Kara Sears
Public laws are numbered sequentially in the order they are passed, starting with the number one. To differentiate laws passed in other years, the law number is preceded by the number of the Congress in which it was passed. For example, Public Law 105-10 (also written Pub. L. 105-10) is the tenth public law passed by the 105th Congress. The Public Law (P.L.) number and the Statutes at Large citation appear at the end of the text of the statute in U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S. For instance, L. 111-148 is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Health Care Reform Bill.
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What You'll Learn
- Public laws are numbered sequentially, starting from number one
- The number of the Congress in which it was passed precedes the law number
- Public laws are incorporated into the United States Code every six years
- The first place to look for a new Public Law is Congress.gov
- The United States Statutes at Large is a permanent collection of laws and resolutions
Public laws are numbered sequentially, starting from number one
Public laws are assigned a number sequentially, starting from number one. These are known as Public Law (P.L.) numbers, and they are used to identify specific laws. The P.L. number is usually followed by a number that indicates the Congress that passed the law. For example, P.L. 101-368 refers to the 101st Congress. These numbers are important for legal research and understanding the history of legislation.
Public laws are published in the official Statutes at Large, which is a permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each session of Congress. The Statutes at Large are published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and are arranged chronologically by Public Law. Each volume of the Statutes at Large has its own index, making it easier to find laws if you know the approximate date they were passed. The Statutes at Large also include marginal notes and citations for each law.
In addition to the Statutes at Large, public laws are also published in the United States Code (U.S.C.), which is a codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The U.S.C. is arranged by subject matter and updated every six years, with supplements published during interim years. The U.S.C. provides a citation to the public law that created each statute, along with citations to any amendments.
To find the Public Law number for a specific law, you can search the U.S. House of Representatives website, Congress.gov, or legal research databases such as Westlaw and Lexis. These sources provide tools to search for Public Laws by number, keyword, or popular name. Additionally, the GPO website offers the official text of Public Laws, starting with the 104th Congress.
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The number of the Congress in which it was passed precedes the law number
When a statute is passed by Congress, it is assigned a public law number. The first number in a public law number indicates the number of the Congress that passed the law. For example, in the public law number "Pub. L. 93-406", "93" refers to the 93rd Congress.
Public laws are incorporated into the United States Code (U.S.C.) every six years. The U.S.C. is a codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States. It is arranged by subject matter and shows the present status of laws, with amendments already incorporated. The U.S.C. is available online through Westlaw and Lexis, which add annotations to the basic text of the U.S.C. to produce unofficial versions of the code.
To find the bill number associated with a public law number, you can refer to the Statutes at Large, which are all laws and resolutions enacted during a session of Congress. The Statutes at Large are published after each session ends and are arranged chronologically by public law. The Statutes at Large citation and the public law number can be found following the text of the statute in the U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S.
The first place to look for a new public law is Congress.gov, which contains information on public laws beginning with the 93rd Congress (1973-1974). You can browse by public law number, bill number, or search by keyword.
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Public laws are incorporated into the United States Code every six years
Public laws are laws that affect society as a whole. When a statute is passed by Congress, it is assigned a public law number (e.g. Pub. L. 93-406) and published by date in the official Statutes at Large (Stat.). It is then organised by topic in the official United States Code (U.S.C.). The U.S.C. is the official consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States.
The U.S. Code is published every six years, with annual cumulative supplements published in each of the five intervening years. The main edition is published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. The U.S. Code is arranged by subject matter and shows the present status of laws (with amendments already incorporated in the text) that have been amended on one or more occasions.
The United States Code is available for free online via the U.S. House of Representatives, Cornell Legal Information Institute (CLII), and GovInfo (1994-present). The U.S. Statutes at Large are available via HeinOnline (with a 3-4 year time lag) and via ProQuest Congressional (with a 1-2 year time lag).
To find a public law, you can browse by Public Law Number on Congress.gov, which contains information on Public Laws beginning with the 93rd Congress (1973-1974). Westlaw and Lexis also provide notes explaining what each amendment did, which can be useful for research.
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The first place to look for a new Public Law is Congress.gov
When a statute is passed by Congress, it is assigned a public law number (e.g. Pub. L. 93-406) and published by date in the official Statutes at Large (Stat.). It is then organized by topic in the official United States Code (U.S.C.). The first place to look for a new Public Law is Congress.gov, which contains information on Public Laws beginning with the 93rd Congress (1973-1974). You can browse by Public Law Number, Bill Number, or search by keyword. Congress.gov is the official website of Congress and contains Congressional publications and records, including bills and laws, sponsors, hearings, committee records, etc.
The Public Law (P.L.) number (e.g., P.L. 101-368) and the Statutes at Large citation (e.g., 92 Stat. 1074) appear at the end of the text of the statute in U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S. The Statutes at Large are available via HeinOnline (with a 3-4 year time lag) and via ProQuest Congressional (with a 1-2 year time lag). The United States Code is also available on GovInfo (1994 - present).
Westlaw and Lexis take the basic text of the U.S.C. and add annotations (notes explaining each statute's history and identifying relevant cases and secondary sources interpreting the statute) to produce Westlaw's unofficial United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) and Lexis' unofficial United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.). The easiest way to view a statute's history is to type the statute's citation into the main Lexis or Westlaw search box and then hit enter. For example, if you are interested in researching the history of 29 U.S.C. § 1182, type 29 USC 1182 in the main Lexis or Westlaw search box and hit enter. After the text of a statute, you will see a citation to the public law that created the statute, followed by citations to each public law that amended it.
In paper format, new statutes appear first in one of four publications. The UCS Congressional and Administrative News, USCS, and USCA publish new federal session laws within a month or so from enactment. These advance sheets or pamphlets are added to the end of the print set as they arrive. They include a subject index and popular name table. There are two subject indexes to early federal statutes: Beaman & McNamara's Index Analysis of the Federal Statutes, 1789-1873 and McClenon & Gilbert's Index to the Federal Statutes, 1874-1931. These are shelved immediately before the Statutes at Large set.
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The United States Statutes at Large is a permanent collection of laws and resolutions
The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. It is a permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each session of Congress, published in chronological order by date of passage.
Each act and resolution of Congress is initially published as a slip law, categorised as either public or private law and designated and numbered accordingly. At the end of a congressional session, the statutes passed during that session are compiled into bound books known as "session law" publications. The United States Statutes at Large is the name of the session law publication for US Federal statutes.
The Statutes at Large was first published in 1845 by the private firm Little, Brown, and Company, under the authority granted by a joint resolution of Congress. It includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Native American nations and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations.
The Statutes at Large is the official source of legislation, even if there is a conflict between its text and the text of a provision of the United States Code that has not been enacted as positive law. The United States Code is a codification of the general and permanent federal statutes, organised by topic, with the Statutes at Large serving as the official source of legislation.
To find a Public Law number, one can refer to Congress.gov, which contains information on Public Laws beginning with the 93rd Congress (1973-1974). The Public Law (P.L.) number and the Statutes at Large citation can be found at the end of the text of the statute in the U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S.
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Frequently asked questions
A Public Law number is assigned to a statute after it has been passed by Congress and signed into law by the President.
The Public Law number is formatted as "Pub. L. [number]-[number]", for example, "Pub. L. 93-406". The first number is the Congress number, and the second number is the sequential order of the law's passage.
Public Law numbers can be found in the Statutes at Large, which is a permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each session of Congress. They are also available on Congress.gov, which contains information on Public Laws from the 93rd Congress onwards.
You can search for a specific Public Law by number, keyword, or popular name on Congress.gov and other online databases such as GovInfo.
Public Laws are the official laws passed by Congress, while Slip Laws are individual pamphlets that contain the text of the law as it appears in the official printed version. Slip Laws are published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) prior to the official publication of the law.
