How to find a statute and confirm it is current

To find a statute, go to the officially maintained code for the jurisdiction, locate the section by number or by searching the subject, and read it there rather than in a copy. To confirm it is current, check the code's stated currency date, read the section's amendment history and notes, and look for any session law enacted after that date that amends or repeals it.

The rest of this guide covers the sources, the traps, and the difference between a statute and the regulations underneath it.

Federal statutes: the US Code and the Statutes at Large

Congress enacts laws one at a time. Each is published as a slip law with a Public Law number (for example, Pub. L. 117-263) and then collected chronologically, as enacted, in the Statutes at Large. The Statutes at Large is the authoritative record of what Congress passed, but it is nearly useless for finding the current rule on a subject, because a single law may amend dozens of existing provisions across the code.

The United States Code solves that. The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives takes the general and permanent provisions of the Statutes at Large and arranges them by subject into titles and sections. When Congress amends a law, the Code section is updated to show the text as amended. The Code is what you cite.

One nuance matters for citation. About half the titles of the US Code have been enacted into positive law, meaning Congress passed the title itself as a statute and the Code text is the law. The rest are prima facie evidence of the law, and the Statutes at Large controls if there is a conflict. In practice the texts match and you cite the Code either way, but if a case turns on the precise wording of a non-positive-law section, check the underlying public law.

Where to read it

• uscode.house.gov is the Office of the Law Revision Counsel's site. Every section shows the text, the source credit (which public laws created and amended it), editorial notes, and a currency statement saying which public law the Code reflects as of that view. This is the working source for "is this current".
• govinfo.gov publishes the official annual edition of the Code and the Statutes at Large, as authenticated PDFs. Use it when you need the official version to cite or file.
• Cornell's Legal Information Institute publishes the Code in a readable format with cross-references.
• The Frix Law Library statutes scope holds the US Code with each section's history and marks repealed and superseded sections.

Reading the section

A US Code section on uscode.house.gov has, below the text:

• Source. The public law and section that enacted it and each amendment since. Read this to see when the section was last changed.
• Amendments. A year-by-year description of what each amendment did, often with the old and new language.
• Effective date notes. When an amendment took effect, which is not always the enactment date. Some provisions have delayed effective dates, apply only to conduct after a certain date, or sunset.
• Repeal and transfer notes. If a section has been repealed, renumbered or transferred, the Code says so and points to the new location.

If the section you need has been repealed, the Code usually keeps a placeholder saying so and citing the repealing law. If a section is marked "omitted", the provision was temporary or superseded and no longer appears.

Confirming a federal statute is current

1. Read the currency statement on uscode.house.gov. It tells you the latest public law the text reflects.
2. Read the Source and Amendments notes for the section. Note the most recent amendment and its effective date.
3. Check the Classification Tables on the same site, which list recent public laws and the Code sections they affect, for anything enacted after the currency date.
4. If your matter turns on the text as of a particular past date, use the prior-edition archive on govinfo or the amendment notes to reconstruct it. The rule that applies is usually the one in force when the relevant conduct occurred, not the one in force today.
5. Search for pending legislation only if it is likely to be enacted before your issue is decided.

For a statute cited in a case you are relying on, do this even if the case is recent. A case interpreting a statute that has since been amended may be good law on the old text and irrelevant to the new.

State statutes

Every state has a code, usually maintained by the legislature or a legislative service agency and published on the legislature's website. The structure varies: titles, chapters, articles and sections in some states, numbered codes by subject in others (California has separate codes for Civil, Penal, Evidence and so on; Texas and New York similarly). Many states also have an official annotated code published commercially.

The process is the same as for federal law, with more variation:

• Find the official online code. The legislature's website is the authority. Unofficial copies, including those on commercial platforms and free sites, can lag.
• Check the currency statement. Most state sites say which legislative session the code reflects. Some update continuously; some update once a year after the session ends.
• Read the history note. State sections usually list the session laws that enacted and amended them, in a form like "Acts 2023, ch. 45, § 2".
• Check the effective date. States have default effective dates for legislation (a set number of days after the session ends, or a fixed date like the start of the fiscal year) and many laws specify their own. A section that appears in the code may not be in force yet, and a repealed section may still apply to conduct before the repeal took effect.
• Check recent session laws. If the code's currency date is before the most recent session ended, look at the session laws or the legislature's bill tracker for anything affecting your section.

State constitutions and court rules follow the same logic and are usually on the same sites, or on the state court's website for rules.

Regulations are not statutes

A statute is enacted by the legislature. A regulation is issued by an agency under authority the legislature delegated. Both bind, but they live in different places and are checked differently.

Federal regulations are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, published annually in official form on govinfo and updated daily in editorial form at the eCFR. New rules and amendments are published first in the Federal Register. To check a federal regulation is current:

1. Read the section in the eCFR, which shows the text as of the date stated at the top and provides a point-in-time view for past dates.
2. Read the section's history and any "editorial note" for pending amendments.
3. For a matter turning on a specific date, use the point-in-time view or the annual edition on govinfo.

Since the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo in June 2024, which overruled Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, courts no longer defer to an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute. A regulation that is current on the books may still be challengeable if it rests on an interpretation a court would not adopt. That is a research question about the case law, not about the currency of the regulation, but it is worth keeping in mind when a regulation is doing the work in your argument.

State regulations are published in each state's administrative code, with varying quality and currency. The state's administrative register is where new rules appear first.

Common traps

• Reading a copy instead of the source. Statutory text on a blog, in a brief, or in an older case may be out of date. Always go to the code.
• Confusing enactment date with effective date. They differ often enough to matter.
• Missing a renumbering. Statutes get recodified. A section number in a 2005 case may point to a different provision today, and the Code's transfer notes are how you follow it.
• Assuming the regulation matches the statute. Agencies are slow to update regulations after a statute changes. The statute controls.
• Citing the annual edition as current. The annual US Code and CFR editions on govinfo are official but can be a year or more behind. Use them for the official text and the continuously updated sites for currency.

How to do this in Frix

The statutes scope of the Frix Law Library holds about 2.9 million sections: the US Code, the CFR, state statutes and constitutions for all 50 states, court rules and agency guidance, updated daily from govinfo, the eCFR and official state sites. Each section shows its text and history, and sections that have been repealed or superseded are marked as such, so a stale citation in a case or a brief is visible when you open it.

Ask Donna at /ask: "Is 42 U.S.C. § 1983 still in effect and when was it last amended?" She searches the library and answers with numbered citations that open the section. Three questions are free without an account.

State administrative codes are partial as of this writing, currently 16 states, so for the other states' regulations use the state's own site. The library is not the official publication, so cite the official source where a court requires it, and nothing on the site is legal advice.

For the case law side of the same check, see how to check whether a case is still good law, and for the other free sources, our roundup of free legal research tools.