Emory Law School Website

U.S. Constitution
U.S. Code
Annotated and online codes
State codes
Public Laws and Statutes at Large

Guide created by Amy Flick

Statutory Research

• Slip laws, session laws, codes
• Positive law vs. prima facie evidence of law
• Research usually in codes, but the determinative text is in statutes
• Not all legislation is codified:  see statutes to find uncodified laws
• Recodification process (states)
• Official and unofficial editions
• Annotated codes

Slip Laws, Session Laws, Codes

• Slip Laws:  First official text, individual pamphlets
• Session Laws:  Permanent, chronological arrangement by legislative session
• Advance session services:  commercial slip law services
• Codes:  Statutes in fixed topical arrangements, session laws rearranged, with amendments, deletion of repealed laws
• Official Codes:  Published or approved by the government
• Annotated Codes:  Reproduce official code text with editorial enhancements, annotations of cases interpreting or affecting the statute, plus cross-references to other research materials

Choosing whether to start with the Code or the uncodified statute (Public Laws)

• Code:
  • For current, compiled, related statutes on a topic
  • Where enacted into positive law
  • Older statutes still in effect
  • Superseded codes as of a particular date
  • If you already have a code citation
  • Browsing when limited to print
• Statute:
  • Finding law as originally passed
  • When the statute has been codified in multiple places; find the pertinent sections, then update
  • For non-permanent statutes that aren't codified, such as appropriations acts
  • Recent acts not yet codified