Statutes are laws written and enacted by the legislative branch of government. Most new laws are created through statutes (as opposed to being created by judges through case opinions); therefore, it is important that you realize that you will frequently begin your research projects by looking at a statute, rather than at cases.
At the federal level, each statute is published in three versions. First, a statute is enacted as a slip law, which is the statute by itself on a single sheet or in pamphlet form. When a slip law is published, it will be assigned a Public Law Number to identify it. The Public Law Number (e.g., Pub.L. No. 112-25) consists of two parts: the first number represents the number of the Congress that passed the law; the second number represents the chronological order in which the law was passed. In the above example,Pub.L. No. 112-25 is the 25th law passed by the 112th Congress. Slip laws/Public Laws are available in print or online through the Library of Congress' Congress.gov site.
Next, the statute is published as a session law. Session laws are the slip laws bound chronologically by Congressional session (each Congress lasts two years and is divided into two sessions). The Statutes at Large is the official U.S. government compilation of federal session laws.
While it's important to acknowledge the existence of slip laws and session laws, there are several problems with researching statutes using these formats:
Therefore, when researching, you'll want to use the third version of a statute, which is published in a code. A code arranges the statutes by topic (rather than chronologically), indexes statutes to allow for subject access, and incorporates any amendments and repealed language to always give you the current picture of the law.
The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 53 titles.
The official codification (i.e., the version published by the U.S. government) of federal statutes is the United States Code (U.S.C.). The U.S.C. is broken down into 53 subject Titles, with each Title representing a major subject area (e.g.,Banks and Banking, Labor, Transportation). The U.S.C. is published in full every six years, but cumulative bound supplements are issued each year in between that allow you to update.
HeinOnline - Offers older editions of the US Code if you are interested in following the development of specific topics through the 20th century. It is also possible to search individual laws one at a time using the Statutes at Large section of the database. It allows you to search by Public Law number or the popular name of the law.
GovInfo - FDsys contains virtual main editions of the U.S. Code, 1994 edition to the present.
LexisNexis Academic - provides access to full text of federal and state cases statutes, codes, and regulations.