Statutes are bills that have been passed by legislative bodies and approved by the executive (except in the case of a veto override). Everyone in a particular jurisdiction is bound by its statutes (e.g. in New York State we are bound by both the laws passed by the New York State Legislature and the U.S. Congress.) The legislature may enact a statute that modifies or overturns a court ruling. On the other hand, courts interpret statutes, saying what statutes mean in particular contexts.
At the federal level, the government publishes the United States Code (USC). There is a lag time of about two years for this print publication. In other words, it takes about two years for an enacted law to appear in the USC. The United States Code Service (USCS) and the United States Code Annotated (USCA) are two privately published (unofficial) versions of the USC. Both are annotated, which means that each statute contains brief summaries of cases that interpret it. There is very little lag time between enactment and publication in these versions. (The USCA can be found on Westlaw and in print in the Reading Room. The USCS can be found on Lexis.)
States all have published statutes, which are organized by topic and referred to as “codes.” In New York, the state code is frequently referred to as “McKinney’s.” This is because its proper title is McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York. McKinney's can be found on Westlaw and in print in the Law Library Reading Room. Other state codes can be found online and the Law Library has the California and New Jersey state codes in print.
Print code volumes are updated annually by a “pocket part” placed in the back of the book as an update to the volume. Once the pocket part is too large for the slot (pocket) in the book, a separate supplementary pamphlet may be used until the publisher decides to revise and republish the main volume.
REMEMBER TO CHECK THE POCKET PARTS AND SUPPLEMENTS OF PRINT STATUTES!
If your issue is governed by statute, an annotated code (print or online) is your best friend for research. You will find annotated codes online (both state codes and federal annotated codes - USCA or USCS) - on Bloomberg, Lexis or Westlaw. Features of annotated codes that make them so fantastic are:
A constitution sets up the government and contains the system of fundamental principles by which a political body (state or nation) governs itself. This is the highest law of the land, which means that constitutional disputes often go to the highest court of a state or to the United States Supreme Court.
Each state constitution may be found in that state’s code. The United States Constitution may be found in the United States Code but, since it is so important, it is found in many other sources around the library.
