The citation for each enacting and amending act includes the public law or chapter number [2] , division, title, and section numbers if any , the date of enactment, and the Statutes at Large volume and page number. The section has also been amended by subsections b and c of section of Public Law The credit for section reads:. Base law. The base law is the act on which the Code section is based and of which it remains a part. In the above example of section of title 25, the base law is Public Law because section is based on section of Public Law The base law is a feature only in non-positive law titles because in positive law titles, the sections were enacted by Congress as part of the Code title itself.
A small number of Code sections are based on sections of the Revised Statutes which was enacted in and published with corrections in a second edition in In those cases, the credit includes a Revised Statutes section number.
In most cases, a Code section in a non-positive law title is based on an act section that was part of its base law when the base law was first enacted. However, it is often the case that a Code section is based on an act section that was added to its base law by a later act. For example, section a of title 42 is based on section A of the Social Security Act act of August 14, , chapter However, the Social Security Act did not contain a section A when it was first enacted.
The source credit for section a reads:. The only information given about the base law is the identifying information for the act Aug.
Because the new section was not part of the base law when that law was first enacted and published, there is no Statutes at Large information provided. Renumbered sections. Occasionally, an act section is renumbered by another act. When this happens, the source credit contains both the current section number, which always appears as the main section number in the base law, and any intermediate section numbers if the section has been renumbered more than once.
For example, section of title 42 is currently section of Public Law However, it was first enacted as section of that act, and Public Law renumbered it as section Note that the renumbering of an act section does not always trigger the renumbering of the Code section.
In fact, in the interest of Code consistency, the Code editors often retain the current Code section number even though the underlying act section number has changed. Special situations. Though uncommon, there are Code sections in non-positive law titles that are based on less than an entire act section, on two or more different acts, or on provisions that are undesignated in the original act.
Sections like these can be identified by the section designation information in the citation for the base law and, in some cases, by the information provided in a Codification note. Source credits in positive law titles are similar to those in non-positive law titles, except that there is no base law.
Instead, sections in a positive law title are part of the title itself and neither come from nor are part of any other law. The first citation in the credit is to the act that enacted the section. If the section was included in the title when the title was enacted as positive law, the act enacting the title simply appears as the first citation in the source credit with nothing before it [3].
For example, title 31 was enacted as a positive law title by Public Law Section of title 31 was included in title 31 at the time the title was enacted and therefore has Public Law as its first citation.
The section was further amended by Public Law The source credit for section reads:. Added sections. For example, section of title 31 was not originally part of the title when the title was enacted as positive law but was added to the title by Public Law Added Pub. When a section of a positive law title is renumbered, the original section number is included at the end of the first citation in the source credit and the citation to the act that did the renumbering indicates the renumbered section number.
For example, section of title 10 was originally added as section of title 10 by Public Law The section was renumbered as section by Public Law and renumbered again as section by Public Law The credit reads:. Unlike a non-positive law title, the renumbering of a section in a positive law title is by definition a renumbering of the section in the Code. Each act listed in the source credit affected the section in some way.
Typically, the act directly amended the section, and information about the amendments made by each act can be found in editorial amendment notes under the section. Sometimes the changes are more subtle, and other editorial notes, such as Change of Name or Transfer of Functions, explain those changes made by certain laws listed in the credit. Some acts in the credit amend a prior act that amended the section, rather than amend the section itself. Such an act is listed in the credit in the same manner as one that amended the section directly.
Amendment notes or other editorial notes clarify whether an act amended the section or amended a prior amendatory act. One of the most misunderstood aspects of the Code is the notes appearing under sections.
Generally speaking, a note refers to anything that follows the text and source credit of a Code section. There are a few broad categories of notes, such as editorial and statutory—explained in more detail below—as well as those issued from the executive branch or directed toward rules of Federal courts.
For the convenience of the Code user in evaluating the material, notes have been grouped into categories under the following headings, determined by the authority and purpose of the material contained in each one. Certain notes are not subject to such categorization, highlighting their unique function in the Code. These notes fall between the source credit and the first note category heading.
Future Amendment notes appear in italic type and provide information about acts that amend the section effective in the future, such as on a specific future effective date, or contingent on some occurrence that has not yet happened. Occasionally, this note can also provide an alert to the user that the section text as it appears may not reflect the current reality because non-amendatory adjustments, such as agency regulations, have affected its validity.
Historical and Revision notes appear only in positive law titles and specify the laws that formed the basis of sections that were included in the title when the title was first enacted into positive law. 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. Whenever possible, cite the current official code for statutes currently in force although note that it's best to use an unofficial annotated code for research.
A citation of an official or unofficial code includes the following components: 1 the title number; 2 the abbreviated name of the code; 3 the section number s in which the act is codified; and 4 the year of the cited code edition not the year the act was passed.
The year of the cited code edition, however, may be omitted when citing the official or unofficial U. The Bluebook provides the following examples in rule B Rule 12 Whitepages of The Bluebook covers how to cite to statutes and codes in academic works.
If available, cite statutes currently in force to the current official code or its supplement see p. The Bluebook provides these examples see p.
Note that citations to both the official and unofficial federal codes do not require a date. Rule Per this rule, give parenthetically the name of the database and the currency of the database as provided by the database itself rather than the year of the code.
Also provide the name of the publisher, editor, or compiler per rule The Bluebook includes the following examples p. In this example, the citation is to the United States Code Service an annotated code published by Lexis.
You can find the currency of the U. In this example, the citation is to the United States Code Annotated an annotated code published by West. A in Westlaw at the bottom of the screens for individual statutory sections where it says "Current through.
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. Contrasting U. While both print sets include references to related administrative regulations, only the U.
While both sets include references to law journal articles , ALR annotations , and AmJur articles , there are differences in the coverage of secondary source materials in the annotations. Since the U.
Additionally, CJS citations are only included in the U. Likewise, since the U. Since it is published by West, the U. About Statutes Statutes are laws written and enacted by the legislative branch of government. While it's important to acknowledge the existence of slip laws and session laws, there are several problems with researching statutes using these formats: Usually you will be searching by subject, and neither slip laws nor session laws are arranged by subject.
A statute may cover several subjects, and the subject matter you are looking for may not be apparent from the title of the statute. For example, would it be obvious from looking at the title of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of that this statute includes tax law provisions?
Each time a statute is amended, a separate Public Law must be passed, so you may have to read through several slip laws to get the complete and current version of a statute's language.
Finally, from looking at slip laws or session laws, there's no way to tell if a statute has been repealed. About Codes The official codification i. In fact, these versions can often be of great help to researchers, as they are annotated, meaning that they provide references to cases, regulations, and law review articles, among many other sources, related to each section of the Code.
Like the official print, the commercial prints have indices and supplemental tables. Should you choose to use any version of the Code in print, be sure to check the back of the volume for a pocket part or the shelf for a supplementary soft-bound volume for updates. Search this Guide Search. 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.
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