This is a chronological, but still incomplete, list of United States federal legislation. Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789. At the federal level in the United States,

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

(i.e., "

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

s" or " statutory law") consists exclusively of Acts passed by the Congress of the United States and its predecessor, the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

, that were either signed into law by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

or passed by Congress after a presidential veto. Legislation is not the only source of regulations with the force of law. However, most

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ...

and

judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

regulations must originate in a congressional grant of power. ''See also'': Executive orders issued by the President; ''

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...

'' for rules issued by executive branch departments and administrative agencies; and the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enablin ...

of the federal courts.

Publication of the law

Statutes at Large (Stat.)

Acts of Congress are published in the United States Statutes at Large. Volumes 1 through 18, which have all the statutes passed from 1789 to 1875, are available on-line at the Library of Congress
here
In the list below, statutes are listed by ''X Stat. Y'', where X is the volume of the Statutes at Large and Y is the page number, as well as either the chapter or Public Law number. ''See examples below.''

Sessions (Sess.) and Chapters (ch.)

Each Congress has two to four sessions. Under the numbering system used from 1789 until 1957, the Acts in each session are numbered sequentially as Chapters. This numbering included both laws applicable to the general public and laws relating to specific individuals, e.g., to grant

pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

to disabled veterans.See, e.g., Act of Aug. 11, 1790, ch. 44,

Examples

* The Militia Act of 1862 of July 17, 1862, Sess. 2, ch. 201, was the 201st Act of the second session of the 37th Congress. * The National Banking Act of February 25, 1863, Sess. 3, ch. 58, was the 58th Act of the third session of the 37th Congress. * The Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 of October 16, 2004, , , was the 332nd Act of Congress (statute) passed in the 108th Congress. It can be found in volume 118 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1282. * The Help America Vote Act of October 29, 2002, , , was the 252nd Act of the 107th Congress. It can be found in volume 116 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1666.

Congress of the Confederation

* September 22, 1783: Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 * April 23, 1784: Land Ordinance of 1784 * May 21, 1785: Land Ordinance of 1785 * July 13, 1787: Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government ("Northwest Ordinance")

United States Congress

1789 to 1901: 1st through 56th Congresses

1901 to 2001: 57th through 106th Congresses

2001 to present: 107th and subsequent Congresses

** Defense: United States Department of Defense#Related legislation ** Drugs: Office of National Drug Control Policy#Legislation and executive orders ** Energy: United States Department of Energy#Related legislation and Energy law#Federal laws **Environment: United States Environmental Protection Agency#Related legislation ** Health and Human Services: United States Department of Health and Human Services#Related legislation ** Judiciary: Judiciary Act (disambiguation) ** Labor: United States Department of Labor#Related legislation ** Slavery:

Slave Trade Act Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade. The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the c ...

s ** Social Security: List of Social Security legislation (United States) ** Taxation: List of tariffs, :Template:US tax acts, and :United States federal taxation legislation ** Transportation: United States Department of Transportation#Related legislation ** Veterans Affairs: United States Department of Veterans Affairs#Related legislation ** Water Resources, Navigation, Environmental Regulation: United States Army Corps of Engineers#Public Laws affecting the Corps of Engineers (partial)

Sources

Acts listed by popular name
via Cornell University * Statutes at Large *

via Library of Congress *
Volumes 19 through 64, 1875-1950
via Library of Congress *
Volumes 65 through 127, 1951-2013
via Government Publishing Office * Public laws *
93rd Congress through current Congress
via Congress.gov * U.S. Code *
U.S. Code
via Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives *
U.S. Code
via Cornell University *
U.S. Code
via the U.S. Government Publishing Office *

via FindLaw.com *Brian K. Landsberg (ed), ''Major Acts of Congress''. MacMillan Reference Books (December 2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States federal legislation

Legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

Federal

Federal legislation