Codes and Session

Laws

Advanced Legal Research

Summer 2008
Case law does not rule…..

 In fact…“US law is dominated by

enacted law created at the federal,
state and local levels.”
 Idea for a
bill
Legislative
Process Bill is passed by one
Bill is introduced Bill is sent house and sent to other
in one of the to house
houses committee

President If approved by Bill is sent to

may sign or both houses bill is committee
veto bill. sent to president
for signing

If bill is signed it Printed in sessions

becomes a public laws (United States
law and is Statutes at Large) and
assigned a PL codified (USC)
number
Pattern of Statutory
Publication
 Slip Law – will be discarded and replaced by
Statutes at Large
 Session Law (Statutes at Large) – historical
record of laws as passed
 Code – subject arrangement of enacted laws
Congress works…
 Passes laws in chronological order, not by
subject
 October 22 and 25, 2004
 P.L. 108-357: American Jobs Creation Act
 P.L. 108-358: Anabolic Steroid Control Act
 P.L. 108-359: Amendment to Investment Company Act
of 1940
 P.L. 108-360: Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act
 A single act may “bundle” different subjects
 SAFE Port Act of 2006
 Title VIII: Unlawful Internet Gambling
Step One - Slip Laws

 The first official form of publication of federal

session laws – “hot copy”
 Designated by a public law number
 Pub. L. 108-358 (Anabolic Steroid Control Act of
2004)
 Also by session law number (Stat.)
 118 Stat. 1661
Step Two - Session Laws
 Chronological arrangement of the laws
exactly as they have been enacted
 Provides a permanent historical record of the
laws of each session of Congress
 [Each Congress has two sessions: 108th Congress, 1st
Session; 108th Congress, 2nd Session]
 Final authority on wording
 118 Stat. 1661(Anabolic Steroid Control Act of
2004)
Sources of Federal Session
Laws (Public Laws)
 Statutes at Large (Stat.) (official)
 GPO Access (104th Congress-date) http://
www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html
 THOMAS (93rd Congress-date) http://thomas.loc.gov
 Congressional Universe (1st Congress-date)
 United States Code Congressional and
Administrative News (USCCAN) (82nd Congress-
date)
 Lexis & Westlaw
Step Three - Code

 Code – defined:
 All public laws currently in force, organized by
subject.
 Subject organization: the U. S. Code is arranged
into 50 subject titles:
 e.g., Title 20 of the U.S.C. contains Education Laws
 Appropriations (temporary laws) and private laws
are not codified.
Codification of enacted
laws
 A single statute might end up in more than
one section of the code
 Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 is codified in:
 21 U.S.C. § § 802 and 811 (Food and Drug)
 28 U.S.C. § 994 (Judiciary)
 42 U.S.C. §290bb-25f (Public Health & Welfare)
Variety of Code Formats

 In the United States

 Federal Level: United States Code
 State level: each state has its own code:
 Michigan Compiled Laws
 Florida Statutes
 McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York
 Official Code of Georgia Annotated
How to Read Code
Citations
 Codes are organized by subject and the numbering scheme
reflects this organizational structure.
 Different jurisdictions use different numbering schemes.
 Compare Federal, Michigan & California statutes
 18 U.S.C. 2113 [Federal]

 18 represents the title, which is related to a topic.

 Title 18 is Criminal Law.

M.C.L. 750.411j [Michigan]
 The number before the period represents the topic Penal Law.
 Cal. Penal Code §310.2 [California]
 Some jurisdictions use a subject name
More about Codes…

 Key concepts

 Official Codes
 Unofficial Codes
 Annotated Codes
 Unannotated Codes
Official Codifications –
General
 Government arranges for the publication of
its laws
 May or may not be annotated –
 U.S.C. - the official version of the federal code is
unannotated
 M.C.L. – official, unannotated code of Michigan

BUT….
 GA. Code Ann. – official, annotated code of

Georgia (published by Lexis)

Official Code – Federal
 United States Code (U.S.C.) reissued every 6
years since 1926
 Updated annually with bound supplements
 Unannotated
 Available online at:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html
Cornell Legal Information Institute Website:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
 Commercial sets & websites are not “official”
for Bluebook purposes.
Unofficial Codes – General

 Published by a commercial publisher without

government authorization or imprimatur
 How to determine? Check the Bluebook
 Typically follow the organization and
numbering scheme of the official code
 Updated more frequently than official codes
 Annotations make them useful research tools
Unofficial Codes – Federal

 U.S.C.A. (West) and U.S.C.S. (Lexis)

 Structure
 Commercial publications based on official
government publications
 Updated more frequently than U.S.C.
 Annotations include library references, legislative
history info, cross references to federal
regulations, etc.
Annotated Codes as a
research tool
 Considered a “gold standard” for research
 Fusion of primary and secondary sources
 Contain the text of the law and historical references
 Include various research references
 Secondary sources – encyclopedias, law reviews, ALR
annotations, West digest key numbers
 Notes of Decisions – case summaries of cases interpreting
the code section
 Legislative history
 Anatomy of a Statutory
Section as it Appears in an
Annotated Code
 See Illustration 11-4, pages 208-210 in
textbook.
Annotated vs.
Unannotated Codes
Annotated Unannotated
 Organization based on  Includes history but no
official version research references or
 Includes research case decisions
references and case  Slow updates
decisions
 Updated more
frequently
Code Research

Some basic considerations

“A law, once passed, is not
written in stone….”
 Case law tends to be fairly stable (stare
decisis), but statutory law fluctuates
 Statutes may be amended or repealed
 Research law in effect at the time of your
client’s situation
 Westlaw is adding historic versions of codes
 May require that you go back to session laws
(Statutes at Large)
Researching a statutory
section
 Study the complete statutory language
 Review legislative history
 Read the cases that have interpreted the
statute (annotations)
 Refer to secondary sources: encyclopedias,
treatises, law review articles
 Update with pocket parts, pamphlets
Why Are Case Decisions
Important for Statutory
Research?
 Statutes are written in broad language and
guide future behavior
 Courts interpret statutory language and
therefore you will almost always research
case law when interpreting a statute
Researching Codes – Finding
Tools
 General Index – useful when you have facts, keywords,
subject terms
 Popular Name Table (last index volume) – useful when you
know the name of the act
 Outline of the Statute – useful when you have a citation or
you’ve identified a title
 Tables Volumes
 Cross references R.S. and Stat. Citations to current code

 Cross references former or revised titles to current code

 Lexis & Westlaw – keyword, natural language searches

 Free Internet – to be discussed later
Researching Codes in
Lexis/Westlaw
 Natural Language search recommended instead of
terms and connectors
 Adding more features that make the online version
feel more like print (for example: Tables of Contents,
Indexes, and Popular Name Tables)
 Most recent update will be listed at end of
annotations (no need for pocket part & other
supplements)
 Westlaw allows search of historic versions of U.S.C.
 See page 215 of text for comparison of code
searching using print & electronic
Gotham Ink Code Section
[Research law in effect at the time of your
client’s situation]
18 U.S.C.A. § 6311

§ 6311 Tattooing
• Tattooing.--A person commits an offense if he tattoos any person under
the age of 18 years without the parent or guardian of such person giving
consent for the tattooing of the person and being present at the time of
the tattooing of the person.

(Pub.L. 101-647, Title XXV, § 2504(h), 104 Stat. 4861; Sept. 13, 1994; Pub.L.
109-500, Title IX, § 903(a), 120 Stat. 4000, July 30, 2005.)

HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES

Pub. L. 109-500, rewrote the section, which prior thereto read:
"A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree if he tattoos any
person under the age of 18 years without the consent of the parent or
guardian of such person."
Michigan Official
Codifications
 Michigan Compiled Laws (M.C.L.), most
recent print compilation was in 1979
 Free online version www.michiganlegislature.org
 Impressively up to date & well organized
 Numerous historical compilations
 Compiled Laws (C.L.) 1857, 1871, 1897, 1915,
1929, 1948, 1970
 Revised Statutes (R.S.) 1838, 1846
Michigan Annotated
Codes
 M.C.L.A. (West) and M.C.L.S. (Lexis)
 M.S.A. (superseded)
 Structure--
 Commercial publications based on official
government publications
 Organized by subject (chapters)
 Include annotations, library references, and
historical information
Michigan Session Laws

 Michigan Public Acts – available in print and

online at the Michigan Legislature website
 Like federal session laws, these are
organized chronologically
Finding Local Michigan
Ordinances
 MSU Law Library website: http://
www.law.msu.edu/library/substantive/local.html
 Municode.com: http://
www.law.msu.edu/library/substantive/local.html