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| US Code | |
|---|---|
| Name | United States Code |
| Subject | Codification of statutes |
| Jurisdiction | United States of America |
| Started | 1926 |
US Code is the official compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal statutes of the United States. It arranges enacted laws by subject into a systematic code and serves as an essential reference for practitioners, judges, scholars, and policymakers. The Code interfaces with legislative acts, executive orders, judicial decisions, and administrative materials to present organized statutory law.
The Code organizes federal statutes into numbered titles, each addressing topics such as taxation, intellectual property, health, and transportation. Key titles include Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code), Title 17 (copyright), Title 18 (criminal statutes), Title 11 (bankruptcy), and Title 10 (armed forces), which interact with landmark legislation like the Social Security Act, the Patriot Act, and the Affordable Care Act. The Code is used by actors in the United States Congress, the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Department of Justice, and academic centers such as the Harvard Law School and the Yale Law School.
Efforts to codify federal statutes trace to debates in the United States Congress post-American Civil War and into the Progressive Era. The first official edition appeared in 1926 under congressional authorization influenced by jurists and reformers connected to institutions like the Library of Congress and the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University. Subsequent editions and supplements responded to transformative laws prompted by events such as the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, shaping major enactments like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Social Security Amendments of 1965.
The Code is divided into titles, chapters, subchapters, sections, and subsections. Prominent structural arrangements include statutory notes and cross-references that link enactments to related materials such as the Internal Revenue Code provisions, regulations issued by agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, and authorizations connected to statutes like the National Environmental Policy Act. Ancillary materials—appendices, tables, and indices—assist users consulting decisions from the United States Court of Appeals and the United States District Court opinions.
A public law enacted by the United States Congress and signed by the President of the United States (or enacted over a veto) first appears as a slip law and is assigned a public law number. Those enactments, such as the Bipartisan Budget Act or appropriations statutes connected to the Department of Defense, are later arranged into the Code by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives. This process reconciles session laws like those compiled in the Statutes at Large with subject-matter organization used in the Code and often involves editorial decisions regarding repeals, amendments, and placement.
The Code reflects enacted statutes but is not itself the primary legal evidence of the law in some jurisdictions; original session laws in the Statutes at Large and the text of public laws retain primacy for certain interpretive purposes used by courts such as the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judicial opinions in cases like those from the D.C. Circuit and the Second Circuit often cite Code sections alongside legislative history and committee reports from Congressional committees including the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
Multiple institutions and publishers disseminate the Code: the Office of the Law Revision Counsel publishes an official online edition, commercial publishers such as West Publishing and LexisNexis supply annotated versions used by practitioners, and academic projects like the Legal Information Institute provide free access. Libraries such as the Library of Congress and law libraries at institutions like Columbia Law School and the Stanford Law School maintain print and digital holdings. Maintenance involves updates, supplements, and editorial rulings influenced by legislative enactments originating in sessions of the United States Congress.
Scholars, bar associations, and legislators have critiqued the Code for issues including delayed updates, organizational fragmentation, editorial decisions by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, and the difficulty of reconciling statutory text with legislative history. Reform proposals advanced by entities such as the American Bar Association, the Brennan Center for Justice, and academic commentators at Georgetown University Law Center include enhanced digital tooling, reorganization of titles, and integration with regulatory materials from agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Debate continues in forums involving the United States Congress, judicial actors, and public-interest groups.