Public Laws and the U.S. Code USC

When a bill is enacted, the National Archives assigns it a public law number made of the Congress number and the order of enactment, so the 21st law of the 119th Congress is Public Law 119-21. It is first published as a slip law, a pamphlet containing just that act. At the end of each session the laws are compiled in chronological order in the United States Statutes at Large, the official record of every act Congress has passed since 1789. Private laws, which apply to named individuals, typically to resolve immigration or claims cases, are numbered and published separately and have become rare.

Because most laws amend earlier laws, reading the Statutes at Large to learn what the law currently says would be nearly impossible. The United States Code solves that problem by arranging the general and permanent laws by subject into 54 titles, from Title 1, General Provisions, through Title 18, Crimes, Title 26, the Internal Revenue Code, Title 42, Public Health and Welfare, to Title 54, the National Park Service. Each title is divided into chapters and sections, cited as, for example, 26 U.S.C. 501. The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House prepares the Code and updates it as new laws pass.

About half the titles have been enacted by Congress as positive law, meaning the Code text itself is the law. For the rest, the Code is official evidence of the law, and the Statutes at Large control in case of conflict. The Code is distinct from the Code of Federal Regulations, which compiles the rules agencies issue under authority Congress grants. Together the two, along with court decisions interpreting them, make up most of federal law.