List of United States federal legislation

This is a chronological, but still incomplete, list of United States federal legislation. Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 112 biennial terms, so that more than 20,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789.

At the federal level in the United States

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

, legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

(i.e., "statute

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

s" or "statutory law

Statutory law

Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a legislature or by a legislator .Statutes may originate with national, state legislatures or local municipalities...

") consists exclusively of Act

Act of Congress

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

s passed by the Congress of the United States and its predecessor, the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

, that were either signed into law by the President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

or passed by Congress after a presidential veto.

Legislation is not the only source of regulations with the force of law

Statutory law

Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a legislature or by a legislator .Statutes may originate with national, state legislatures or local municipalities...

. However, most executive branch regulations must originate in a congressional grant of power. See also: Executive orders of the President

President of the United States

; regulations of Executive branch departments

United States Federal Executive Departments

The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.Federal executive...

and administrative agencies; and the procedural rules

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...

of the federal courts

United States federal courts

The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...

Statutes at Large (Stat.)

Acts of Congress

Act of Congress

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

are published in the United States Statutes at Large
United States Statutes at Large
The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large and abbreviated Stat., are the official source for the laws and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress...

. Volumes 1 through 18, which have all the statutes passed from 1789 to 1875, are available on-line at the Library of Congress, here. In the list below, statutes are listed by X Stat. Y, where X is the volume of the Statutes at Large and Y is the page number, as well as either the chapter or Public Law number. See examples below.

Sessions (Sess.) and Chapters (ch.)

Each Congress has two to four sessions. Under the numbering system used from 1789 until 1957, the Acts in each session are numbered sequentially as Chapters. This numbering included both laws applicable to the general public and laws relating to specific individuals, e.g., to grant pensions to disabled veterans.

Public Laws

Since 1957, Acts of Congress related to the general public have been designated in the form: Public Law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...

X-Y where X is the number of the ordinal Congress and Y is the number of the chronological order of the public Act in that Congress. This numbering is continuous across sessions of Congress and does not include acts relating to individuals, which are analogously given Private Law X-Y designations. (From 1901 to 1957, the Statutes at Large listed both a chapter and a Public/Private number for each act) See examples below.

Examples

The Militia Act of 1862
Militia Act of 1862
The Militia Act of 1862, , enacted July 17, 1862, was legislation enacted by the 37th United States Congress during the American Civil War that allowed African-Americans to participate as war laborers and soldiers for the first time since the Militia Act of 1792.The act created controversy on...

of July 17, 1862, Sess. 2, ch. 201, was the 201st Act of the second session of the 37th Congress.
The National Banking Act
National Banking Act
The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal laws that established a system of national charters for banks, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged development of a national currency backed by bank holdings of U.S...

of February 25, 1863, Sess. 3, ch. 58, was the 58th Act of the third session of the 37th Congress.
The Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004
Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004
The Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 was enacted on October 16, 2004. It orders the U.S. State Department to monitor global antisemitism, reporting annually to the United States Congress.-External links:...

of October 16, 2004, , , was the 332nd Act of Congress (statute) passed in the 108th Congress. It can be found in volume 118 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1282.
The Help America Vote Act
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...

of October 29, 2002, , , was the 252nd Act of the 107th Congress. It can be found in volume 116 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1666.

Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...

April 23, 1784: Land Ordinance of 1784
May 21, 1785: Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States...
July 13, 1787: Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787...

("Northwest Ordinance")

1789 to 1901: 1st through 56th Congresses

1901 to 2001: 57th through 106th Congresses

2001 to present: 107th and subsequent Congresses

Sources

Acts listed by popular name, via Cornell University
Statutes at Large
- Volumes 1 through 18, 1789–1875, via Library of Congress
Public laws
- Current Congress only, via the U.S. Government Printing Office
- 104th Congress through current Congress, via the U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Code
- U.S. Code, via Cornell University
- U.S. Code, via the U.S. Government Printing Office
- U.S. Code, via FindLaw.com
Brian K. Landsberg (ed), Major Acts of Congress. MacMillan Reference Books (December 2003) ISBN 0-02-865749-7

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.