10 Finding and Using Enacted Law (Statutes and Ordinances)
Learning Goals:
After reading this chapter, you will be able to
- Use several methods to find statutes (federal and state) and municipal ordinances relevant to your issue(s).
- Navigate the sections of a statute or ordinance.
- Use statutes to find other relevant sources.
What are Statutes?
Statutes are codified laws. When a statute is codified, it is placed into a code that is organized by topic. For example, 42 U.S.C. §1983 is a federal statute allowing a civil action for deprivation of rights. That means the statute is section 1983 of Title 42. All the statutes in Title 42 address public health and welfare.
You will often start your search for primary legal sources with statutes because they address so many legal issues. Any case law on that legal issue will interpret or apply the relevant statute, so it makes sense to start with the statutory sections. Also, you can use the statute to find other legal sources such as case law and administrative rules.
Methods of Finding Statutes
You can use several methods to find both state and federal statutes:
- Use a citation to a statute from a secondary source.
- Use an index to a state or federal code.
- Use a table of contents for a state or federal code.
- Use a popular name table, if available.
Most researchers use online sources, so the following discussion focuses on various online platforms. However, you can still find print statutory codes in some state, county, and academic law libraries. Print codes have index volumes that are located on the shelf at the end of the volume series.
State Statutes
Most states publish their codes on a government website. For example, in Oregon, you can find the Oregon Revised Statutes on the Oregon Legislature’s website. From the home page of that website, you choose the Bills and Laws tab, then select the latest version of the Oregon Revised Statutes.
Once you have located the statutory code, if you have a citation from a colleague or from a secondary source, you can use that citation to find the relevant section. If you do not have a citation, you can
- browse an index, if available;
- look at the table of contents;
- or search using key terms.
Use the Index
Not all freely available government websites publish an index to their statutory code, but many do. For example, the Oregon Revised Statutes on the Oregon Legislature’s website provides an index.pdf to the statutes. To use the index, think about the search terms you generated at the beginning of your research process and navigate through the index to check for those terms. The index often will refer you to another similar word or issue. The index term will refer you to a statute section or sections.
Use the Table of Contents
A table of contents is a list of titles, sections, or parts of the code. It usually appears at the beginning of the code. Browsing a table of contents may lead you to a part of the statutory code that is relevant to your legal issue, then you can look at the individual statutory sections more carefully to see if they apply to your problem.
Search with Key Terms
Most government websites will have a search box where you can enter key terms. Often this method is quicker than scanning a Table of Contents. However, you will need to sift through several results to decide which are applicable to your legal issue.
Other Places to Find State Statutes
In addition to state government websites, you can find statutes on Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg. Westlaw provides indexes to state statutory codes. Lexis, in contrast, provides indexes for only some of the state codes. Bloomberg provides access to state codes, but not to indexes.
Practice Example:
In this example, you will practice using an index and a key word search to find Oregon statutes on brewery licensing issues on the Oregon Legislature’s website.
The following video will demonstrate using an index and key word search on the Oregon Legislature’s website.
Federal statutes
Federal statutes are codified in the United States Code (U.S.C.). You can find the official version of the United States Code on the Government Printing Office website. Also, the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School publishes the United States Code. On Westlaw, you will find the United States Code Annotated (USCA); on Lexis, the United States Code Service (USCS); and on Bloomberg, the United States Code.
Once you have located the United States Code, if you have a citation from a colleague or from a secondary source, you can use that citation to find the relevant section. If you do not have a citation, you can
- browse an index, if available;
- look at the table of contents;
- use a popular name table;
- or search using key terms.
Use the Table of Contents
You can browse a Table of Contents to the U.S.C. on the GPO website, the LII website, and on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg.
Use the Index
Westlaw and Lexis both provide an index; however, on Lexis, the index is more challenging to find. On Lexis, you need to type “USCS index” into the “search sources” box. Bloomberg does not have an index to the United States Code.
Use the Popular Name Table
A Popular Name Table allows you to search for a federal law when you do not have a citation, but have a popular name for the law, such as the Affordable Care Act. Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg provide access to a Popular Name Table. LII has a Table of Popular Names that is located under the heading “Original Content” on the website.
Search by Key Term
The Government Printing Office website allows you to term-search in the titles. Of course, Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg allow sophisticated searching with your key terms.
Using Statutes Effectively
Once you find a relevant statute, the work is not over. To use statutes effectively in your research you need to complete the following steps:
- Read and analyze the statutory language carefully;
- Look at surrounding sections; and
- Use the statutory annotations to find case law and other resources.
Read and Analyze the Statutory Language
First, you need to read the statute carefully and analyze the language and how it applies to your problem. Take note of words in statutes that might have more than one meaning. Also, identify whether the statute lists elements of a cause of action or mentions factors to be considered in determining if a claim exists. Elements are a list of things that are required to prove a claim or constitute a crime. In contrast, factors are examples of things that may be considered in determining whether a plaintiff has stated a claim.
Look at Surrounding Sections
Often, other sections surrounding the relevant statutory section you found will help clarify words, provide context, or identify other legal principles that affect your problem. For example, a definitions section of a statute may help guide your interpretation and application of certain words. Other sections might identify an administrative agency that issues rules applicable to your problem or specify damages or penalties.
Use Statutory Annotations to Find Case Law Interpreting the Statute
What are annotations?
Annotations are short summaries of cases (and sometimes other sources) interpreting and applying the statute. They provide an efficient entry point to case law research.
Where do you find annotations?
Some states provide annotations to statutory codes on freely available government websites. For example, the Oregon Legislature’s website provides annotations to the Oregon Revised Statutes.
Both Westlaw and Lexis provide annotations for state and federal statutes. For example, on Westlaw, you can browse and search Notes of Decisions, which are synopses of cases selected by Westlaw editors as examples of cases that apply and interpret the statute. Similarly, Lexis provides Notes to Decisions.
The Notes of Decisions (Westlaw) and Notes to Decisions (Lexis) are driven by citator services. Citators are important tools for two main purposes: (1) to make sure that your source is still good law; and (2) to expand your research to ensure you have found all relevant sources. On Westlaw, the citator service KeyCite allows you to see Notes of Decisions, Citing References, History, and Context and Analysis. Lexis, with citator Shepards, provides Citing Decisions, History, and Other Citing Sources.
Difference between Notes of Decisions and Citing References:
On Westlaw, Notes of Decisions are case synopses that are collected by Westlaw editors as examples of cases applying and interpreting the statute. Consequently, the Notes of Decisions are not all the cases that cite the statute. In contrast, Citing References is a machine algorithm that collects all the cases (and other sources) that cite the statute.
Difference between Notes to Decisions and Citing Decisions:
On Lexis, Notes to Decisions are cases synopses that are collected by Lexis editors as examples of cases applying and interpreting the statute. Consequently the Notes to Decisions are not all the cases that cite the statute. In contrast, Citing Decisions is a machine algorithm that collects all the cases that cite the statute. Other Citing Sources collects all other sources that cite to the statute.
Annotated Codes in Print
Many state, county, and academic libraries have annotated state and federal codes in print. For example, the West Oregon Revised Statutes Annotated is an annotated print code in Oregon. Federal annotated print codes are the United States Code Annotated and the United States Code Service.
Local Law (Ordinances)
What is local law?
When you are researching local law, you likely will be doing one of the following tasks:
- Researching the power grants from the constitution or statute to a particular city or county;
- Determining what law controls in relation to the law of the state, county, city, or other government unit;
- Identifying a particular city or county law; or
- Uncovering court decisions about any of the above issues.
Local law is the law of cities, counties, school districts, and special service districts such as water, fire, and hospitals. Another term used for city and county law is municipal law. When you are looking for municipal or local law, you will mainly be concerned with county and city laws called ordinances.
Counties are the largest territorial division for local government within states. They provide a range of public services such as public health, criminal prosecution, airports, parks, libraries, land use planning, refuse disposal, elections, air pollution control, economic development, public housing, animal control, among others.
City governments are formed by state constitutions and statutes, and their powers are expressed through charters and ordinances. They usually provide fire and police protection, street maintenance, building permits, parks and recreation, land use planning, and other social services.
What is Home Rule?
Home rule is granted by state constitution or statute and allocates some power to cities and counties to govern themselves, subject to state and federal constitutions. Home rule is expressed in a charter. Not all states are home rule states. For states that do not follow the home rule doctrine, they are under Dillon’s Rule, which provides that municipalities have only the powers given to them explicitly by the state. For more information on the Home Rule Doctrine, consult the National League of Cities website.pdf.
How do you find local law?
City and county websites provide links to city and county ordinances, codified in city and county codes. Sometimes you can find codes in print; however, the best way to find the most updated local codes is through internet searching. City and county websites are less sophisticated than state and federal websites, so access points will be limited to tables of contents and simple keyword searching. City and county websites also may have other information, besides codes, helpful to your research, so make sure to explore and search websites thoroughly.
Finally, if you are looking for case law that interprets or applies county or city ordinances, you can use the ordinance section number as one of your key terms in case law searches.
Practice Example:
In this example, you will use the City of Eugene website to find any ordinances on licensed premises for beer brewing.
The following video will demonstrate how to use the City of Eugene website to find ordinances and other information.
Suggested activity
For one of the aspects of the client’s problem, students should use different methods of finding statutes. For example, one group should use an index, one group should use term searching on a free website, one group should use term searching on a subscription platform. Students can then discuss the process and results with the whole class. This activity can be completed using an online discussion board or in-class group work and class discussion.
Student added discussion and reflection questions
- Have you routinely used indexes to search for statutes? Why or why not?
- What method of finding statutes has been the most effective for you? Why?
- What challenges have you had finding statutes, or navigating statutory codes?
Contribute a discussion or reflection question to this section.
