This section of the Legal Research Manual explains how American legislation is published and where to find current US legislation.
Researchers are encouraged to consult a more in-depth American research guide if needed.
American laws are made available in a significantly different way than Canadian laws due to a process called codification.
Codification happens at both the state and federal levels. A code is a consolidation of all in-force statutes, which are organized under chapters that represent areas of the law.
When a public law is enacted, it is first published as a slip law. Next, after the congressional session has come to an end, all slip laws from that session are published together as session laws. Lastly, the text of each session law is assigned to one or more subject classifications in that jurisdiction's code. The entire law may appear in one place in the code, or it may be broken up and placed throughout the code according to subject matter.
Federal laws are consolidated into the US Code. Each state has an equivalent, which can appear under a variety of different names (e.g. Delaware Code, New York Consolidated Laws, Texas Statutes). When conducting legislative research for a specific state, it is always best to consult a research guide tailored to that particular jurisdiction (see Resources).
Example: A Federal Law
Public Law 111-203 is a slip law that deals with financial accountability and consumer protection. All laws from this session were then republished in the United States Statutes at Large, where this act received a new citation as a session law (124 Stat 1376). When this law was codified, it was split up and placed throughout the US Code. For example, section 1013(d)(5) deals with the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, so it was added to Title 20—Education, Chapter 77—Financial Literacy and Education Improvement.
The US Constitution is central to understanding the American legal system.
The original 1789 Constitution consists of the Preamble and Articles I through VII. The original Declaration of Independence is not a constitutional document.
In 1791, Amendments I through X were added to the Constitution. These first 10 amendments are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. Originally the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government, but as a result of common law interpretation, these rights also bind the state governments.
There are currently 27 amendments to the US Constitution.
Current versions of federal and state legislation are generally available freely online. As with Canadian legislation, the recommended access point is generally the relevant government website.
For instance, the federal US Code can be found on the Office of the Law Revision Council's United States Code website. Similarly, state codes can typically be found on the state government's website.
Both Lexis and Westlaw include federal and state legislation in their US platforms.
►See Accessing US Content on Westlaw and Lexis for help finding US content.
Annotations are a useful source for researching legislation because they provide commentary and case law annotations for specific legislative provisions.
►See Accessing US Content on Westlaw and Lexis for help finding US content.
