Detailed Guide to the Us Code content and features

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1. In General
The united states code contains the genral and permanent laws of the United
States, arranged in 54 broad titles according to subject matter. The code was
originally estab;lished in 1926. Since then 27 of the titles refereed to as positive
law have been restated and enancted into law by congress as titles of the
[Link] remaing titles refered to as non positive ;law titles are made up of
sections from many acts of congress that were either included in the original
code or subsequently added by the editors of the code(ie the office of the law of
revision councel, and its predescceors in the house of representatives). POSITIVE
LAW is identified by an ASTERISK.
Each title of the code is subdivided into a combination of smaller units
such as subtitles, chapters, sunchapters, parts, subparts, and sections not
necessarily in that order. Sections are oftensubdivided into a combination of
smaller units such as subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, clauses, and
sunclauses and items. In the case of Positive laws title, the units are determined
by congress in the laws that enact and later amend the title. In the case of a non
positive law title, the organization of the title since 1926 has been determined by
the editos of the code and has generally folled the organization of the underlying
acts as much as possible
In additions to the sections themselves, the code includedstatuory
provisions set out as statutory notes/, the constitution, several sets of federal
court rules. and certain presidential documents, such as executive orders,
determinations, notices, and proclamations, that implement or relate to statuory
provisions in the code. The code DOES Not include treaties, agency regulations,
state -or district of Columbia laws, or most acts that are temporary or special;l,
such as those that appropriate money for specific years or that apply to only a
limited number of people or a specific place.
The code also contains editorially created source credits, notes, and
tables that provide information about the source of code sections, their
arrangement, the references they contain and their history.
The law contained in the code is the product of over 200 years of
legislating. Drafting styles have chanmged over the years, and the resulting
differences in the laws are reflected in the [Link] code editorial styles
and polices have evolved over the 80 plus years since the code was first
adopted. As a result not all acts have been handled in a consistent manner in
the code over time. This guide explains the editorial styles and polices currently
used to produce the code, but the reader should be aware that some things
have been differently in the past. However despite the evolution of style over the
years the accuracy of the information presented in the code has always been
and will always remain a top priority.

2. Section Designation and Editing

 The Basic unit of every code title is the section, and the way in which
code sections are composed can differ depending on whether the section is in a
positive or non positive law title.
In positive law title all the sections have been enacted as sections of the
title and appear in the code in the same order with the same section numbers
and with the exact same text as in the enacting and amending acts. in other
words a positive law title is set out in the code just as enacted by Congress.
In a non positive law title the text of a code sections is based on the text
of a section of an act as enacted by Congress, but certain editorial changes are
made to integrate the section into the code.
3. Four common types of changes
A. Section Designation
The first types of changes involves changing the section number(known
as designation).Alsmost every provision of an act that is classified as a section of
the code is assigned a designation that differs from its act section number. For
example, section 401 of the Social Security Act (act of August 14, 1935, chapter 531) is classified to section 601
of title [Link] Code sections are based on an entire act section, but a few sections, such as section 2191b of
title 22 and section 3642 of title 16, are based on less than an entire act section, and a few of the oldest Code
sections, such as section 111 of title 16, are based on provisions from more than one act section. The source
credit for each non-positive law section tells the reader what section or other unit of an act the Code section is
based on, and, for some sections, a Codification note provides further information about the origin of the section.

B. Headings

The second type of change involves adding or modifying section and subsection headings. If a code section is
based on an act section that has headings, the code will usually retain the original headings. However in some
cases such a where there are no headings in the original act or where the section text is amended in such a way
as to make the act heading inaccurate, the code editors will provide or modify headings for the code section.

C. Bracketed citations
The third type of change involves inserting bracketed citations information in the
text following a cross [Link] example, in section 1440(c) of title 20, the bracketed citation “[42
U.S.C. 1396 et seq.]” was editorially inserted following a reference to title XIX of the Social Security Act. A reader
can assume that almost every citation in the Code that is enclosed in square brackets (“[…]”) was added by the
Code editors and was not in the original act. When statutory text contains a Code citation in parentheses,
however, that citation is almost always as it appeared in the underlying act.

[Link]. The fourth type of change involves changing the actual text of the original act and in
known as a “TRANSLATION”.Most translations involve changing a cross reference in an act into a reference to
the corresponding provision in the Code or changing a reference to the date of enactment of a certain provision
into that actual date. Using the example from above, what appears in act text as a reference to “section 401 of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601)” will be translated to “section 601 of title 42” when put into the Code.
Similarly, if a provision has a reference to a certain task required to be completed “no later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this act” and the act was enacted on October 28, 2009, that reference will be translated to
“no later than 1 year after October 28, 2009”. Other common translations include deletion of the words “United
States Code” following a reference to a positive law title and substitution of references such as “this chapter” for
“this Act”, “this subchapter” for “this title”, and the like, where appropriate. Often there will be References in Text
notes under a section that provide further editorial explanation of the cross references found in the section text.

[Link] Changes

In the past, it was the CODE STYLE to add words such as “of this subsection”, “of this section”, and “of this
chapter” following references to a paragraph, subsection, or subchapter. This practice was not only discontinued
several years ago, but there has also been ongoing work to delete these editorial additions throughout all non-
positive law titles. However, the words “of this title” continue to be editorially added in the course of translating
references to other sections in the same title.

Statutory notes contain features of both positive and non-positive law titles. As in positive law sections, the text of
statutory notes is quoted exactly as it appears in the original act, without translations. However, as in non-positive
law sections, brackets are inserted when needed to indicate editorial material, such as cross reference citations,
dates of enactment, or classification information in Short Title and Effective Date notes.

The translations and editorial changes made to sections of non-positive law titles are purely technical and do not
change the meaning of the law. No other changes are made to the text, except pursuant to a specific amendment
or global-type amendment, such as a change of name or transfer of functions that is explained in a note under
the section. Errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original act are not editorially corrected in the
Code. In both positive and non-positive law titles, if a statutory provision is enacted with misspelled words or
duplicate or missing punctuation, it is put into the Code exactly as it was enacted, with a footnote inserted as
needed to indicate the probable error. Minor inconsistencies in the format of the text, such as the font, spacing, or
margins appearing in the enacted law, are occasionally adjusted to match the style of the Code without comment.

5. Source Credits

Source credits (“credits”) appear after the text of a Code section and consist of citations to each act that enacted,
amended, or otherwise affected the [Link] very few exceptions, source credits refer to public laws or other
acts of [Link] citation for each enacting and amending act includes the public law or chapter number [2] ,
division, title, and section numbers (if any), the date of enactment, and the Statutes at Large volume and page
number. For example, section 1301 of title 25 is based on section 201 of title II of Public Law (“Pub. L.”) 90-284
which was enacted on April 11, 1968, and appears at page 77 of volume 82 of the Statutes at Large. The section
has also been amended by subsections (b) and (c) of section 8077 of Public Law 101-511. The credit for section
1301 reads:

(Pub. L. 90-284, title II, §201, Apr. 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 77; Pub. L. 101-511, title VIII, §8077(b), (c), Nov. 5,
1990, 104 Stat. 1892.)

A. Non-positive law titles