[LAW-LIB:57927] RE: Citing to USC

From: Chabot, Elliot (Elliot.Chabot@mail.house.gov)
Date: Thu Jan 29 2009 - 17:05:07 PST

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    Claire,

    Titles 1 through 35 of the 2006 edition of the U.S. Code have been
    published in book form. Titles 1 through 41 of the 2006 edition are
    available on the web site of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House
    of Representatives (the publisher of the U.S. Code) -
    http://uscode.house.gov/.

    All 50 titles of the U.S. Code are statutory and citable. The question
    of positive law vs. non-positive law comes into play when there is a
    conflict between the version in the U.S. Code and the version in the
    Statutes at Large. Substantive conflicts between the two versions are
    extremely rare.

    For more material on the U.S. Code, you might want to look at
    * http://uscode.house.gov/about/info.shtml
    * http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.bysec/publication.html#usc

    A fairly detailed (86 page) account of the production of the U.S. Code
    can be found in

                    Information Process Study Report: Production of the
    United States Code, House Information Systems, Committee on House
    Administration, U.S. House of Representatives, HIS doc. no. DN-1052,
    February 6, 1981

    Some of the specifics in that report have changed since 1981, but much
    of it is still valid. If anyone would like an electronic copy of the
    report, I would be happy to send you one.

                    Elliot
                    Elliot Chabot, esq.
                    Chief for Web Design and Standards Compliance
                    CAO Web Solutions Branch
                    U.S. House of Representatives
                    H2-646 Ford House Office Building
                    Washington, DC 20515-6165
                    (202) 226-6456

    -----Original Message-----
    From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
    Behalf Of Campbell, Claire
    Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 6:13 PM
    To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
    Subject: [LAW-LIB:57926] Citing to USC

    Can someone tell me how to accurately cite the year in a U.S, Code
    citation.

    I have several cites for which we are unsure of the date to be cited.
    Documentation on the GPO website states that only some of the Titles
    have been officially published in 2006 edition and should therefore
    bear that year as part of the citation
     for example - 11 USC 365e (2006)

    We are interested in:
    11 USC 365e
     11 USC 101
     11 USC 560
     11 USC 561 a(5)
      15 USC 77a
      15 USC 78c

    The Blue Book is rather vague on this and the GPO website does list
    that:
                    Of the 50 titles, only 23 have been enacted into
    positive (statutory) law. These titles are 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13,
    14, 17, 18, 23, 28, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, and 49. When
    a title of the Code was enacted into positive law, the text of the title
    became legal evidence of the law. Titles that have not been enacted into
    positive law are only prima facie evidence of the law. In that case, the
    Statutes at Large still govern.
    If this is still current and Title 15 is not included in this list,
    should we still site to the older 2000 version or to the Statute?

    I also have the 3rd edition of "ALWD Citation Manual", but it was
    published in 2006 and states that the 2000 edition is still current.

    Perhaps someone can refer me to a good source for a detailed explanation
    of how the code is updated and how to cite to it.

    The more I read the more confused I be!!!

    Claire Campbell
    Library Manager
    Patton Boggs LLP
    214-758-3533
    ccampbell@pattonboggs.com

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