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Federal Legislative History Research

Print and digital resources for federal legislative history research.

Laws

When a bill is signed by the President into law, it is called a Public Law and immediately assigned a number and printed.   

  • Slip Law - Pamphlet form of public law, first printed form of law  
  • Session Laws - Annual publication of public laws in chronological order in United States Statutes at Large

U.S. Code

The U.S. Code is the official codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.

There are two unofficial annotated versions of the U.S. Code

  • U.S. Code Annotated
  • U.S. Code Service

Session Laws

Free Electronic Sources for Public Laws

Congress.gov - pdf public laws beginning with the 93rd Congress going forward (1973).

GovInfo - pdf public laws beginning with the 104th Congress going forward (1995).

Electronic Sources for Public Laws and Session Laws

Lexis - Public laws beginning with the 85th Congress going forward (1957-1958)

Westlaw - Public laws beginning with the 93rd Congress going forward (1973-74).

Bloomberg Law - Statutes at Large beginning with 1976.

HeinOnline - pdf  Statutes at Large, beginning with Vol. 1, 1789.

Free Electronic Sources for U.S. Code

Current U.S. Code via the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives.

GovInfo - current U.S. Code plus older versions, beginning with 1994.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute - current U.S. Code.

Electronic Sources for the U.S. Code

Lexis - current U.S. Code Service

Westlaw - current U.S. Code Annotated

Bloomberg Law - current U.S. Code

Codes

 

 

BLS Library Collection

Brooklyn Law School Library has the following titles in hard copy located in the Statutes Collection in the Zwanger Reading Room on the second floor.