Finding Statutes

Introduction

A statute is a written law enacted by a legislature. The statutes you will deal with most frequently in United States law are federal and state statutes. There are also local (i.e., city or county) statutes, usually called ordinances.

When a bill is passed by the legislature, a statute is issued in a form called a slip law. The slip laws of a session of the legislature are collected in a chronological publication known as session laws. Finally, the laws are arranged by subject in a code. Codes are kept up-to-date by pocket parts and supplements. There are both federal and state versions of each of these three forms.

If you have a citation to a statute, it should be easy to find in print or electronically. If you don't have a citation, you may be able to find a statute by using a popular name table. Otherwise, use the subject index to the jurisdiction's code, which is nearly always found in the last volume(s) of the code. It is also possible to search the full text of federal or state statutes online using Lexis [http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool] or Westlaw [http://lawschool.westlaw.com]. For most jurisdictions, current statutes are also available for free on the web [http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html], although this approach is best if you have either a citation or some exact language from the statute. Ask a reference librarian [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/staff/ps/reference/index.cfm] for more information.

Our Statutes Tutorial [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/tutorials/stat/index.cfm] has additional information about federal and state statutes.

Federal Statutes

Federal statutes are issued by Congress in slip law form immediately after they become law. Federal laws are available on the web, Lexis, and Westlaw immediately after they are passed by Congress. Next, the laws of a session of Congress are issued in printed volumes called "session laws."  The official version of the session laws is called the United States Statutes at Large. Another version of the session laws is a series called the United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.). Finally, federal statutes are officially codified in the United States Code, abbreviated U.S.C.  The U.S. Code also comes in two annotated versions called the United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.), and the United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.). The unofficial versions come out much more quickly than the official versions, and contain notes, references and certain other features which are designed to make them easier to use. However, in scholarly and court documents, you must cite to the official version, provided it has the current text of the statute. See your Bluebook for further information.

State Statutes

States also issue slip laws, session laws, and codes in print. State laws are available on Lexis and Westlaw shortly after they are passed by the state legislature. In addition, most states have recent session laws and the state codes on the web [http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html]. Some states have both an official version and unofficial code. Others have only one version.

Citations

Here are some examples of statutes that you might encounter as you do your research. For complete listings for each state, use the blue pages of your Bluebook.

Federal

Abbreviation	What it Means	Location
Pub. L.	Public Law	Internet: http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/d110laws.html; United States Statutes at Large (below)
Stat.	United States Statutes at Large (session laws, official)	KF50 .U5
U.S.C.C.A.N.	United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (session laws, unofficial)	KF48 .U54 Westlaw Lexis
U.S.C.	United States Code (official code)	KF62 2000 .A2 Internet: http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml
U.S.C.A.	United States Code Annotated (published by West)	KF62 1927 .A3 Westlaw
U.S.C.S.	United States Code Service (published by Lexis)	KF62 1972 .U5 Lexis

Selected States

Abbreviation	What it Means	Library Location
Cal. Stat.	Statutes of California (official session laws)	First Floor, Media Services (microfiche)
Cal. Legis. Serv.	California Legislative Service (unofficial session laws)	KFC 30.5 .W41
Cal. [subj.] Code (West)	West's Annotated California Codes	KFC30.5 .W4
D.C. Stat.	District of Columbia Session Law Service (session laws)	KFD1230 2001 .A23
DC Code Ann.	West's District of Columbia Official Code (code)	KFD1230 2001 .A2
Del. Laws	Laws of Delaware (session laws)	First Floor, Media Services (microfiche)
Del. Code Ann.	Delaware Code Annotated (code)	KFD30 1953 .A24
Ill. Laws	Laws of Illinois (official session laws)	First Floor, Media Services (microfiche)
Ill. Legis Serv.	Illinois Legislative Service (unofficial session laws)	KFI1230 1934 .A41
Ill. Rev. Stat.	Illinois Compiled Statutes (official code)	KFI1229 .I44
Ill. Ann. Stat.	West's Smith-Hurd Illinois Annotated Statutes (unofficial code)	KFI1230 1993 .A4
Md. Laws	Laws of Maryland (session laws)	KFM1225 .A213
Md. Code Ann.	Maryland [subject] Code Annotated (code)	KFM1230.5.M6 M37
Va. Acts	Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (session laws)	KFV 2425 .A213
Va. Code Ann.	Code of Virginia Annotated (code)	KFV2430 1950 .A3

Revised 10/09/2007 (SK)

Page last saved 16-Oct-2009