What are Public Laws and Statutes?

When a bill has gone though all of the various stages outlined above and becomes a law, the final text is reissued and assigned a public law number that indicates the Congress which passed it and a unique identifying number. For example, P.L.96-28 represents the twenty-eighth law passed by the ninety-sixth Congress. The text of the final law is an important part of the legislative history.The public law number is the number of Congress plus the number that the law is chronologically, for example P.L. 107-156, the 156th law to be passed in the 107th Congress. Laws are issued in "slip" form, a single publication or pamphlet, containing one law. They are organized by Sudoc number in Documents Reference. Later they are compiled chronologically and printed in the Statutes at Large. The same text will be cited as 107 Stat. 252, meaning volume 107 of the Statues at Large, page 252. Later, the laws are organized by subject, or codified, under the United States Code.

Where can I find the text of laws (Public Laws and Statutes)?

• Statutes at Large, 1813 to date, Government Documents Reference Woodruff Level 1, AE 2.111: (also in microfiche, level 1)
• LexisNexis Congressional (Emory only)
  For 1988 (100th Congress) to date, search the full text of public laws by keyword, bill number, Public Law number, title and Statutes at Large number
  For 1789 to 1987, search the Statutes at Large. Please note that this only searches the name and synopsis of the law. The full text is then viewable in PDF.
• Thomas
  Text of laws since 1973 and accessible by law number. Bill Summary and Status can be used to identify law number by subject, sponsor and stage of legislative process
• United States Statutes at Large, Library of Congress, 1789-1875
  Full text of Public Laws passed in the first 43 Congresses. A comprehensive index of terms for the first eight volumes is available in fully searchable text. The remaining volumes have separate indexes. Browsable only.
• LexisNexis Congressional (Emory Only) - US Code has all laws in force organized by subject. It is updated monthly with laws passed during the previous month.
• United States Code - Cornell Law School
  This web page has the best interface. Has text of all laws in force as of January 1998, is searchable by popular title of law, title and section of U.S. Code, and keyword.
• United States Code Paper copy, Y 1.2/5:, Government Documents collection, Level 1. From 1933 to date plus supplements.