpreted as part of the Code as a whole. 

Checking one of the unofficial versions of the United States Code (in Lexis, Westlaw, or LII), should allow you to double check that there has been no subsequent legislation that would affect the law you are concerned with. You can then search the most recent legislation at congress.gov, to make sure that there is nothing you have missed (Lexis and Westlaw also often flag code sections with pending legislation efforts). 

For example, you are working on a case that your boss has told you deals with section 1009 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act.

1. First you need to locate that act. You can do this by looking in one of the popular names tables.  Here is one example.  You care about section 1009, which the table informs you is codified at 21 USC 959.
2. Look that up in Lexis or Westlaw or LII. All of them provide a Notes or a History section that provides all the public laws that have affected this section.
3. As of 3/14/2016, Lexis and Westlaw also provided yellow flags indicating pending legislation. Looking at those yellow flags, or searching Congress.gov should lead you to S.524 - Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016.  This is not yet law, but is legislation of which you should be aware. 

States follow a very similar progression to the federal one outlined above, only they give session laws and codes different names –and states have a tendency to complicate publication and codification.

For example, in Pennsylvania, you have the Laws of Pennsylvania, or the Unconsolidated Statutes (the session laws), and the Consolidated Statutes (the codification). But the official-ness of the Consolidated Statutes is not entirely complete, nor is the codification. You can read more about this here. You can get an even better idea of how complicated states and official codes can be by taking a look at this 2011 survey from the National Conference of State Legislatures, where New Jersey’s response was, “I have no idea what you mean by "official". 

There are a few ways to quickly locate relevant state statutory law: 

1. Identify a legal research guide that addresses your state. It should outline the state legislative process, and the resources available to access the legislation and codes. For example, check out Georgetown's guide to New York. 
2. Browse and search in Lexis and Westlaw. 
3. Use some of the strategies mentioned for locating federal materials: 
   1. Consult a useful secondary source. State encyclopedias can be great places to start. 
   2. If you have a good case, look at the statutes it cites. 
   3. Browse the Table of Contents!

You might also want to consult the Bluebook to quickly identify the title of the relevant state's statutes and code. From there, you can often do a quick Google search, to locate the state code online. 

Lexis and Westlaw have some materials related to large municipalities, such as New York City. For other places, a well phrased Google search is often your best bet. Searching the name of the city + code (or type of code, such as zoning code) can often get you to the resource you need.