What are codes?
Statutory codes are official compilations of statutes, organized by subject. The U.S. Code is organized by title, with narrower chapters and sections. Citations to U.S. Code sections include the title and section (e.g., 42 USC § 3601).
A history or credit(s) note typically follows each section of a statute as published in a code. This note provides dates of enactment and, if applicable, amendment(s), as well as the citation to the public/session law for that action. The public law citation may include additional details regarding the particular section of the legislation from which the section derives.
NOTE: Credits should be distinguished from notes regarding currency in legal research platforms. Westlaw and Lexis will indicate the last public law reflected in their updating of the code as a whole under “currentness” or “current through.” This information is applied to all sections and does not reflect statutory history.
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) publishes the U.S. Code and makes it available through Govinfo.gov.
What are annotated codes?
Statutory codes may be unannotated or annotated.
- Unannotated codes contain only the text of the statutes and their accompanying history/credits. You will typically cite to the unannotated version of a code, as this is often the official version.
- Annotated codes provide additional information, including references to related statutes, legislative history materials, cases that interpret and analyze the statute, and secondary sources that provide researchers guidance regarding application of the statute. As such, annotated codes are ideal resources for research.
Unofficial annotated federal codes are the United States Code Annotated (USCA) published by West and the United States Code Service (USCS) published by Lexis.
Using Print Codes
If you use the code in print, you must remember to look at the pocket part in the back of the volume or any available supplemental volume for information that updates the main volumes.
