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Federal Statutory Research

Federal statutes are laws enacted by Congress. When Congress passes a law, the law is given a public law number. For example, P.L. 101-194 denotes the 194th law passed by the 101st Congress.

Public laws are first printed as slip laws (that is, individual copies of each law) and then published in chronological order (that is, by public law number) in the United States Statutes at Large. Eventually all session laws are codified by subject matter in the United States Code.

U.S.C.C.A.N. - the U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News - reprints Public Laws and selected documents produced by Congress during the legislative process. U.S.C.C.A.N. also contains valuable conversion tables that are very helpful in finding and updating statutes.

For a handout outlining methods of Federal Statutory Research, click here (PDF).

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United States Code is available in three versions:

United States Code (U.S.C.) is the official, unannotated version.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room (current edition plus supplements) and Law Annex (older editions)
• Microfiche: Law Micro (1925 to 1994 editions)
• Online:
  • U.S. House of Representatives
  • GPO Access
  • Cornell’s Legal Information Institute

United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) is an unofficial, annotated version published by West. It includes annotations to other West publications.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room
• Online: Westlaw United States Code Annotated (USCA database)

United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) is an unofficial, annotated version published by Lawyers' Cooperative.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room
• Online: LexisNexis United States Code Service-Titles 1 through 50

Tip: Don't forget to check the pocket parts to the Code when researching in print.

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Public laws are available from the following sources:

United States Statutes at Large (Stat.) is the official version published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Public laws are published in the Statutes at Large in public law number order.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room (1878 to date)
• Microfiche: Law Micro (1789 to 1976)
• Online:
  • GPO Access (104th Congress to date) (PDF available)
  • Thomas (full-text from 104th Congress; pertinent information from 93d Congress)
  • LexisNexis (1789 to Now): United States Statutes at Large
  • HeinOnline (1789 to 2005) (PDF Images)

United States Code and Congressional Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.) is an unofficial version published by West.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room (1948 to date)
• Microfiche: Law Micro (1941 to 1982)
• Online:
  • Westlaw (1973 to date): U.S. Public Laws (USCCAN-PL database)

Advanced legislative services for U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S.

• Print: Pappas Reading Room (found at the end of the U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. sets)

Tip: Session laws in the Statutes at Large have notes in the margins indicating where it will be codified in the United States Code.

Tip: There are conversion tables at the end of U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S. where public laws numbers are listed with corresponding citations to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code.

Page maintained by Steve Donweber
Last updated: December 2008