Law 11Federal Constitution and Code

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Federal Constitutions and Code

These are annotated versions of federal statutes and the Constitution, with West (USCA) or Lexis (USCS) headnotes from decisions relying on or interpreting the law. Start here if you want to investigate a federal statute or constitutional provision.

Proper Citation Format

o Citing Federal Constitutions (Rule 11 of The BlueBook)

U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2.

o Citing Federal Codes/Statutes (Rule 12 of The BlueBook)28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2000).

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Abbreviation of constitution cited

Abbreviation for “amendment”

Section symbol and no. of section cited

No. of amendment cited

Abbreviation of code cited

Section symbol and specific section cited

Date of code edition cited

Federal Constitution: Annotated Editions

o United States Code Annotated, Constitution of the United States Annotated (West) – U.S.C.A.o Contains volumes, pocket parts

and tables volumes and index

o United States Code Service, Constitution (LexisNexis) – U.S.C.S.o Contains volumes, pocket parts

and tables volumes and index

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Annotated Editions

o Library References are included in annotated versions and are kept current by pocket supplements and subsequent pamphlets.

o After each clause of the Constitution, digest paragraphs of all cases that have interpreted the clause follow.

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Statutes at Large

o When bills become law, they are published in a text according to the session of the legislature that enacted them into law. For instance, laws passed by the California legislature in 1999 were passed in the 1999-2000 session. The individual laws in the publication for a particular session (such as Session Laws 1999-2000) can be found according to their original bill number.

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Statutes at Large

o The United States Statutes at Large, prepared by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, provide a permanent collection of the laws of each session of Congress in bound volumes.

o The Statutes at Large are a chronological arrangement of the laws exactly as they have been enacted. The laws are not arranged according to subject matter.o Amendments may appear in different

volumes from the law being amended.

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Federal Codes – Annotated Editions

o United States Code (U.S.C.) – official publication by the U.S. Government Printing Office – see rule 12.3 of The BlueBook

o United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) – West Group - unofficialo Publishes the text of legislation as it

appears in the in the U.S.C.o Includes Notes of Decisions

o Digest of cases that have interpreted that particular section

o References other West publications and topic and Key Numbers

o General Indexo Popular Name Table

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Federal Codes – Annotated Editions

o United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) – LexisNexiso Includes historical notes and cross-

references in section called “history; Ancillary Laws and Directives”

o Popular Name Table o General Index

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Public Law

o After a Federal Bill becomes law, it is published (first as slip law) and is classified as either a public law or private law.o Public Law: affects the nation as a

whole, or deals with individuals as a class, and related to public matters

o Private Law: benefits only specific individuals. Deal primarily with matters relating to claims against the government or with matters of immigration.

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How to locate laws in U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S.

o General/Title Index o Tables of Popular Names of Federal Acts

(located in the last volume of the descriptive word index.)

o Tables Volume includes:o table to convert Revised Statutes and

Statutes at Large citations to code sections o table to convert former or revised title

citation to current code sections. o table to convert executive orders,

proclamations and reorganization plans, which are included in U.S.C., to U.S.C. citations.

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