Law: Finding U.S. Laws, Cases & Regulations

Law-Making Process

Photo of U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Ben's Guide to the Government : How Laws are Made
A clear guide to the process of how laws are made.
Congress.gov from the Library of Congress
Current legislative activity, from bill introduction until passage, with links to debates, sponsors, votes, etc. Includes a list of the "top ten" bills currently being viewed on Congress.gov.

Finding Federal Laws

For current U.S. law arranged by topic, use:

US Code Annotated (Westlaw)
US Code Service (Nexis Uni)
United States Code (U.S. Office of Law Revision Counsel).

Individual laws can be located in the Code by using the Popular Name Table.

Laws listed as passed, by session and number, are called "session laws."

The session laws of the United States Congress are published in the U.S. Statutes at Large.
Laws enacted between 1789 to 1875 can also be found in Library of Congress American Memory Collection.
For laws, bills, and other Congressional activity from 1973 to the present, see Congress.gov.

Finding New York Laws

For annotated New York State laws by topic, as amended, see:

West's McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated (Westlaw)
New York Code (unannotated, on the New York State website)

For NYC laws, see

New York City Constitution, Charter and Administrative Code
New York City Council local law website.

Other helpful NYC law sites:

Subject Guide

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