Finding Federal Statutes, Regulations, and Related Cases

Quick Links:

• Introduction
• Finding Federal Statutes
• Finding Federal Regulations
• Searching for Related Case Law

1. Introduction

Federal statutes are the laws enacted by the federal legislative branch, the United States Congress. Federal regulations are issued by the various federal administrative agencies, which get their authority to regulate from specific statutes. Regulations are designed to implement and interpret statutes. Both federal statutes and regulations are considered sources of binding authority on all individuals and entities in the United States.

As a general rule, it is best to begin your research with the relevant statute(s) and then move on to the related regulation(s) because statutes provide context for understanding the regulations. Also, statutes tend to be cited more than regulations and therefore, are usually easier to find. Once you find a relevant statute, it will typically lead you to the related regulation(s).

Federal statutes and regulations can be found in codes. The code is usually the best place to look up a statute or regulation because it is organized by subject and updated on a fairly regular basis.

2. Finding Federal Statutes

There are three large multi-volume sets of books where you can find the text of the federal statutory code:

• United States Code (U.S.C.) (official version)
• United States Code Annotated (abbreviated U.S.C.A.) (published by West)
• United States Code Service (abbreviated U.S.C.S.) (published by LexisNexis)

The federal statutory code is divided into 50 titles. Each code title is numbered and covers a broad area of law (e.g., title 29 covers labor, title 42 covers public health and welfare). Code titles are divided into chapters, which are further divided into sections. Only the title and section numbers are used to cite to particular code sections.

• For example, 29 U.S.C. § 621 refers to section 621 of title 29 of the United States Code. The version of the code being cited to as well as the publication year of the volume containing the code section are often included in parentheses at the end of the citation (e.g., 29 U.S.C. § 621 (West 2003)).

The statutory language should be the same in each of these sets, though the commercial versions will typically be more up-to-date. Both the print U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. volumes are updated with annual pocket parts (i.e., paperback pamphlets placed in the back pocket of each volume) or separate paperback supplements. The official U.S.C. version also contains a supplement (located at the end of the entire set), but it is not updated as frequently as the commercial pocket parts and supplements.

The federal statutory code can also be accessed on three publicly available websites:

Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute's
U.S. Code Collection page

United States House of Representatives Office of the Law Revision Counsel's
Search the United States Code page

GPO Access' United States Code page

The LexisNexis version of the code (U.S.C.S.) is also accessible electronically on the USC campus through the Federal & State Codes search page on LexisNexis Academic.

Searching for Statutes by Citation

• Using Print Codes

  If you already have a citation to a federal statutory code section, you can go right to the text of that section in one of the print versions of the code mentioned above.

  On the spine of each volume of the code, you will be able to see what title(s) and section range(s) are included in that volume. Once you read your code section in the bound volume, check the pocket part or supplement for that volume to see if the code section has been amended. Usually, only the portion of the section that has been revised or added will be included in the pocket part or supplement. Therefore, it may be necessary to go back and forth between the bound volume and the pocket part or supplement to piece together the entire current version of a statutory section.

  One reason it is sometimes preferable to look up your code section in print is that you can more readily browse around your section to get a sense of context as well as find other potentially relevant sections. You may also find other related code sections by browsing the table of contents located at the beginning of the chapter containing your section.

• Using LexisNexis

  From the LexisNexis Academic Federal & State Codes search page (which is contained in the "Search - Legal" folder), you can pull up a specific code section by typing your title and section numbers in the Search Terms box as shown in the screen shot below. (Make sure the "United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 50" source is chosen in the Sources box.)

  

  By placing your title and section numbers in parentheses and preceding the parenthetical with the word CITE, you are instructing LexisNexis to only search the citation of each document. As a result, the search shown on the screen above will immediately pull up 29 U.S.C. § 623.

  The U.S.C.S. source on LexisNexis is updated very frequently. When you pull up a code section on the screen, there will be a "Current through ..." note near the top indicating the date of the most recent public law that was added to the database.

• Using Publicly Accessible Websites

  All three of the publicly accessible federal code websites listed above allow you to use your code citation to pull up a code section. Both the Cornell site and the official GPO Access site also allow you to browse the tables of contents for the various titles of the code.

  Keep in mind that none of these versions of the code are as up-to-date as the LexisNexis version or even the commercial print versions. However, the Cornell site as well as the U.S. House of Representatives' site do provide update notices to inform you about recent public laws that have affected your code section. The Cornell site also provides links to enable you to quickly access those more recent laws.

Searching for Statutes by Name

Each enacted law is often referred to as an act, which may have an official or popular name (e.g., Civil Rights Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act). Many of the statutory code versions discussed in this guide have tools that you can use to find a statute by its name.

• Using Print Sources

  All three print versions of the federal statutory code have a popular name table, which lists federal acts alphabetically by their official or popular name and provides citations to those acts. Included among the citations for each act is the number assigned to that act (either a chapter (ch.) number or a public law (Pub.L.) number, depending on the year of the act). The tables also indicate the titles and sections where the acts can be found in the code. For example, 29 § 621 et seq. refers to title 29 of the federal code, starting with section 621 (et seq. means "and following"). If an act listed in the table gets amended at a later time, citations to the amending acts are also provided.

  The popular name table in the official U.S.C. version of the code is located immediately after title 50 of the code, whereas the tables in the commercial U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. versions are contained in separate volumes located at or near the end of the sets.

• Using the Cornell Website

  Cornell University Law School's Popular Names of Acts in the US Code page (shown below) is similar to the print popular name tables in that it also provides an alphabetical list of acts and provides chapter, public law and code citations. For many of the more recent public laws, links are provided to those laws (in their enacted form, not as they appear in the code). This table also includes what they refer to as "Short title" links, which take you to the editorial notes in the code where the names of the acts are mentioned. These notes can be useful in understanding the history of a particular act over time.

  

Searching for Statutes by Topic

If you do not already have a code citation or a name of an act, it is recommended that you use books and articles to find references to statutes related to your topic. Consult the USC Law Library guides Starting Points to Begin Your Research and How to Find a Law Journal Article for guidance on finding books and articles that may help you in this regard.

If you are unable to find what you are looking for through books and articles, there are some additional searching tools that you can use to look for code sections on your topic.

• Using Print Codes

  At the end of all three print versions of the federal code is a subject index that you can use to find code sections by topic. The index to the U.S.C.A. set is contained in a series of softbound volumes and is called the "General Index." When using the indexes, think creatively since your topic may not be listed under the first term(s) you think of.

  Usually, when you look up a term in the index, there will be subheadings under the main heading that narrow the topic down. Sometimes, there will also be cross-references to direct you to the appropriate terms to look up. If you find your topic in the index, it will tell you which title(s) and section(s) to look up in the main part of the set.

• Using LexisNexis

  The Federal & State Codes search page on LexisNexis Academic allows you to enter your key word(s) in the Search Terms box at the top of the screen. Make sure the "United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 50" source is chosen in the Sources box.

  There are two searching methods on LexisNexis:

  • Terms and Connectors:This is the searching method in which you place connectors between your terms and phrases to show the desired relationships between them in the code sections. The AND connector between terms and phrases indicates that both must be in the section, while the OR connector indicates that only one of them needs to be in the section. To look for sections in which your terms or phrases appear in close proximity to each other, use one of the "within" connectors instead of the AND connector:
    • w/n (within n words of, e.g., w/10, w/20)
    • w/s (within the same sentence)
    • w/p (within the same paragraph)
    Example:
    • employment or job w/s age discrimination

      This search will look for code sections in which either the word employment or job appears within the same sentence as the phrase age discrimination.

    You can truncate terms with an exclamation mark (!) to pull up different versions of a particular word.

    Example:
    • discriminat! w/p age

      This search will look for code sections in which either discriminate, discriminates, discrimination, or discriminating appears in the same paragraph as the word age.

    When you obtain your search results, you have the option of sorting your sections by relevancy, which will take into account how frequently your terms are mentioned.

    You can click on the link just below the search box to learn more about LexisNexis connectors and commands.

  • Natural Language: This is the more basic searching method in which you merely enter your relevant terms (without connectors, commands, or special symbols) and LexisNexis retrieves the most "relevant" sections (based largely on the frequency in which your terms appear in the sections), ranked in order of relevancy.
    
    

    It is recommended that you place quotation marks around exact phrases when doing a Natural Language search. You may also want to include major synonyms and alternative forms of a word in the Natural Language mode.

    Example:
    • "sexual harassment" sex gender discrimination
• Using Publicly Accessible Websites

  Both Cornell University Law School's U.S.Code Collection as well as the U.S. House of Representatives' Search the United States Code database allow you to conduct a key word search of the federal code to find relevant code sections. Both sites allow you to use the AND and OR connectors to link your terms and phrases. On both of these sites, use the asterisk (*) as the truncation symbol:

  Example:
  • age and discrim*

  Also, like Lexis Nexis, the House of Representatives' site allows you to use proximity connectors to specify that your terms need to be within a certain distance of each other in each document. The NEAR/# connector is like the w/n connector on LexisNexis.

  Example:
  • age NEAR/5 discrimination
    This search will look for code sections in which the word age appears within 5 words of discrimination.

  Place single quotes around exact phrases on the House of Representatives' site (e.g., 'age discrimination') and double quotes around phrases on the Cornell site (e.g., "age discrimination"). For additional information on using connectors and special symbols on the House of Representatives' site, click on the "boolean and proximity connectors" link near the top of the search page.

3. Finding Federal Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), like the federal statutory code, is divided into 50 titles. Each title is divided into parts, subparts, and sections. A citation to a C.F.R. section includes the title number and section number. The first portion of the section number (before the decimal point) always consists of the C.F.R. "part" number. Thus, the citation 42 C.F.R. § 59.1 refers to Title 42, Part 59, Section 59.1.

The official print version of the C.F.R. consists of softbound volumes that get updated and replaced each year. This same version can be accessed in PDF on GPO Access' Code of Federal Regulations page. The cover page of each C.F.R. volume indicates how current that volume is. Because a volume may be over a year out of date, it is advisable to consult one of the following two electronic versions of the C.F.R., both of which are updated on a more frequent basis:

• Federal & State Codes search page on LexisNexis Academic (choose "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations" in the Sources box)
• E-CFR

Searching for Regulations by Citation

If you have a citation to a C.F.R. section, you can go right to the text of that section in one of the versions of the C.F.R. mentioned above. If using LexisNexis Academic, you can enter your citation as you would enter a statutory citation. For example, if you are looking for 29 C.F.R. § 35.10, you can enter the following in the Search Terms box:

• cite(29 and 35.10)

If you are using one of the E-CFR search pages, you can enter your title number in the "Enter a Title Number" box and your section number in the regular search box. Make sure however to select "Section Number" in the "within:" box (as shown below) to limit your search to the section numbers of each document.

Throughout the C.F.R. are authority notes that indicate the statutory authority for the regulations (i.e., the sections in the United States Code that give authority to the different federal agencies to issue regulations). Often, these notes can be found at the end of the C.F.R. sections; however, if the note applies to an entire C.F.R. part or subpart, the note will be located at the beginning of that part or subpart. If you are beginning your research with a regulation, the statutory authority note for that regulation can be useful in locating the statutory code section(s) that pertain to your research topic.

With the print version as well as the publicly accessible online versions of the C.F.R. discussed above, you can view the table of contents for each C.F.R. part, which may help you to find other relevant sections.

Using a Known Statute to Find Regulations

As noted earlier, it is usually helpful to examine the relevant statute that governs your issue before turning to the applicable regulations. One of the benefits of finding the relevant statute is that it can often help you to find the related regulations.

Sometimes, relevant C.F.R. citations are referenced in related sections of the federal statutory code. For example, if you retrieve on LexisNexis Academic the statutory section 29 U.S.C.S. § 621, you will find in the "NOTES" portion of the section (below the text of the statute) a reference to 29 CFR Part 1625 (as shown below).

An additional tool you can use to find C.F.R. sections if you have a relevant statute cite is the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules. With this table, you can look up a statutory code section that authorizes an agency to issue rules and regulations pertaining to a particular matter and find out which C.F.R. part(s) was/were issued pursuant to that section. You can also use the table to find regulations that interpret or apply a particular statutory section. Besides being accessible online, this table can be found in the C.F.R. Index volume (located at the end of the print C.F.R. set).

Searching for Regulations by Topic

If you have not been able to find a relevant C.F.R. section through one of the methods discussed above, you can search for regulations topically by using one of the following alternative methods:

• You can consult books and articles (i.e., secondary sources) on your topic to see if they discuss any relevant regulations.
• The print C.F.R. contains an index at the end of the set. If you find your topic in the index, it will tell you which C.F.R. title(s) and part(s) to look up in the set.
• You can search the LexisNexis Academic Federal & State Codes search page. Make sure the "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations" source is chosen in the Sources box. You can use either the Terms and Connectors or Natural Language search method (both of which are described above).
• Both the E-CFR and GPO Access websites can also be used to search for regulations by key word. However, the search options on these two websites are more limited than the options on LexisNexis:
  • The E-CFR website has two "Advanced Search" options, including a "Proximity" search option, which allows you to specify that your terms must be near each other in each document. However, there is no effective OR connector (for synonyms) on this website, and you are limited in the number of terms and phrases you can include in each search.
  • The GPO Access website does allow you to use the OR connector to connect your synonyms but does not allow you to use proximity connectors. If you use both the AND and OR connector on GPO Access, use parentheses around one or more components of your search to indicate the relationships between your terms.
    
    Example:
    • (race OR sex) AND discrimination
      

      This search will retrieve regulatory sections containing either the term race or sex as well as the term discrimination.

  On both of these websites, you should place double quotes around exact phrases (e.g., "social security"). The truncation symbol on both of these sites is the asterisk (e.g., discriminat*).

4. Searching for Related Case Law

Cases can be important when doing statutory and regulatory research. Because statutes and regulations are subject to interpretation, the courts often have to make determinations regarding the meaning of particular statutory or regulatory provisions. These judicial interpretations can serve as precedent in future cases.

A number of the statutory code sources discussed in this guide provide references to relevant cases. In U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S., you will often find along with the text of a particular code section summaries of cases that have applied and interpreted that section. In U.S.C.A., these case summaries are referred to as "Notes of Decisions" and in U.S.C.S., they are referred to as "Interpretive Notes and Decisions." After each case summary, you will also see the citation for that case, which you can use to find the full opinion in a case reporter or case law database.

The case summaries and citations contained in the print version of U.S.C.S. are also included in the LexisNexis Academic version of this source. On LexisNexis Academic, you can actually link from the case citations to the full text of the opinions in these cases.

With respect to regulations, while none of the versions of the C.F.R. discussed in this guide provide references to related case law, you may find that some of the cases that interpret statutes also discuss the related regulations. Another option is to run a search in an available case law database or website to find related cases. You can include in your search relevant terms from the text of your regulation as well as the title and section numbers from the relevant C.F.R. citation(s).

Example:

• If you are searching on LexisNexis Academic for federal cases pertaining to 29 C.F.R. § 35.10, which deals with age discrimination, you might run the following search:
  • age w/5 discriminat! AND 29 w/3 35.10

  This search will retrieve only those cases in which BOTH the word age appears within 5 words of a form of the word discriminate AND the number 29 appears within 3 words of the number 35.10.

For additional guidance on how to find cases (with either a known case citation or by key word), consult the USC Law Library guide How To Find Cases.