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Government Information Sources: Laws&Regs

Guide to finding, using, and citing government information at the federal, state, and local levels

Find Laws

  Federal Illinois
Laws

United States Statutes at Large

sample citation (APA 6th):
Higher Education Amendments of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-325, 106 Stat. 448 (1992).

Public and private laws (slip laws)

  • via GovInfo, Public and Private Laws (beginning 104th Congress, 1995-)
  • via Thomas, Public Laws (beginning 93rd Congress)
  • via Lexis-Nexis Academic, Public Laws (beginning 100th Congress, 2nd Session, 1988)

Laws of Illinois
Codes, compilations (current)

United States Code (USC)

Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS)
Historical compilations, revisions, codes, etc.

United States Code (USC)

The following is a sample of what Lovejoy Library holds. Please consult us for further information.

  • The revised code of laws, of Illinois, containing those of a general and permanent nature passed by the Sixth General assembly, at their session held at Vandalia, commencing on the first Monday of December, 1828; and those enacted previous thereto, and ordered by the said General assembly to be re-published. Published in pursuance of law. 1829.
    SIUE Rare Book Collection KFI1230 .A22 (SIUE catalog record)
  • The revised laws of Illinois containing all laws of a general and public nature passed by the Eighth general assembly, at their session held at Vandalia, commencing on the third day of December, 1832, and ending the second day of March, 1833, together with all laws required to be re-published by the said General assembly. 1833.
    SIUE Rare Book Collection KFI1230 .A23 (SIUE catalog record)
  • Revised statutes of the state of Illinois,adopted by the General assembly of said state, at its regular session, held in the years, A. D., 1844-5?. Together with an appendix, containing acts passed at the same and previous sessions, not incorporated in the Revised statutes, but which remain in force. Revised and prepared for publication, with notes, index, &c. by M. Brayman. 1845.
    SIUE Rare Book Collection KFI1230 .B73 1845 (SIUE catalog record)
  • A compilation of the statutes of the state of Illinois,of a general nature, in force January 1, 1856, collated with reference to decisions of the Supreme court of said state, and to prior laws relating to the same subject matter. By N. H. Purple. 1856. "Purple's Statutes"
    SIUE Rare Book Collection KFI1230 .P87 1856 (SIUE catalog record)
  • The statutes of Illinois : embracing all of the general laws of the state, complete to 1865, with marginal notes, showing the contents of each section, and a reference to the decisions of the Supreme Court upon the construction of each statute. Compiled by Samuel H. Treat, Walter B. Scates and Robert S. Blackwell. 1866.
    SIUE Book Collection KFI1225 .I46 1865 (volume 1) (SIUE catalog record)
  • Annotated statutes of the state of Illinois, in force January 1, 1913 : embracing the revision of 1874, and all general statutes enacted since such revision, so far as in force, with digested notes of decisions construing or illustrating their provisions by the courts of Illinois and of the United States, and historical notes comparing the present statutes with previous legislation. Edited by Walter Clyde Jones and Keene H. Addington. 1913.
    SIUE Book Collection KFI1230 .A43 (SIUE catalog record)

Find Regulations

  Federal Illinois
Regulations

Federal Register (FR)

Illinois Register

  • SIUE Book Collection KFI12351977 .A22
  • SIUE Microfiche, filed under "Illinois register", (v. 1-26, 1977-2002)
  • via Illinois Secretary of State (browse beginning Issue 33, August 16, 2002)
  • via Lexis-Nexis Academic (beginning January 5, 1996)
Regulations, codified

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

sample citation (APA 6th):
Requirements relating to Health Insurance Coverage, 45 C.F.R. part 144 (2009).

Illinois Administrative Code (Ill. Adm. Code)

Federal Legislative History

A legislative history is a list of the steps that a particular piece of legislation went through and the associated documents. A legislative history might be used to answer questions such as:

  • What was the intent of Congress?
  • What arguments for and against the legislation were made?
  • Who were the leaders associated with the legislation?

For further information about the federal legislative process and legislative history, please consult:

  • C-SPAN. The Legislative Process.
  • Diller, Karen R., and Arlene Weible. "Legislative Sources: Knowing the Process." DttP: Documents to the People 26, no. 4 (December 1998): 10-19. Dated but still valuable.
  • Jacobstein, J. Myron, Roy M. Mersky, and Donald J. Dunn. "Federal legislative histories." In Fundamentals of Legal Research. Westbury, New York: The Foundation Press, 1994, pp. 191-232.
  • "The legislative process in brief." In Congress and the Nation, 2005-2008. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 907-911. SIUE Reference Book Collection JK1001 .C62
  • McKinney, Richard J. and Ellen A. Sweet. Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent.
  • Nabors, Eugene. "Legislative History and Government Documents - Another Step in Legal Research." Government Publications Review 3, no. 1 (1976): 15-41.
  • Project Vote Smart. Government 101: How a Bill Becomes Law.
  • ProQuest. How does a Bill become Law?
  • Schick, Allen. The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2007. SIUE Book Collection HJ2051 .S3424 2007.
  • Sears, Jean L., and Marilyn K. Moody. "Legislative history" in Using Government Information Sources: Electronic and Print. 3rd ed. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2001.
  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kathrine R. Everett Law Library. Federal Legislative History.
  • Vertrees, R. L., and M. E. Murfin. "Teaching the Legislative Process: An Evaluation of Classroom and Library Instruction and a Legislative History Exercise." Government Publications Review Part A 7, no. 6 (1980): 505-515.
  • Wilhelm, Kristen. "Making History: Tracing Retrospective U.S. Legislative Histories." Journal of Government Information 26, no. 5 (10 September 1999): 485-499.
  • Zimmerman, Andrew. Zimmerman's Research Guide: Federal Legislative History.
  • Zwirn, Jerrold. "Legislative history." In Congressional Publications and Proceedings: Research on Legislation, Budgets, and Treaties. 2nd ed. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1988.
  • Zwirn, Jerrold. "The Federal Budget." In Congressional Publications and Proceedings: Research on Legislation, Budgets, and Treaties, 172-221. 2nd ed. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1988.
  • Zwirn, Jerrold. "Congressional Bills." Government Publications Review. Part A 7, no. 1 (1980): 17-25.

Good graphics of the legislative process:

  • "How a bill becomes law." In Congress and the Nation, 2005-2008. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 909. SIUE Reference Book Collection JK1001 .C62
  • Jacobstein, J. Myron, Roy M. Mersky, and Donald J. Dunn. "Federal legislative history documentation." In Fundamentals of Legal Research. Westbury, New York: The Foundation Press, 1994, p. 198.
  • Wirth, Mike and Suzanne Cooper Guasco. How our Laws are Made.

Selected sources of compiled legislative histories:

  • U.S. Congress. Library of Congress. Search Bill Summary & Status. Via Thomas, since 1973.
  • U.S. Congress. Government Printing Office. History of Bills. Via FDsys. Legislative actions on bills reported in the Congressional Record since 1983.
  • CIS Annual includes a Legislative Histories volume beginning 1984. SIUE US Document Index KF49 .C62
  • CQ Weekly.
  • LexisNexis Academic. "Public Laws" records link to bill tracking reports.
  • Reams, Bernard D. Jr. compiler. Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources. (Bibliographies and Indexes in Law and Political Science, No. 21.) Westport, Ct: Greenwood, 1994.
  • Search the SIUE catalog or the Catalog of Government Publications for legislative histories.
  • etc.

Illinois Legislative History

General Legal Resources and Guides