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 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789.

At the federal level in the United States, legislation (i.e., "statutes" or "statutory law") consists exclusively of Acts passed by the Congress of the United States and its predecessor, the Continental Congress, that were either signed into law by the President or passed by Congress after a presidential veto.

Legislation is not the only source of regulations with the force of law. However, most executive branch and judicial branch[citation needed] regulations must originate in a congressional grant of power. See also: Executive orders issued by the President; Code of Federal Regulations for rules issued by executive branch departments and administrative agencies; and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of the federal courts.

Publication of the law edit

Statutes at Large (Stat.) edit

Acts of Congress are published in the United States Statutes at Large. 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.) edit

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.[1]

Examples edit

  • The Militia Act of 1862 of July 17, 1862, Sess. 2, ch. 201, was the 201st Act of the second session of the 37th Congress.
  • The National Banking Act 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 of October 16, 2004, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 108–332 (text) (PDF), 118 Stat. 1282, 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 of October 29, 2002, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–252 (text) (PDF), 116 Stat. 1666, 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 edit

United States Congress edit

1789 to 1901: 1st through 56th Congresses edit

1901 to 2001: 57th through 106th Congresses edit

Start date End date List of enacted legislation Public laws Private laws
1935-01-03 1937-01-03 List of acts of the 74th United States Congress 849 730
1937-01-03 1939-01-03 List of acts of the 75th United States Congress 788 835
1939-01-03 1941-01-03 List of acts of the 76th United States Congress 894 651
1941-01-03 1943-01-03 List of acts of the 77th United States Congress 850 635
1943-01-03 1945-01-03 List of acts of the 78th United States Congress 568 589
1945-01-03 1947-01-03 List of acts of the 79th United States Congress 734 892
1947-01-03 1949-01-03 List of acts of the 80th United States Congress 906 457
1949-01-03 1951-01-03 List of acts of the 81st United States Congress 921 1103
1951-01-03 1953-01-03 List of acts of the 82nd United States Congress 594 1023
1953-01-03 1955-01-03 List of acts of the 83rd United States Congress 781 1002
1955-01-03 1957-01-03 List of acts of the 84th United States Congress 1028 893
1957-01-03 1959-01-03 List of acts of the 85th United States Congress 936 784
1959-01-03 1961-01-03 List of acts of the 86th United States Congress 800 492
1961-01-03 1963-01-03 List of acts of the 87th United States Congress 885 684
1963-01-03 1965-01-03 List of acts of the 88th United States Congress 666 360
1965-01-03 1967-01-03 List of acts of the 89th United States Congress 810 473
1967-01-03 1969-01-03 List of acts of the 90th United States Congress 640 362
1969-01-03 1971-01-03 List of acts of the 91st United States Congress 695 246
1971-01-03 1973-01-03 List of acts of the 92nd United States Congress 607 161
1973-01-03 1975-01-03 List of acts of the 93rd United States Congress 649 123
1975-01-03 1977-01-03 List of acts of the 94th United States Congress 588 141
1977-01-03 1979-01-03 List of acts of the 95th United States Congress 633 170
1979-01-03 1981-01-03 List of acts of the 96th United States Congress 613 123
1981-01-03 1983-01-03 List of acts of the 97th United States Congress 473 56
1983-01-03 1985-01-03 List of acts of the 98th United States Congress 623 54
1985-01-03 1987-01-03 List of acts of the 99th United States Congress 664 24
1987-01-03 1989-01-03 List of acts of the 100th United States Congress 713 48
1989-01-03 1991-01-03 List of acts of the 101st United States Congress 650 16
1991-01-03 1993-01-03 List of acts of the 102nd United States Congress 590 20
1993-01-03 1995-01-03 List of acts of the 103rd United States Congress 465 8
1995-01-03 1997-01-03 List of acts of the 104th United States Congress 333 4
1997-01-03 1999-01-03 List of acts of the 105th United States Congress 394 10
1999-01-03 2001-01-03 List of acts of the 106th United States Congress 580 24

2001 to present: 107th and subsequent Congresses edit

Start date End date List of enacted legislation Public laws Private laws
2001-01-03 2003-01-03 List of acts of the 107th United States Congress 377 6
2003-01-03 2005-01-03 List of acts of the 108th United States Congress 498 6
2005-01-03 2007-01-03 List of acts of the 109th United States Congress 482 1
2007-01-03 2009-01-03 List of acts of the 110th United States Congress 460 0
2009-01-03 2011-01-03 List of acts of the 111th United States Congress 383 2
2011-01-03 2013-01-03 List of acts of the 112th United States Congress 283 1
2013-01-03 2015-01-03 List of acts of the 113th United States Congress 296 0
2015-01-03 2017-01-03 List of acts of the 114th United States Congress 329 0
2017-01-03 2019-01-03 List of acts of the 115th United States Congress 442 1
2019-01-03 2021-01-03 List of acts of the 116th United States Congress 344 0
2021-01-03 2023-01-03 List of acts of the 117th United States Congress 362 3
2023-01-03 - List of acts of the 118th United States Congress 34 0

See also edit

Sources edit

  • Acts listed by popular name, via Cornell University
  • Statutes at Large
  • Public laws
  • U.S. Code
    • U.S. Code, via Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives
    • U.S. Code, via Cornell University
    • U.S. Code, via the U.S. Government Publishing 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

References edit

  1. ^ See, e.g., Act of Aug. 11, 1790, ch. 44, 6 Stat. 3