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  2. Research Guides

LLM Legal Research

This guide is for the research section of Introduction to Legal Research and Writing in the United States.

What are statutes?

Statutes are laws that were drafted, debated, and passed by Congress or a state legislature and signed by the relevant chief executive (president or governor).  Federal statutes are published in the following formats:

  • Slip/Public Laws:  Statutes are initially published in slip format and laws of general applicability (the vast majority of laws) assigned a public law number (e.g., PL-90-284 or Pub. L. 90-284).
    • Private Laws impact only certain groups or individuals, and are assigned a private law number.
  • Session Laws/Statutes at Large:  Statutes from each session of Congress are then compiled and published in U.S. Statutes at Large and assigned a Statutes at Large citation (e.g., 82 Stat. 81).  These are sometimes called “session laws.”
  • U.S. Code:  After publication as a slip law and in the Statutes at Large, statutes of a “general and permanent nature” are added to the U.S. Code.

Legislative History Research

Sometimes you wish to determine the legislature's purpose or intent in drafting a particular law or provisions therein, often in the context of interpreting a statute.  Documents generated during the legislative process are often referred to as legislative history materials.  We will discuss federal legislative history in the spring, and publish a course guide section discussing legislative history for your reference.