The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of

Acts of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called private laws), or to the general public ( public laws). For a bill to become an act, the text must pass through both house ...

and

concurrent resolution A concurrent resolution is a resolution (a legislative measure) adopted by both houses of a bicameral legislature that lacks the force of law (is non-binding) and does not require the approval of the chief executive (president). Concurrent resolut ...

s passed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. Each act and resolution of Congress is originally published as a slip law, which is classified as either public law (abbreviated Pub.L.) or

private law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

(Pvt.L.), and designated and numbered accordingly. At the end of a Congressional session, the statutes enacted during that session are compiled into bound books, known as "session law" publications. The session law publication for U.S. Federal statutes is called the ''United States Statutes at Large''. In that publication, the public laws and private laws are numbered and organized in chronological order. U.S. Federal statutes are published in a three-part process, consisting of slip laws, session laws (''Statutes at Large''), and codification ('' United States Code'').

Codification

Large portions of public laws are enacted 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 a public law 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.See generally .

History

Publication of the ''United States Statutes at Large'' began in 1845 by the private firm of

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

under authority of a

joint resolution of Congress In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires passage by the Senate and the House of Representatives and is presented to the President for their approval or disapproval. Generally, there is no legal diffe ...

. During Little, Brown and Company's time as publisher, Richard Peters (Volumes 1–8),

George Minot George Richards Minot (December 2, 1885 – February 25, 1950) was an American medical researcher who shared the 1934 Nobel Prize with George Hoyt Whipple and William P. Murphy for their pioneering work on pernicious anemia. Early life George R ...

(Volumes 9–11), and George P. Sanger (Volumes 11–17) served as editors. In 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the ''Statutes at Large'' to the

Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...

under the direction of the Secretary of State. , 61 Stat. 633, was enacted July 30, 1947 and directed the Secretary of State to compile, edit, index, and publish the ''Statutes at Large''. , 64 Stat. 980, was enacted September 23, 1950 and directed the

Administrator of General Services The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gove ...

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 The Office of the Federal Register is an office of the United States government within the National Archives and Records Administration. The Office publishes the ''Federal Register'', ''Code of Federal Regulations'', ''Public Papers of the Presid ...

(OFR) of the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

(NARA). Until 1948, all

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

and

international agreement A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

s approved by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

were also published in the set, but these now appear in a publication titled

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

, abbreviated U.S.T. In addition, the ''Statutes at Large'' includes the text of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

, Articles of Confederation, the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Native American nations and foreign nations, and

presidential proclamation A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy and is a type of presidential directive. Details A presidential proclamation is an instrument that: *states a condition, *declares a law and require ...

s. Sometimes very large or long Acts of Congress are published as their own "appendix" volume of the ''Statutes at Large''. For example, the

Internal Revenue Code of 1954 Internal may refer to: * Internality as a concept in behavioural economics * Neijia, internal styles of Chinese martial arts * Neigong or "internal skills", a type of exercise in meditation associated with Daoism *'' Internal (album)'' by Safia, 20 ...

was published as volume 68A of the ''Statutes at Large'' ().

Notes

References

External links

Volumes 1 to 64 (1789–1951) of the ''Statutes at Large''
at the Library of Congress
Volume 65 ''et seq.'' (1951–2016) of the ''Statutes at Large''
at Govinfo (U.S. Government Publishing Office)

made available by the Library of Congress American Memory collections
Volumes 1 to 64 (1789–1951) of the ''Statutes at Large''
made available by th
Congressional Data Coalition
vi
LEGISWORKS.org
** Sortable by Bills Enacted into Laws, Concurrent Resolutions, Popular Names, Presidential Proclamations, or Public Laws.

from the

, 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.
United States Statutes and the United States Code: Historical Outlines, Notes, Lists, Tables, and Sources
from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC
Second Edition of the Revised Statutes of the United States (1878)
{{Authority control Statutes at Large *Statutes at Large Legal research

Codification

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links