If you are familiar with how to find information about laws and regulations, you can skip this section.
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Laws are passed by Congress. They define overall objectives and appropriations. New laws are often amendments to previous laws and can be difficult to read. Some new laws, such as those entitled "omnibus," can cover several different subjects. |
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THOMAS indexes all laws since 1973 and provides the full text since 1993. |
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Congressional
Universe
indexes public laws since 1789 and provides the full text. It is only available to University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff from campus workstations, from home using the University's private Ann Arbor phone number, or through the remote server. |
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| The United States Code has the text of all laws in force, arranged into 50 titles or subjects. New laws are divided by subject and amendments are incorporated into existing laws. It is easier to read than individual new laws but difficult to search via computer due to the number of search results. |
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Congressional
Universe
has the full text of existing law-in-force and is updated on a monthly
basis. It is searchable by keyword and citation. To narrow a search in Congressional Universe, use the atleast command. Sample search: atleast5 (endangered species). Once you have identified a likely section of the law, do a truncated citation search to retrieve the entire law. Sample: 16 USC 153! Congressional Universe is only available to University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff from campus workstations, from home using the University's private Ann Arbor phone number, or through the remote server. |
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Another source of the United States Code
is available from Cornell
University Law School. It has the advantage that you can
link directly to
individual titles by including the title number in the URL.
For example, to
access the endangered species act (16 USC 1531) you would use
the URL
address: |
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The United States Code is also available in paper. Its call number is: KF 62.A2, and it is located in the Documents Center. |
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If laws define general objectives (such as the endangered species act), regulations are the executive branch rules intended to carry out the intent of the law (such as a list of endangered species). |
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The Code of Federal Regulations has the text of regulations currently in force, arranged in 50 titles. (Title 40 is on the environment.) The official government copy is revised annually in paper copy. |
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Congressional
Universe has
the
full text of existing regulations in force. The files are updated every
two weeks. They are searchable by keyword, agency, and law authorizing
them. It is only available to University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff from campus workstations, from home using the University's private Ann Arbor phone number, or through the remote server. |
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The National Archives version of the Code of Federal Regulations is searchable and revised annually. |
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The Federal Register is a daily publication
wth new
regulations and proposed regulations. It also explains the rationale for
each regulation and summarizes public comments. Its call number is: J83.A2, and it is located in the Documents Center. |
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Congressional Universe offers full text of the
Federal Register
since 1980. Indexes include keyword, agency, type of information (rule,
proposed rule, etc) and Code of Federal Regulations citation.
It is only available to University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff from campus workstations, from home using the University's private Ann Arbor phone number, or through the remote server. |
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The text of the Federal Register since 1994 appears in GPO Access. GPO stands for Government Printing Office. |
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Documents Center staff can help you with both laws and regulations. |
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Last updated: 22 July 2003 [an error occurred while processing this directive]