A few volumes of the Statutes at Large
The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large and abbreviated Stat., are the official source for the laws and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. They are also commonly called session laws since they are compiled from slip laws (public laws and private laws, abbreviated Pub.L. and Pvt.L.) at the end of a Congressional session.[1] They are part of a three-part model for publication of federal statutes consisting of slip laws, session laws, and codification.
Codification
Today, large portions of slip laws denominated as public laws are drafted as amendments to the United States Code. Once enacted into law, an Act will be published in the Statutes at Large and will add to, modify, or delete some part of the United States Code. Provisions of the public laws that contain only enacting clauses, effective dates, and similar matters are not generally codified. Private laws also are not generally codified.
Some portions of the United States Code have been enacted as positive law and other portions have not been so enacted. In case of a conflict between the text of the Statutes at Large and the text of a provision of the United States Code that has not been enacted as positive law, the text of the Statutes at Large takes precedence.[2]
History
Publication began in 1845 by the private firm of Little, Brown and Company under authority granted by a joint resolution of Congress. In 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office under the direction of the Secretary of State.
During Little, Brown and Company's time as publisher, Richard Peters (Volumes 1-8), George Minot (Volumes 9-11), and George P. Sanger (Volumes 11-17) served as editors.
Pub.L. 80-278, 61 Stat. 633, was enacted July 30, 1947 and directed the Secretary of State to compile, edit, index, and publish the Statutes at Large. Pub.L. 81-821, 64 Stat. 980, was enacted September 23, 1950 and directed the Administrator of General Services to compile, edit, index, and publish the Statutes at Large. Since 1985 the Statutes at Large have been prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).[3]
Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the United States Senate were also published in the set, but these now appear in a publication titled United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, abbreviated U.S.T. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations.
See also
Notes
External links
- Volumes 1 to 18 (1789-1875) of the Statutes at Large made available by the Library of Congress
- Volumes 117 to 120 (2003-2006) of the Statutes at Large made available by the GPO via FDsys
- Sortable by Bills Enacted into Laws, Concurrent Resolutions, Popular Names, Presidential Proclamations, or Public Laws.
- Digitized Volumes 65-115 (1951-2002) from joint project of GPO and the Library of Congress
- Volumes 1-123 of the Statutes at Large made available by the Constitution Society
- Public and private laws from 104th Congress (1995) to present from the Government Printing Office, in slip law format with Statutes at Large page references
- Early United States Statutes includes Volumes 1 to 44 (1789–1927) of the Statutes at Large in DjVu and PDF format, along with rudimentary OCR of the text.
- How Our Laws Are Made, by the Parliamentarian of the House of Representatives (PDF).
- United States Statutes and the United States Code: Historical Outlines, Notes, Lists, Tables, and Sources
- Second Edition of the Revised Statutes of the United States (1878)
