United States Code
The United States Code ( USC , formally known as the Code of Laws of the United States of America ) is the collection and codification of the general and permanent federal law of the United States .
structure
The code is divided into 54 titles, each dealing with a broad subject area. Titles can in turn be divided into subtitles, parts, sub-parts, chapters and sub-chapters. All titles have paragraphs as their basic unit; however, these can be divided into sub-paragraphs, sections and sentences. Not all titles use the same structure above the paragraph level. Thus the 26th title (the tax laws) uses the scheme “title - subtitle - chapter - subchapter - part - subpart - paragraph - subparagraph - section - subsection - sentence - subsection”. In the 38th title (services for war veterans), however, the scheme “Title - Part - Chapter - Subchapter - Paragraph” is used. In other words, the title is always the coarsest division within the code and the paragraph (with the exception of sub-paragraphs, sections, sentences) the smallest, but in the middle levels the structure differs from title to title.
Each title is roughly the same as a printed volume, although some titles also span multiple volumes. Likewise, there is no particular length associated with the other units. A paragraph can run over several pages or consist of just a short sentence. Some elements of certain titles are also known by their systematic name. For example, in American the term "Chapter 11" ( Chapter 11 ) has become commonplace for a type of bankruptcy .
An example of a reference in the Code is 5 USC Section 552a , the Privacy Act of 1974. A lawyer would read this as "Title Five, United States Code, Section Five Hundred and Fifty-Two A".
When paragraphs are repealed, their content is removed from the code and the passage is given a footnote that summarizes what was once there. Accordingly, there are areas in the code that only consist of empty chapters with footnotes. The 7th chapter in the 8th title (Immigration Law) is called "Exclusion of Chinese" and contains references to the Chinese Exclusion Act , which is no longer in force.
Codification procedure
The official text of a federal law is the text of the printed final bill as it is presented to the President for signature or rejection. After the law becomes final, it will be submitted to the United States Archivist and published in bulk by the United States Government Printing Office . The archivist annually collects the passed laws and publishes them in context in the United States Statutes at Large (about "Laws by and large"); a somewhat similar function in Germany is fulfilled by the references of the previous year of the Federal Law Gazette .
However, the Statutes at Large cannot be used adequately for legal research, as they are structured in strict chronological order. This means that laws within a subject area can be spread over several volumes. Since new laws often change or repeal old laws, it is then also necessary to refer back and forth between the volumes in order to understand which provisions are currently in force.
The United States Code is an attempt to make it easier to find relevant and valid laws by grouping them by subject and removing obsolete provisions. The code is constantly updated by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (LRC), an arm of the House of Representatives . The LRC determines which laws are codified and which old laws have to be removed or changed accordingly.
However, only laws of a general and permanent nature are codified. So the code does not contain laws that only apply to a few people or that are only relevant for a short period of time, such as all budget laws that only apply to one financial year . However, when these limited legal provisions are of greater concern, they are included as footnotes in the appropriate sections of the Code. Normally, the individual sections of a law are taken verbatim into the code, but editorial changes are sometimes possible (for example, the expression “the day of promulgation of this law” is replaced by the actual date of that day).
Due to the coding system, it is possible that a single draft law is coherent in the code or that it is broken. When Congress passes a large piece of legislation, the bill often contains provisions that affect many different subject areas. These provisions then fall into different sections of the Code accordingly. A law attributing financial support to ordinary farmers could affect the 7th (Agriculture), 26th (Taxes) and 43rd (Public Land) titles. This means that in the draft law, related passages in the code are distributed across the various volumes.
Under American federal law, the code is evidence at first glance of the law currently in force. However, the Statutes at Large have ultimate authority. Whenever a conflict arises, in which the courts have to determine the actual wording of the law, they will always revert to the legal text as passed by Congress.
The LRC continuously updates and revises the code and sometimes submits the newly codified version to Congress for renewed approval. The advantage here is that after such a resolution this part of the code supersedes all previous laws on the subject.
Issues and history
The first attempts to codify the federal laws were taken over by private publishers. The result was often a great help in the research. Since these publications were not official, they could only be used to a limited extent. On December 1, 1873, Congress undertook the first official codification of all laws in existence. The result was the Revised Statutes , which were adopted by Congress on June 22, 1874. A revised version was passed by Congress five years later. While the Revised Statutes were current at the time of publication, subsequent statutes were not incorporated later. With this, the codification had strayed far from the legal reality within a short time, so that the research in the Statutes at Large had to be carried out. In the 1920s, some members of Congress revived the idea of codification, leading to the creation of the United States Code in 1926.
The official version of the code will be published by the LRC as a series of printed volumes. The first edition still fit into a single volume. Today the code is spread over several long volumes. Although the official version is only reprinted from scratch every six years, the LRC updates the code with appendices and footnotes whenever a new law is promulgated. Both the LRC and GPO offer electronic versions of the code. Although this is about 18 months behind the legislative process, it is always the current official version.
Lawyers in the United States often use privately issued editions with lavish commentary rather than the officially distributed version. These versions contain statements after each paragraph, which summarize, for example, applicable court cases and important technical articles. Some of these statements also contain laws that are not codified by the LCR. These editions are constantly updated and usually represent the legal reality more quickly than the official versions.
Other relevant codifications
The Code usually only contains bills passed by Congress through the normal legislative process (although the footnotes sometimes include extracts from an Executive Order or other President's documents). The Code does not contain any private laws (laws made by Congress for individuals) or federal government ordinances. These are in chronological order in the register Federal published and once a year in the Code of Federal Regulations (German about Code of Federal guidelines summarized). This code is also an important source for federal law.
Interesting sections
The 26th title contains the tax laws and describes the work of the American Internal Revenue Service (tax office at the federal level). This title is one of the largest sections of the code as it sets the guidelines for several major federal benefits like Social Security and Medicare .
The 18th title deals with criminal offenses that are prosecuted under federal law.
Another well-known section in Title 10 is known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice and defines the legal system within the military.
Some of the different types of bankruptcy are contained in Title 11. These are usually only named after their number ("Chapter 7", "Chapter 11", "Chapter 13").
A now famous paragraph ( 42 USC §1983 ) is often used to enforce fundamental rights . It provides the basis for a wide range of actions for compliance with civil rights before federal courts (federal courts). It is the codification of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 . Many different types of court cases have relied on these paragraphs, including cases of disproportionate police violence to First Amendment lawsuits against schools to maintain the separation of church and state . The actual paragraph text is relatively short, but in some exceptions footnotes and comments can run over several volumes due to the large number of significant cases.
Title in the code
The following table provides an overview of all previous titles of the code and their content. (Status: July 2015)
| title | Surname | content |
|---|---|---|
| Title 1 | General Commissions | General provisions |
| Title 2 | The Congress | congress |
| Title 3 | The President | president |
| Title 4 | Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States | Flag , seal , seat of government , states |
| Title 5 | Government Organization and Employees | Federal government and public service |
| Title 6 | Surety bonds | Guarantees |
| Title 6 | Domestic security | Internal security |
| Title 7 | Agriculture | Agriculture |
| Title 8 | Aliens and Nationality | Foreigners and Citizenship |
| Title 9 | Arbitration | Arbitration |
| Title 10 | Armed Forces | military |
| Title 11 | Bankruptcy | Bankruptcy law |
| Title 12 | Banks and Banking | Banking |
| Title 13 | Census | United States Census |
| Title 14 | Coast Guard | Coast guard |
| Title 15 | Commerce and Trade | Commercial law |
| Title 16 | Conservation | natural reserve |
| Title 17 | Copyrights | copyright |
| Title 18 | Crimes and Criminal Procedure | Criminal law |
| Title 19 | Customs Duties | Customs law |
| Title 20 | Education | education |
| Title 21 | Food and Drugs | Food and medicine |
| Title 22 | Foreign Relations and Intercourse | Foreign policy |
| Title 23 | Highways | Highways |
| Title 24 | Hospitals and Asylums | Hospitals and psychiatric clinics |
| Title 25 | Indians | Indians |
| Title 26 | Internal Revenue Code | Internal Revenue Code |
| Title 27 | Intoxicating Liquors | Alcoholic drinks |
| Title 28 | Judiciary and Judicial Procedure | Judicial system |
| Title 29 | laboratory | Employment Law |
| Title 30 | Mineral Lands and Mining | Mining |
| Title 31 | Money and Finance | Money and finance |
| Title 32 | National Guard | National Guard |
| Title 33 | Navigation and Navigable Waters | Maritime law |
| Title 34 | Navy | marine |
| Title 35 | Patents | Patent law |
| Title 36 | Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies, and Organizations | patriotism |
| Title 37 | Pay and Allowances of the Uniform Services | Soldier pay |
| Title 38 | Veterans' Benefits | Veterans |
| Title 39 | Postal Service | post Office |
| Title 40 | Public Buildings, Property, and Works | Public buildings, land and facilities |
| Title 41 | Public contracts | Public procurement |
| Title 42 | The Public Health and Welfare | Public Health and Welfare |
| Title 43 | Public Lands | Public land |
| Title 44 | Public Printing and Documents | Public printing and publishing |
| Title 45 | Railroads | Railway law |
| Title 46 | Shipping | shipping |
| Title 47 | Telecommunications | telecommunications |
| Title 48 | Territories and Insular Possessions | Outskirts of the United States |
| Title 49 | Transportation | traffic |
| Title 50 | War and National Defense | War and national defense |
| Title 51 | National and Commercial Space Programs | National and commercial space travel |
| Title 52 | Voting and Elections | Electoral system |
| Title 53 | [reserved] | [reserved] |
| Title 54 | National Park Service and Related Programs | National Park Service |
| Legend: | |
|---|---|
| Title was amended by Congress as positive law adopted | |
| Title contains at least one appendix that has not yet been converted into positive law | |
| Title was canceled and the content integrated into other titles | |
| Track number reserved for future use | |
Web links
- The United States Code on the House of Representatives website
- Official Site of the code (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Title 1 of the USC ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 101 kB) in the official publication of the "Office of the Law Revision Counsel"
- ^ US Government Printing Office: United States Code. Retrieved June 25, 2015 .
- ^ Office of the Law Revision Counsel: United States Code. Retrieved June 25, 2015 .
