Getting Started
This guide is designed to help you understand and find statutes (codes or acts). It is not meant to be comprehensive. For a complete guide of legislative materials, check out this Lewis & Clark guide to Legislative History.
Statutes are laws enacted by legislatures, such as the US Congress. Statutes are typically the place to begin research of primary legal sources. Subject only to constitutional control, they authorize promulgation of administrative regulations and can overturn or modify court decisions that themselves are sometimes concerned with statutory interpretation.
In the US, both the federal government and individual states have the power to pass statutes or laws. Some laws are handled exclusively by the federal government or Congress, while others are handled exclusively by the states. Still other laws are the subject of both state and federal governance.
Other Research Guides
- Federal Legislative HistoryThis Boley research guide introduces the federal legislative process and provides links to help you find legislative history resources.
- Finding StatutesThis research guide from Georgetown Law Library introduces basic concepts of statutory research, and provides introductory information on how to locate the statutes of U.S. federal and state jurisdictions.
- Statutes: US & State CodesThis Harvard Law School Library guide is designed to help you understand and find statutes (codes or acts).
- Federal Statutes: A Beginner's GuideThe Law Library of Congress de-mystifies the federal statutory publication process and explains the difference between the Statutes at Large and the U.S. Code.
Credit
This LibGuide is based, with permission, on the Statutes: US and state codes LibGuide by Claire DeMarco at Harvard Law School Library.
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