Session Books

OFC80: Professor Diana Yohe,
Email Address dyohe@bristol.mass.edu,
Campus Extension 2404 or 2123

Federal

Massachusetts

United States Statutes at Large
Ref. KF 50 U5
(Web site contains statutes from 93^rd Congress, 1973 – present)

Official source, not annotated. Individual federal statutes are first published on a single sheet or in pamphlet form, called slip laws. These slip laws, both public and private, are then put into the bound volumes of the U.S. Statutes at Large. This occurs after each session of Congress, and the slip laws are now called session laws. To locate a particular statute, you must know the year or session of Congress in which it was enacted. The laws enacted in that year are published in numerical order, P.L.#1; P.L.#2 and so on. Each annual volume contains an index. The LRC has this series from the 89^th Congress, 1^st session, 1979 to the most current volume in print.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
Ref. KF 48 W3

Unofficial source, annotated. This publication also contains the federal statutes and follows the same organization as the U.S. Statutes at Large. However, it also includes other materials such as new court rules, presidential documents, selected administrative regulations, and selected congressional committee reports. This publication does not include private laws.

Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts
Ref. JK 495 M36
(Web site has session laws 1997 – present)

Official source, not annotated. Session laws are called “Acts and Resolves” in Massachusetts and are passed by their state legislature – the Massachusetts General Court. They are also arranged chronologically by their public law number. Each volume has an index. The LRC has only 5 volumes (1989-1993).

Massachusetts Legislative Service
Ref. KFM 2430 A42 (yr.) (no.)

Unofficial source. This publication supplements the Massachusetts General Laws Annotated and provides users with “fast access to newly enacted laws of the Commonwealth during each session of the General Court.” Published irregularly (usually four or five pamphlets per year) and cumulated in the publication Massachusetts Session Laws.

Massachusetts Session
Laws
Ref. KFM 2425 M37
(Web site has session laws 1997 – present)

Unofficial source. Similar to the United States Statutes at Large but only on a state level, the Massachusetts Session Laws contain the laws enacted at each sitting of its legislature, with an index for each volume or session. The LRC has volumes from 1997 to the present.