Government Information

A Guide to Government Information Sources

Statutes

United States federal law is collected in the United States Code. The Code is arranged as 54 titles of various subject matters of federal jurisdiction (e.g. Title 12: Banks and banking; Title 17: Copyrights; Title 47: Telecommunications). The U.S. Code is updated and revised regularly based on public laws enacted in prior sessions of Congress (see Statutes at Large).

The titles are then split up into chapters, which are further divided into sections (e.g. Title 17: Copyrights -- Chapter 1: Subject matter and scope of copyright -- Section 106: Exclusive rights in copyrighted works).

Federal laws might be cited as follows: TITLE U.S.C. § SECTION. For example, 47 U.S.C. § 21 refers to Telecommunications (Title 47), Submarine cables; willful injury to; punishment (section 21).

The U.S. Code can be found at many locations on the Internet:

Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
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Westlaw provides an annotated U.S. Code, which includes interpretations and clarifications made by the courts, the history of the statute, and analysis in secondary sources such as encyclopedias and law review articles. Choose Statutes and Court Rules > United States Code Annotated (USCA).
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
ProQuest Legislative and Executive Publications This link opens in a new window
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Using ProQuest Legislative & Executive Publications, you can search U.S. federal legislation, legislative histories, the Congressional Records, and other documents related to the process of law-making.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Find federal statutes by popular name

Federal laws are often known by their "popular name" or "short title" rather than by their U.S. Code title and section. Popular name tables exist to allow researchers to match the popular name with the location in the code.

United States Code Popular Name Tool
Browse and search popular names of laws to find the respective public law and location in the United States Code. For example, the Copyright Act of 1976 is found in Title 17 of the U.S. Code, as enacted by Public Law 94-553 on Oct. 19, 1976. This resource also includes images of the statute text in Statutes at Large.