Research Guides: Advocacy (24 LITG 501): Federal Law Research: Statutory Finding Tools

Overview

There are several useful statutory finding tools that you can use when researching statutes. These tools can save you time and money. Some of them may be familiar to you such as indexes and table of contents. Others may be new to you such as the popular names table.

Statutory Indexes

Index Tips & Tricks

All print codes and some online codes will contain separate subject indexes. An index is a great finding tool. Topics are listed alphabetically and will refer you to the codified statutory sections pertaining to that topic.

Cross References
- If you see an index entry for a topic that gives you another term and then states generally this index; generally, post; or generally, ante; it is telling you to search for that other term in the index either in another part of the index, after the entry you are looking at (post) or before the entry you are looking at (ante).
et seq
- Latin for "and the following ones." In other words, multiple sections -- it is just giving you the first one.

Online Codes

Westlaw contains indexes for all of its statutes
HeinOnline contains an index for the United States Code
Lexis does not generally provide indexes for its state statutes but does for the United States Code Service

Parallel Reference Tables

Each code includes volumes that contain tables for parallel references. Locate the session law citation or public law number you are interested in on the table, and it will provide you with the title and section numbers where the statute has been codified.

Codes will also contain tables that relate older state codifications to the current code.

Finding a Statute by Popular Name

Popular Names

Sometimes a statute will have an official or popular name. If there is a well-known name for the law you are interested in, consult the "Popular Names Table" in one of the code versions. This will provide you with the public law number and the Statutes at Large citation for the original act, as well as providing references to where the act has been codified.

An example of a popular name is the "USA PATRIOT Act." The official name is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001." Quite a mouthful! Another example of an act with a name is the Americans with Disabilities Act. You can see in the image below that when you look at the Popular Name Table, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has been codified at 42 U.S.C. § 12101 and following.

Where to Find the Popular Names Table

Print

The "Popular Names Table" may be a separate volume or be a section within the last volume of the general index.

Online

Westlaw contains popular names tables for all of its statutes.
Bloomberg Law provides a popular names table for the United States Code
HeinOnline provides a popular names table for the United States Code
Lexis Advance does not provide a popular names table for any of its state statutes but it does for USCS.

Videos on Statutes

CALI Lesson on Finding Statutes

Available to Law Students only (see a reference librarian if you do not have a CALI activation code).

Finding Statutes (CALI Lesson) This exercise is intended to do 2 things: 1) teach you the basic approaches to finding statutes, and 2) provide you with review exercises to reinforce your understanding. It is assumed you are already familiar with the forms of statutory publication when you run this lesson. See the lessons "Introduction to State and Federal Statutes" or "Forms of Federal Statutory Publication" if you need to review these matters first. While this lesson is intended for first year students, the review sections may be used independently to ‘refresh your recollection,’ so if you haven’t had to deal with statute research for awhile and now have to do it, you can brush up your skills. It will take 45 minutes.