With a few rare exceptions, annotated codes are only available in a law library or on subscriber-based legal websites. Bill : What a statute is called when it is introduced in Congress or a state legislature. When a bill is passed by both houses and the President or a state governor, it becomes a law and will usually be published according to its bill number in a publication called "Session Laws" or "Statutes at Large. Bill Number: Bills are referred to by number.
The number really has two parts: the abbreviation for the specific wing of the legislature in which the bill is introduced, as in HB house bill or SB senate bill , and the number which identifies the particular bill, as in HB Chapter: A term that identifies a group of related state or federal statutes that have been gathered together within a particular Title or Code.
Chaptered: A bill becomes chaptered if it is approved by the legislature and signed by the governor. Citation: Formal references to statutes that describe where they are published.
For instance, the citation 23 Vt. And the federal citation 42 U. Code: In general, the term "code" refers to the main body of statutes of the jurisdiction for example, the United States Code or the Arizona Revised Statutes. The statutes that are published in a state's code are grouped by subject matter into Titles, as in Title 11 of the United States Code bankruptcy laws. In some states, including California, Texas and New York, the term "code" may be used both to refer to the overall collection of statutes and the separate subject matter groupings of statutes, as in "Penal Code," "Family Code," or "Probate Code.
Engrossed: A bill is engrossed when a legislative body such as the House votes to approve it and sends it on to the other legislative body such as the Senate. Enrolled: A bill is enrolled when both houses of a legislative body have voted to approve it and it has been sent to the executive branch the President or a state governor for signing.
Legislative history: Assorted materials generated in the course of creating legislation, including committee reports, analysis by legislative counsel, floor debates, and a history of actions taken. Legislative history for state statutes is sparse and not easily found on the Web. Session Laws: When bills become law, they are published in a text according to the session of the legislature that enacted them into law. For instance, laws passed by the California legislature in were passed in the session.
The individual laws in the publication for a particular session such as Session Laws can be found according to their original bill number. Statutory Schemes: Groups of statutes that relate to one particular subject. For instance, all of the federal statutes that make up Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which forbids employment discrimination and sexual harassment are known as a "statutory scheme" because they are all related to each other.
Title: In the federal system and in some states, "title" is used to denote a collection of state or federal statutes by subject matter, as in Title 11 of the U. Code for bankruptcy statutes or Title 42 of the U. Code for civil rights statutes. Title is also used to denote a group of statutes within a larger set of statutes, as in Title IX of the Civil Rights Act which itself is located in Title 42 of the U.
When people talk about "what the law says" or "what the law is," they are generally referring to statutes sometimes called codes. Statutes, which are created by the U. Congress and by our state legislators, attempt to lay out the ground rules of "the law.
This is referred to as "case law. Most legal research involves state statutes rather than federal statutes because states have the sole power to make the law in many areas, such as child custody, divorce, landlord-tenant, small business, personal injury, and wills and trusts. A growing number of legal areas are covered by both state and federal statutes, including consumer protection, employment, and food and drug regulation.
State laws give way to stricter federal laws that address the same issue. Finally, the federal government alone creates the law for a few specific subject areas, such as copyrights, patents, bankruptcy, federal taxes, and Social Security. There are two main ways to find a particular state or federal statute on a state's website—by doing a search or by browsing the table of contents.
Not all states allow you to do a search, but for those that do, simply enter a few terms that relate to the subject you're looking for.
For instance, in you're looking for the minimum number of directors that your state requires a corporation to have, you might enter the terms "corporation" and "director. To do a good search you need to anticipate the words used in the statutes you are searching.
For instance, if you are looking for a statute regarding drunk driving in a car, you might choose to use the search terms "vehicle" and "under the influence. You might add the words "alcohol" and "breath.
However, this can often be difficult to do because you may not know the exact terms your state uses to address the issue you're researching. Browsing the table of contents of statutes is often a better way to find laws on your subject because it lets you look first at the general subjects titles, or sometimes divisions. From there you can move to particular topics chapters, or sometimes articles , and then to the precise statutes you need sections.
By browsing, you also get a general idea of all the statutes there are on a specific subject. If you are interested in a particular area of the law for example, small claims court procedures , you need to read all relevant statutes on that subject.
If you don't, you may miss an important statute that contradicts the law you have found. Fortunately, most statutes are organized in clumps called "statutory schemes," which are published together in one title, chapter, section, or act.
So, once you find a statute on your subject, it's simply a matter of finding out where the statutory scheme starts usually by backing up to earlier statutes and then reading all related statutes until you reach a new title, chapter, section or act. For example, if you do a search on small claims procedure and find a relevant statute, you would then need to browse forwards and backwards until you are convinced that you've found every statute that may bear on that issue. Sometimes, statutes you read will refer to other statutes.
Many states and localities publish some or all of their legislative materials on their website, so your first stop this type of research should generally be the website of the the state or locality in question.
Remember, even if these materials are on official government websites, that does not mean that these are official copies of the materials in question. Courts are increasingly making their materials freely available online, frequently via the court website. At the state level, this is particularly true for state Supreme Courts.
When looking for state case law, it is often best to start at the website of the deciding court if you have a citation. The National Center for State Courts provides a list of state court websites. Several government-sponsored websites provide the full-text of U. Refer to the list below for date ranges for each sources. For free resources on foreign and international law, please see our foreign and international law guide:. Google Scholar offers access to many legal documents including patents, legal opinions and journals.
Use the search box below and select the appropriate options from the dropdown menu at the top left of your screen. While many journals are only available on paid databases, open access journals and other freely avaiablle articles are increasingly available.
The following sources collect freely available journal articles. Many government data sources are made available to the public for free online. Check the websites of any relevant agencies or organizations to see if you can find additional data beyond that found in the databases below.
Ask Us! Submit a question or search our knowledge base. Chat with us! Chat with a librarian. Email: research law. Meet with Us Schedule an online consult with a Librarian. Hours Library Hours. You may reproduce any part of it for noncommercial purposes as long as credit is included and it is shared in the same manner. Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy.
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. Toggle navigation MENU. How to use this guide This guide contains selected free online legal research resources related to United States federal and state materials. Range of Materials. GovInfo provides public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. LII provides open access to legal materials, including: annotated version of the constitution , federal statutes , Supreme Court decisions , CFR , and more.
This database provides access to a wide range of resources including, state and federal cases, court rules, statutes, regulations, forms, and constitutions. This Google custom search developed by law librarians at New York Law School searches a host of free online legal databases through a single search box.
This site collects online sources for legal materials from the United States, Canada and Mexico, including state and federal amicus briefs. The Constitution. This database offers full text of the constitution along with commentary and analysis. Statutes and Legislative Materials Many statutes and legislative materials are available for free online and this is only increasing over time.
This site offers access to a wide range of government documents and information, including an annotated constitution, legislation, committee reports, congressional records, and treaty documents. This website offers a wealth of federal government information including links to the websites of departments, agencies and branches of government, which can be a good source for statutory and legislative materials.
House of Representatives offers a searchable version of the most recent version of the U. The website also provides access to session laws. The Library of Congress' American Memory collection includes Congressional Records up to and can be searched or browsed.
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court website includes full text of certain materials, including many opinions. The Privacy Act of guarantees your right to:. To request records under the Privacy Act, you must contact the federal agency you believe holds the records. Find other agencies and contacts for submitting your Privacy Act request. There are 9 exemptions to the information agencies must allow you to see. Two frequently-used exemptions involve:.
Congress creates and passes bills. The president then may sign those bills into law. Federal courts may review the laws to see if they agree with the Constitution. If a court finds a law is unconstitutional, it can strike it down. The United States Code contains general and permanent federal laws. It does not include regulations, decisions, or laws issued by:. New public and private laws appear in each edition of the United States Statutes at Large.
There is a new edition for each session of Congress. Find bills and resolutions introduced by the current and earlier sessions of Congress. This includes new laws that have not yet been assigned a public law number.
Find laws and joint resolutions that have been assigned public law numbers. Visit the Law Library of Congress to research U. Regulations are issued by federal agencies, boards, and commissions. They explain how agencies plan to carry out laws. Regulations are published yearly in the Code of Federal Regulations. State legislatures make the laws in each state.
State courts can review these laws. If a court decides a law doesn't agree with the state's constitution, it can declare it invalid.
Federal courts do not write or pass laws. This happens through courts' interpretations of federal and state laws and the Constitution. An example is the U. Board of Education of Topeka.
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