Finding Public Acts (6/09)
Many public acts passed by Congress are known by their popular names. Two examples are the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“1934 Act”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). In turn, a section of an act may be referred to by where it is codified in the United States Code or by the section number in the original act. Knowing how to determine the public law number of an act, where the act is codified in the United States Code or where a particular section of the act is codified is a tremendous benefit to researchers and practitioners.
To make this job easier, LexisNexis offers two separate sources: the USCS Popular Names Table and the USCS Statutes at Large Table. Both sources can be located by using the following path:
Federal Legal - U.S. > Find Statutes, Regulations, Administrative Materials & Court Rules > United States Code Service (USCS) Materials
These two sources help you perform separate functions, but their benefit is greatest when used together. The USCS Popular Names Table lists all federal public laws by their popular names. The listing also includes the public law number and/or the Statutes at Large citation. The public law number or the Statutes at Large citation can be used to either retrieve the public law via Get a Document, or to locate the law in the USCS Statutes at Large Table.
The USCS Statutes at Large Table lists public laws and where they are codified in the United States Code. The listing is by section of the public law, which makes it easy to determine where a particular section of a public law has been codified.
Run the following search in the USCS Popular Names Table to locate the 1934 Act: Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This search retrieves 2 documents. The first is a table of contents page which includes a link to the listing for the 1934 Act. The second is the listing itself. The listing shows the following information in the first line: June 6, 1934, ch 404, 48 Stat. 881. This indicates that the 1934 Act was passed on June 6, 1934 as Chapter 404, and is listed in volume 48 of the Statutes at Large at page 881.
To locate where section 4 of the 1934 Act is, run the following search in the USCS Statutes at Large Table: 48 stat 881. This search pulls up a table with four columns. The first lists the sections of the 1934 Act, the second lists where it appears in the Statutes at Large, the third lists where that section is codified in the United States Code and the fourth lists the current status of the section, if any. Scrolling down to section 4, you will see that section 4 is codified as 15 USCS § 78d.
Newer statutes like the ADA list a public law number as well as a Statute at Large citation. You can use the public law number in the USCS Statutes at Large Table to retrieve the same information we pulled for the 1934 Act. For the ADA, run the following search: 101-336.
This information can be used also to retrieve the public laws in their enacted versions. Use Get a Document and enter 48 stat 881 to retrieve the 1934 Act. For the ADA, use the following format: 101 pl 336.
For additional information on searching the USCS Popular Names Table or performing other legislative history searches visit the LexisNexis Support Center.
