United States Code Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The United States Code (U.S.C.) is the general and permanent federal Law of the United States.Once a Public Law is enacted, its operative provisions are usually incorporated into the U.S. Code. There are a few exceptions (in which case one must consult the Public Law directly), but they are rare.
The Code is divided into titles, which deal with broad subjects; chapters; and sections, which in turn may be divided into subsections. The word "title" in this context is roughly akin to "volume," although many of the larger titles and a few sections span multiple volumes.
A sample citation would be 5 U.S.C. § 552a, the Privacy Act of 1974. A lawyer would read that out loud as "Title 5, United States Code, Section 552a."
Title 26 of the U.S. Code is also known as the Internal Revenue Code.
The official version of the Code is maintained by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, practicing lawyers always use an annotated version from a private company. The two leading annotated versions are the United States Code Annotated, abbreviated as U.S.C.A., and the United States Code Service, abbreviated as U.S.C.S. The U.S.C.A. is published by Westlaw (part of Thomson), and the U.S.C.S. is published by LexisNexis (part of Reed Elsevier). See Wexis.
An annotated version contains annotations following each statute which summarize relevant court decisions, law review articles, and uncodified provisions that are part of the Public Laws. When an attorney is viewing an annotated code on an online service, all the citations in the annotations are hyperlinked to the referenced opinions and documents.
Sometimes Congress is either too congested or too lazy to write out all the details of how a new law shall be implemented. So it often grants broad powers to the executive branch to promulgate administrative regulations through a special rulemaking process set out in the Administrative Procedure Act.
The regulations are initially published in the Federal Register and compiled into the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). Once integrated into the C.F.R., they carry the force of law. Organization
Versions
Other Relevant Codifications
| Title 1 | General Provisions |
| Title 2 | The Congress |
| Title 3 | The President |
| Title 4 | Flag and Seal, Seat Of Government, and the States |
| Title 5 | Government Organization and Employees |
| Title 6 | Domestic Security |
| Title 7 | Agriculture |
| Title 8 | Aliens and Nationality |
| Title 9 | Arbitration |
| Title 10 | Armed Forces (including the Uniform Code of Military Justice) |
| Title 11 | Bankruptcy |
| Title 12 | Banks and Banking |
| Title 13 | Census |
| Title 14 | Coast Guard |
| Title 15 | Commerce and Trade |
| Title 16 | Conservation |
| Title 17 | Copyrights |
| Title 18 | Crimes and Criminal Procedure |
| Title 19 | Customs Duties |
| Title 20 | Education |
| Title 21 | Food and Drugs |
| Title 22 | Foreign Relations and Intercourse |
| Title 23 | Highways |
| Title 24 | Hospitals and Asylums |
| Title 25 | Indians |
| Title 26 | Internal Revenue Code |
| Title 27 | Intoxicating Liquors |
| Title 28 | Judiciary and Judicial Procedure |
| Title 29 | Labor |
| Title 30 | Mineral Lands and Mining |
| Title 31 | Money and Finance |
| Title 32 | National Guard |
| Title 33 | Navigation and Navigable Waters |
| Title 34 | Navy (repealed) |
| Title 35 | Patents |
| Title 36 | Patriotic Societies and Observances |
| Title 37 | Pay and Allowances Of the Uniformed Services |
| Title 38 | Veterans' Benefits |
| Title 39 | Postal Service |
| Title 40 | Public Buildings, Property, and Works |
| Title 41 | Public Contracts |
| Title 42 | The Public Health and Welfare |
| Title 43 | Public Lands |
| Title 44 | Public Printing and Documents |
| Title 45 | Railroads |
| Title 46 | Shipping |
| Title 47 | Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs |
| Title 48 | Territories and Insular Possessions |
| Title 49 | Transportation |
| Title 50 | War and National Defense |