LibGuides: Free Internet Legal Research: Federal Statutes

U.S. Code

Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives prepares and publishes the official version of U.S. Code.

Includes: Popular Name Table; Classification Tables; basic Cite Checker that provides information about public law provisions that have been classified to the section or a note under the section but are not yet reflected in the Code.

The U.S. Code is available in many places for free online. The official print version of the U.S. Code is published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives, but the code is available online for free in many locations.

GovInfo This link opens in a new window
Free access to publications of the U.S. government, including Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Record, Public and Private Laws, the official U.S. Code, and U.S. court opinions.

USC via Legal Information Institute at Cornell (LII)
LII, publisher of the free legal encyclopedia and dictionary Wex, also provides the full text of the U.S. Code.

Suitable for searching or browsing. Includes Popular Names Table and Parallel Table of Authorities.

Updating Statutes

Don't forget to verify that the statute you are using is the current version of the law. The government issues the following disclaimer regarding the version of the U.S. Code on FDSys:

While every effort has been made to ensure that the U.S. Code on FDsys is accurate, those using it for legal research should verify their results against the printed version of the U.S. Code available through the Government Printing Office.

Another alternative is to use a citator such as Shepard's on Lexis or KeyCite on Westlaw to verify that you have the current version of the statute and that it is still good law.