1. PRIMARY LEGAL AUTHORITY Created and presented by Shaun Esposito Head of Public Services University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law Library Spring Term 2005 Statutory Law

2. Statutory Law • the law passed by legislatures • not very significant in early part of U.S. legal history • now produces greatest volume of American law • produced at all levels: Congress, General Assembly, City Council, etc.

3. Statutory v. Common Law • statutes deal with general problems affecting many people; common law involves individual problems of parties in case before court • statutory law can anticipate problems; common law does not, must wait until problem has arisen and parties have gone to court

4. Statutory Publication Forms • first appear as session laws • usually then codified or folded into existing codification scheme • codes may be annotated or unannotated • annotated codes contain publisher’s enhancements such as summaries of cases interpreting the statute and citations to relevant secondary materials • unannotated codes do not contain these enhancements, but only contain text of statute with historical notes

5. Access Points for Statutory Codes • General Index • Index in Particular Volume • Title Outline Approach in United States Code • in appropriate title look at detailed outline of titles to code sections • similar detailed outlines appear in state statutes • can be helpful if index only places researcher in general area in code rather than specific section • Tables • popular name • conversion tables--public law to U.S. Code

6. FEDERAL STATUTORY LAW A CODE IN THREE VERSIONS

8. United States Code Index

9. United States Code: Text

10. United States Code: History Table

11. United States Code: Updates

12. UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED (USCA) This annotated version of the United States Code, in annotations following each statutory section, provides a wealth of citations to: • case law • law review articles • other relevant material To access the information look under the relevant statutory section For ease in locating proper statutory sections, USCA has extensive index volumes with multiple cross references

13. To find a relevant statutory section, first consult the index appearing at the end of the USCA set.

14. Follow the reference to the USCA title and section number to the appropriate volume(s) of the USCA set.

15. United States Code Annotated: History Table

16. Following the text of the statutory section, the publisher, West, provideshelpful cross references as well as an annotation providing citations to cases which have discussed the statutory section

17. As with all legal research, be sure to check the pocket part or supplementaccompanying the main volume to uncover any changes to the statute oradditional cases in the annotation.

18. United States Code Service (USCS)

19. To begin research in the USCS, consult the index volumes for topics relevant to the research question under consideration.

20. United States Code Service Index

21. USCS Text

22. USCS History Explanation

23. USCS Annotation

24. USCS Pocket Part To obtain the most up-to-date information, don't forget to check the volume's pocket part or separately bound supplemental volume.

25. Session Laws--Statutes at Large

26. Statutes at Large to U.S. Code Conversion Tables

27. USCA Conversion Table

28. USCS CONVERSION TABLE

29. USC Popular Name Tables

30. USCA Popular Name Tables

31. USCS Popular Name Tables

32. Statutory Research Online

33. U.S. Code Search Screen From House of Representatives

34. U.S. Code Search Results Screen From House of Representatives

35. U.S. Code Section Screen From House of Representatives

36. U.S. Code Explanation Screen From House of Representatives

37. U.S. Code Warning Screen From House of Representatives

38. WESTLAW Federal Materials Database Selection Screen

39. WESTLAW—U.S. Code Selection Page

40. WESTLAW—U.S. Code Search Screen

41. WESTLAW—U.S. Code Search Result Page with KeyCITE Information & Search Terms Highlighted

42. WESTLAW—U.S. Code History Table

43. WESTLAW—U.S. Code Cross References and Library References

44. WESTLAW—U.S. Code Case Annotations

45. LEXIS—Federal Materials Selection Page

46. LEXIS—U.S. Code Selection Page

47. LEXIS—U.S. Code Table of Contents Page

48. LEXIS—U.S. Code Table of Contents Page--continued

49. LEXIS—U.S. Code Detailed Table of Contents Page

50. LEXIS—U.S. Code Search Results Page