Statutes are the laws passed by the legislative branch of government and signed into law by the chief executive (president (for federal statutes) or governor (for state statutes)). Statutes that are currently in force are published in statutory codes, which are organized by subject. There are codes for federal statutes and different codes for each state. The relevant code is a good starting point for any research project involving an issue governed by statute.
There are a variety of code publications, including print publications as well as online sources on Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and various websites. The code section number and statutory language will not vary based on which service/publisher you use. Accordingly, you can pull up a code section in any code publication, and you should see the same statutory language.
Codes can be annotated or unannotated. An unannotated code includes the text of the statutes and history notes identifying the origin and amendments for each statute. Annotated codes have this information and also contain citations to other types of related sources, including cases interpreting the statute, regulations pertaining to the statute, and secondary sources discussing the statute. Because of the terrific depth of these citations, annotated codes are a wonderful research resource.
While the statutory language should not vary from publication to publication, the code annotations will vary based on the service/publisher. Each publisher uses its own editors and algorithms to generate these references, and there will be some differences in what is picked up in each publication. Moreover, for citations to relevant treatises and practice guides, each publisher tends to highlight those treatises and guides that they publish and not those of their direct competitors.
For more information on working with code annotations, see the "Annotations in Codes" portion of the Case Searching Techniques section of this research guide.
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.
For more information on statutory code research, please see the Law Library's Finding Federal Statutes Guide and Finding California Statutes Guide.
The code for federal statutes is called the U.S. Code. The U.S Code is organized into 54 broad topics, called titles. Federal statutes are identified by their title and section number. For example, 29 U.S.C. § 2612 is the code section for a federal statute that requires that employees be given leave under certain circumstances pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act. "29" stands for title 29, which are the labor statutes, and "2612" is the section within that title.
There are three major publications for the U.S. Code:
U.S. Code (U.S.C.) is published by the federal government and is the official version of the code. The Bluebook requires that this version be cited. The U.S.C. is not annotated. It is published approximately every six years and is supplemented annually. Accordingly, it is not particularly useful as a research tool. It is recommended that you use a different code publication for research purposes and look to the U.S.C. when it is time to craft properly formatted Bluebook citations for the relevant code sections. The U.S.C. is available in print in the Law Library at KF62 2018 and online from the Government Publishing Office and Hein Online.
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) is an annotated version of the code, published by West. In addition to the U.S. Code, it also provides annotations (i.e citations to relevant cases, regulations, and secondary sources) to the Constitution, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, and other court rules. U.S.C.A. is available in print in the Law Library at KF62 1927 .W47 and online in Westlaw.
United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) is an annotated version of the code, published by Lexis. U.S.C.S. is available in print in the Law Library at KF62 1972 .U5 and online in Lexis.
See the Law Library's Federal Statutes Guide for more information.
California statutes are organized into 31 topical codes. The statutes are identified by code topic and section number. For example, Cal. Gov't Code § 12945.2 is the code section for the California statute that requires that employees be given leave under certain circumstances under the California Family Rights Act. "Gov't" is the California Government Code, and "12945.2) is the section within that code.
Notwithstanding the fact that there are 31 topical codes, these codes typically are combined into a single code publication. Unlike the federal code, there is no official publication for the California codes. As discussed in more detail below, both West and Lexis publish their own version of the California codes, and the Bluebook allows citation to either. Both the West and Lexis versions are annotated.
The two major publications for the California codes are:
West's Annotated California Codes, published by West, includes annotations not just to the 31 topical codes, but also to the California Constitution, California Rules of Court, and other California court and commission rules. West's Annotated California Codes is available in print in the Law Library at KFC30.5 .W4 and online in Westlaw.
Deering's California Codes, Annotated, published by Lexis, is available in print in the Law Library at KFC30.5 .D4 Z59 and online in Lexis.
Unannotated versions of the California Codes are also available on the internet, including from the California Legislative Information web site.
See the Law Library's California Statutes Guide for more information.
Code searching presents some special challenges, particularly when keyword searching online. These challenges include:
There is a great deal of variation in the language used by lawmakers. For example, "children" are referred to in the codes using several terms, including "children," "minors," "juveniles," "infants," and "issue."
When working with an annotated code, searches typically include not just the language of the code sections but also the annotations. This can result in getting a substantial number of irrelevant search results.
It is hard to see the full context of a code provision from looking at only one code section.
Using finding tools, such as secondary sources, popular name tables, and code indexes, can help you to hone in on relevant code sections without the need for keyword searching.
In addition, when you are reviewing a relevant code provision, it is critical that you review the table of contents for the section in which that statute appears to see if there are any other potentially on-point statutes you may have missed. You should also browse the code sections that come before and after your statute.
Secondary source discussions of your issue should identify relevant statutes. Once you have a relevant statute, you can use other techniques discussed on this page, particularly browsing the code table of contents, to find other relevant statutes.
Often legislation is known by a particular name, such as the Affordable Care Act or the Patriot Act. Codes, both in print and online, include a popular name table that cross references the popular name of an act with the relevant statutory citations.
In print, look for the popular name table at the end of the set, as either part of the index or in its own volume.
In Westlaw and Lexis, the easiest way to find the popular name table is simply to type the name of the code with the word "popular" into the main search box on the home screen. For both Westlaw and Lexis, typing "United States Code Popular" into the main search box results in the popular name table for their edition of the federal code auto populating as an option. Similarly, in Westlaw, typing "California Statutes Popular" into the main search box results in the popular name table for California auto populating as an option. Lexis does not seem to include a popular name table for California statutes.
Even if you prefer to do most of your research online, you can always use a print popular name table to look up the name of a statute and then go online to look up the actual statute.
Most code publications include detailed subject indexes, identifying where in the codes various topics are addressed. It can be useful to to look up keywords in an index, rather than to start with full-text online searching, because of the great deal of variation in the language used by lawmakers and because full-text searching often yields a high percentage of irrelevant search results.
In print, the index will be at the end of the code set, typically in one or more index volumes.
In Westlaw and Lexis, the easiest way to find the index, is simply to type the name of the code with the word "index" into the main search box on the home screen. For both Westlaw and Lexis, typing "United States Code Index" into the main search box results in the index for their edition of the federal code auto populating as an option. Similarly, typing "California Statutes Index" into the main search box results in the index for their edition of the California codes auto populating as an option.
Even if you prefer to do most of your research online, you can always use a print index to identify a relevant statutory code citation and then go online to explore the actual statute.
Keyword searching for statutes is comparable to keyword searching for cases. See the discussion of keyword searching in the Case Searching Techniques section of this research guide for tips for crafting keyword searches and working with search results.
One big challenge of keyword searching for statutes is that full-text searching includes the annotations, not just the statutory language. This can result in a high percentage of irrelevant search results.
To avoid this challenge, the advanced search features within Westlaw and Lexis can be used to limit your search to the statutory language only, not the annotations. To see the advanced search options, go to the home page for the code you are using in Westlaw or Lexis. From there, you should see a link to advanced search. In Westlaw, the link is marked "Advanced," and it is to the right of the search box. In Lexis, it is marked "Advanced Search" and is just above the search box on the right.
Once you are in advanced search, you have the option to search within particular "Document Fields." In Westlaw, use the "Statutory Text" field to limit your search to the statutory language. In Lexis, use either the "Text" field or the "Unannotated" field.
Once you find a relevant statute, it is important to review related statutes to insure that you do not miss important information. For example, it is common for statutes to rely on definitions of key terms established in other statutes; or a statute may create a general rule, but other statutes may identify exceptions to that general rule. Without reading related statutes, it is easy to miss critical context.
Statutes are organized within the codes into major subdivisions. In the federal code, these subdivisions are referred to as "chapters." After you have identified an on-point federal statute, review the rest of the statutes in the chapter to see the full context. When working with the print codes, you can flip to the beginning of the chapter to see the chapter table of contents that identifies all the other statutes within the chapter. Online resources also include table of contents features, identifying and linking to the other statutes within the chapter.
In Westlaw, when you are in a federal statute, to see the table of contents for the full chapter, you have two options. As seen below, you can either click directly on the link to the chapter that is towards the top of the document, or you can click on "Table of Contents" that is at the top of the document.
Similarly in Lexis, when you have a federal statute open, as depicted below, you can view the table of contents for the chapter by clicking on the link to the chapter that is towards the top of the document or by clicking on "Table of Contents" that is at the top,left of the document.
In Bloomberg, the chapter table of contents is also available by clicking on the link at the top of the document, as seen below.
There may be times that you need to do research comparing the laws of several states. For such projects, it can be very useful to see if there is a 50 state statutory survey for your topic. Sources for state statutory surveys include:
Government agency websites, special interest organizations' websites, books, and journal articles also can be good sources for surveys of state laws.
For more information, see the Berkeley Law Library's Fifty State Statutory Surveys Research Guide and the Stanford Law Library's Locating 50-State Surveys Guide.
Just as it is critical that you validate your case law research to ensure that the cases you are relying upon are still good law, it is crucial to also make sure the statutes you find are still good law. Statutes can get amended. Courts can declare statutes unconstitutional. As with cases, to confirm that your statute remains valid, you must use a citator (KeyCite® on Westlaw or Shepard's® on Lexis).
When the citator reveals negative authority for your statute, you must READ THE MATERIALS to determine the extent on which you can rely on the statute. When cases declare statutes invalid, frequently only a portion of the statute is at issue, with the remaining portions remaining valid and controlling. Or a statute may be held unconstitutional only when applied to a limited set of circumstances. There may be pending legislation that could effect your statute, but it may be that the legislation is unlikely to get passed. Reviewing the negative authorities will help you determine the extent to which the statute is controlling law. As with cases, it is always prudent to check your statute on both KeyCite and Shepard's.
KeyCite® is the citator in Westlaw. KeyCite, quite literally, flags statutes that are not good law.
When you pull up a statute in Westlaw, if you see a red or yellow flag, that means that there is negative treatment for that statute. A red flag indicates that the statute has been amended, repealed, superseded, or held unconstitutional in whole or in part. A yellow flag indicates other negative treatment.
These flags can be very helpful, but in order to confirm the validity of you statute, you also should review the statutory history provided by KeyCite, regardless of whether or not your case has been flagged. When you are in a statute in Westlaw, there are tabs that appear immediately toward the top of the document that give you information about the statute. One of these tab is "History." When you click on the History tab, select the catagory "Validity" to see materials that may effect the validity of your statute.
For example, when you pull up a statute with negative treatment in Westlaw, you may see something that looks like:
Per these flags, there is one case that held the statute unconstitutional, and there is proposed legislation that may effect the statute. However, the information that is offered on this page is limited. To see more, select the "History" tab, which will open up a menu that looks like:
Select "Validity" from this menu to get a report identifying the authority that may call the validity of your statute into question.
You should not assume that your statute is not valid simply because there is negative authority. You must read the negative treatment cases and review the available information for the pending legislation. If you were to read the cases that held the statute unconstitutional, you would see that it applies only when the defendant is a state. Otherwise the statute is valid. Similarly, the other negative treatment cases do not compromise the validity of the statute under most circumstances. If you were to review the proposed legislation section of the report, you would see that there has not been much legislative activity on any of the pending bills. Accordingly, to date, your statute remains good law.
For more information on using KeyCite, see the Westlaw User Guide for Checking Citations in KeyCite, and other tutorials available from the Westlaw Training Center.
Shepard's® is the citator in Lexis. Shepard's can be used to determine whether a statute remains good law.
When you pull up a statute in Lexis, there are indicators that appear next to the statutory citation to signal if there is negative treatment for the statute. A red circle with a question mark in it indicates that a statute has strong negative treatment and a yellow triangle is more of a cautionary warning. For more information about these and other signals, click on the "Legend" link in the Shepard's report for your statute.
In order to generate a Shepard's report, when you are in a statute, click on the box marked "Shepardize® document."
When you access the Shepard's Report, you will see a pull-down menu on the left with the heading "Analysis." This menu identifies if there are cases that negatively treat your statute.
For example:
The Analysis for this statute indicates that three cases have held the statute unconstitutional in part. To see these cases, select "Warning" or "Unconstitutional in part by" to get to a list of the cases, with links to each case.
Once you have identified cases that negatively treat your statute, as discussed above, you must read the cases to determine the extent to which your statute is controlling.
To see the pending legislation for your statute, select "Pending Legislation" from either the statute or the Shepard's report. Review the list of pending legislation to see if any have been passed or seem likely to pass. For such bills, click on the links provided to read the text of the bills to determine how they will/may effect your statute.
A legislative history of a statute is the sequence of steps or path taken to arrive at the final version of the law. The term is also used to refer to the documents reflecting that history. Sometimes it can be useful to try to ascertain what the legislature intended in enacting a bill or the purpose and meaning of specific legislative language.
For more information on conducting legislative history research, see the Law Library's guides for Federal Legislative History and for California Legislative History.
 |  |  |  |
© The Regents of the University of California. UCLA School of Law. All Rights Reserved.