The United States Code and most state codes are available for free online. These sources usually only provide the text of the statutes, however, and do not include annotations or case references. The online versions of codes also may not be current, which means they may not reflect the changes made by more recent legislation.
Federal Code - United States Code
- Govinfo - Contains the United Stated Code from 1994 to present. Browsable and searchable by citation and keyword. To search the full text of the Code, use the advanced search interface.
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel - Contains the most recent official version of the U.S. Code with tables indicating recent changes. Searchable by citation, keyword, and Popular Name Tool. Use the "Classification" link to find tables providing cross-reference between code sections and recently enacted public laws.
- Legal Information Institute - The U.S. Code on LII offers browse and retrieve by citation options. it also includes a popular names table and parallel table of authorities. Annotations to legislative notes and regulations are also provided.
- Library of Congress - Historical U.S. Code Collection - Contains the main editions and supplements of the United States Code from 1925 through 1988. Documents may be downloaded in PDF format.
Federal Session Laws
- GovInfo - Contains the United States Statutes at Large covering 1951 to 2018. For more recent statutes, GovInfo provides public laws (slip laws) from 1995 through the present
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel - Provides classification tables which indicate the updates made to each section of the Code since the last official publication.
State Codes & Session Laws
Most states have recent session laws and state codes on the web. For example, you can locate them through the Legal Information Institute's listing of state laws by jurisdiction. However, this approach is best if you already have either a citation or some exact language from the statute. Justia also has a collection of US Laws, Codes & Statutes published by both the U.S. Government and by individual states.
Law Library of Congress Research Guide on Law Online lays out selected laws, regulations, court decisions, and secondary sources for federal government branches and all U.S. states and territories.
New York State
There are several options for accessing New York State legislation for free online:
- The New York Legislature maintains a public database of the Consolidated Laws of New York (New York State's statutory code). This source can be browsed or keyword searched.
- The Consolidated Laws of New York are available through the New York State Senate.
- New York Consolidated laws are also available through Findlaw and Justia (Justia provides historical versions - 2006 - 2022).
- New York Chapter Laws (session laws) are available for free from the New York State Legislature.
New York City Municipal Law
The laws and rules of the City of New York are available on the Web. The New York City Law Department contracts with American Legal Publishing Corporation to provide a site where you can browse and search the New York City Charter, the New York City Administrative Code, and the Rules of the City of New York.
