They generally contain the text of the law and brief editorial notes on the history of the statute. These notes, sometimes referred to as the "history line", contain citations to the session law that enacted the statute and any subsequent session laws that amended it. As a research tool official codes generally have two drawbacks when compared to commercially published annotated codes. First, when it comes to the print versions, there can be a considerable lag-time between the enactment of new legislation and its publication in the official code.
Second, official codes provide few, if any editorial enhancements beyond the history line information, whereas commercially published annotated codes provide many valuable research related annotations. The United States Code is the official version of the U. The U. Each title contains laws in a broad subject area; for example, Title 18 of the U.
Each title is divided into chapters and each chapter is divided into sections. Laws in the U. Each U. The print version of the U. A subject index with a "Popular Name Index" accompanies the set. Annotated codes are privately published, often by West or LexisNexis. In some states, the annotated code is the official code. Annotated codes offer a number of advantages that make them more useful for research purposes:. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older.
This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. United States Code 80th Congress. Photograph shows a joint session of the 80th Congress. Spectators are in the gallery. Background The United States Code was first published in Sources for the U. The most popular of these options is highlighted below: Free Online Resources. United States Code U. You can also access an older edition of the United States Code from the browse screen.
United States Code Collection govinfo govinfo also provides access to the United States Code , particularly for the years to the present. To the right of the title, you will find links that allow you to download the entire title in various formats, including PDF.
If you would like to search only a particular field in the United States Code for example, if you only wanted to search within United States Code section numbers , simply make a selection in the drop-down menu above the search box. The first act in the source credits for such a section is the act that enacted the title into positive law. The Historical and Revision notes provide information about those earlier acts and how they were reorganized into the section as it was enacted as part of the new positive law title.
For most titles, the Historical and Revision notes are the reviser's notes that were contained in the congressional committee report accompanying the codification bill that enacted the title. Be aware that because notes have been broadly categorized by the source of authority, certain familiar note headings may appear in different categories under different Code sections, or even under the same section.
Certain notes, notably Transfer of Functions and Change of Name, may include a variety of authorities and are therefore more elusive of precise categorization. Most sections in the Code are followed by editorial notes. These notes are prepared by the Code editors to assist users of the Code.
They provide information about the section's source, derivation, history, references, translations, effectiveness and applicability, codification, defined terms, prospective amendments, and related matters. The following is an explanation of some of the types of editorial notes that may appear under a section:. References in Text notes provide information about certain references contained in the text of the section.
A References in Text note for the name of a Code unit is usually included to alert the reader that the named Code unit may not be a precise translation of the corresponding act unit appearing in the original statutory text.
The footnote serves to point out an erroneous or misleading reference not discernible from the reference itself. Codification notes provide several kinds of information about a section, such as its relationship to other sections in the same chapter, its derivation, updating, or problems in the underlying acts.
Some codification notes alert the reader that the section is not part of the act that comprises the chapter or other unit in which the section appears. Section a of title 6 was editorially placed in chapter 1 as well, but it is not part of the Homeland Security Act of This note is important because it tells the user to exclude section a from any reference to that chapter.
Prior Provisions notes indicate other sections that have had the same section number as the current section and what has since happened to them. Prior provisions notes are supplied for both prior Code sections and prior act sections that had the same section number as the current Code or act section. Amendment notes provide explanations of how amendments have affected the section. Amendment notes are grouped by year in reverse chronological order.
Within each year, the notes are arranged in order by unit of the section affected, such as subsection or paragraph. If more than one amendment affects the same unit during the year, the amendments are listed in reverse act order. Generally, an amendment note identifies the amending public law and section numbers.
However, no section number is given when it can be uniquely identified from the act information already given in the source credit. If the amendment note describes an amendment as temporary, that means that the amendment was or will be undone on the date specified for its termination in the applicable effective date provision.
Statutory notes are provisions of law that are set out as notes under a Code section rather than as a Code section. A statutory note can consist of as much as an entire act such as Public Law set out under 22 U. Whether a provision in an act other than an amendment to a positive law title appears in the Code as a section or as a statutory note is an editorial decision based on a number of factors. See the About Classification page for more information. A statutory note typically begins with a source credit citing to the public laws that enacted and amended it, which is similar in content and form to the source credit for a Code section.
When the credit is followed by quoted statutory text, the text is quoted verbatim without translations , although editorial brackets are inserted when needed to assist the user in finding cross references or other information. Every note or series of related notes grouped together have a note heading that is usually, but not always, taken from the heading appearing in the statutory text. Notes are updated for amendments just as Code sections are, but amendment notes are not written.
Other types of editorial notes often found following Code sections, such as Codification and References in Text notes, are also not written for statutory notes. However, a bracketed note sometimes appears after the text of a statutory note and provides important additional information about the note. There are several categories of statutory notes.
Miscellaneous notes include things like congressional findings, study and reporting requirements, and other provisions related to the subject matter of the Code section under which they appear. Notes of the same category are grouped together. Within each group, the notes are usually arranged in reverse chronological order by law, but multiple notes from the same law are put in ascending law order. In general, every independent i. However, sometimes such a provision may be equally relevant to several items in the law that end up getting classified to a number of different sections in the Code, such as an effective date that applies to all the amendments in that law.
When this occurs, the quoted statutory text is classified to and set out in full under one of the affected sections, and the other sections contain subsidiary notes that alert the user to the existence of the provision and indicate where the full text can be found. Although the wording is editorially created, the primary function of subsidiary notes is to point to the location of the statutory text, which should always be considered prevailing.
The following are a few examples of the more common subsidiary notes that can be found. Change of Name subsidiary notes indicate that there is a statutory change of name provision elsewhere in the Code that changes a name or term used in the section other than by direct amendment, such as when an act changes the name of a governmental entity and generally deems all references to the old name to be references to the new name. Effective Date subsidiary notes indicate that there is a statutory effective date provision elsewhere in the Code that provides an effective date for the section or a particular amendment to the section.
To the extent that the effective date of a provision is different from its date of enactment, subsidiary effective date notes are generally included under every section to which the statutory effective date provision applies. However, there are exceptions. For example, a subsidiary note is usually not provided when the effective date provision applies to the enactment or amendment of a statutory note or to the amendment of analysis material i.
Transfer of Functions subsidiary notes indicate that there is a provision elsewhere in the Code that transfers duties originally assigned to be performed by one official or entity to a different official or entity. Definitions subsidiary notes indicate that there is a statutory provision elsewhere in the Code that defines a term used in the section. Definitions subsidiary notes do not appear for terms occurring in section text that are defined within the same unit of the Code, such as a chapter or subchapter, and do not exist for some definition provisions that are more than 20 years old.
In a Short Title or Effective Date note, cross references to an act or unit of an act are often followed by bracketed information indicating where the act or unit is classified to the Code. This classification information is accurate as of the date of enactment of the short title or effective date provision but is not updated to reflect any later changes in classification.
There are some statutory notes in the Code that have a source credit followed by a paraphrase or brief description of a statutory provision instead of quoted text. These notes, some of which are contained in tables, are similar to other statutory notes in that they are based on statutory provisions, have full source credits, and are updated as appropriate for any amendments. Because of the statutory basis of these notes, as well as the appearance of the source credit citing to the public laws enacting and amending them, they have been categorized as statutory notes even though the full quoted text is not set out.
A provision of a Federal statute is the law whether the provision appears in the Code as section text or as a statutory note, and even when it does not appear in the Code at all. The fact that a provision is set out as a note is merely the result of an editorial decision and has no effect on its meaning or validity.
Similarly, the appearance of a provision as a note should not be interpreted as a commentary on its relevance or importance, as many statutory notes provide crucial information about the Code sections they follow. Requests to republish or adapt a guide should be directed to the Library Director. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Find It: Federal Statutes: Home. US statutory material can be found in many places online. Keep Updated It is important to make sure to locate any possible changes to the statutes you find.
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