Finding Banking Statutes

Statutes, both federal and state, are laws promulgated by legislatures.

Federal Statutes

  • The United States Code is the permanent, subject arrangement of statutes. In general, the paper indexes of statutory codes (particularly the annotated codes) are easier to use than the online versions.
    • United States Code ("U.S.C."): official version (Pappas Reading Room, Stack No. 2)
    • United States Code Annotated ("U.S.C.A.") and United States Code Service ("U.S.C.S."): unofficial, annotated versions of the code, which are more up-to-date than the official version. (Pappas Reading Room, Stacks Nos. 2 and 3)
    • LexisNexis: United States Code Service (CODES;USCS)
    • Westlaw : United States Code (USC) and United States Code Annotated (USCA)
    • Legal Information Institute (Cornell): United States Code (Title 12)
  • United States session laws are federal statutes arranged chronologically, as they are passed by the Congress.
    • United States Statutes at Large ("Stat.") (Pappas Reading Room, Stack No. 1)
    • United States Code Congressional and Administrative News ("U.S.C.C.A.N") (Pappas Reading Room, Stack No. 2)
    • LexisNexis: public laws (LEGIS:PUBLAW)
    • Westlaw: public laws (US-PL) and United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
    • Thomas: Public Laws, from the Statutes at Large (PDF, 93rd Congress to present)
    • Historical coverage of Statutes at Large is provided by Hein Online.
    • GPO Access: U.S. Public and Private Laws (1995 to present)
  • Bills before Congress
  • It may be useful to look at the legislative history of federal statutes.

State Statutes

There are a variety of sources, both online and paper, for state statutory research. As with federal statutory research, paper resources, particularly annotated codes, are often easier to use when starting a state statutory research project.

Page maintained by David Bachman
Last updated: February 2009