US Public Policy

 Laws & Regulations  | Treaties

American Memory: US Congressional Documents 1744-1875

Historic legislative documents and debates, from the Library of Congress

GPO Access

A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office. The Federal Register, Congressional Record, and Congressional Bills are available full-text. Search GPO Access for proposed and established federal regulations, bills, GAO reports, public laws, the U.S. Code, congressional documents and reports and more.

LexisNexis Congressional 

Coverage varies; some documents from 101st Congress forward. Go to Articles and Databases and enter the database name in the box under Find Database.

Very useful for bill tracking.  Includes legislative histories, full text of bills and laws, hearings, committee reports, and member profiles. Also useful for the Congressional Record and Federal Register  for a few years earlier than those covered on GPO Access. Statutes at Large from 1789-present.

THOMAS - U.S. Congress on the Internet

Provides access to current and recent legislation, a description of the legislative process in each house, committee activities and the full text of bills, laws and the Congressional Record. THOMAS also provides full text of important historic documents and links to other web pages from Congress.

The U.S. House of Representatives - Internet Law Library - U.S. Code

Search federal law via the Web.

Public laws
Last two years in Docs. Ref., Legal section. AE 2110:

Also known as slip laws. Initial distribution of a passed public law.

U.S. Statutes at Large
1789 - present.  Docs. Ref., Legal section. AE 2.111:

Also available in LexisNexis Congressional under Laws

Collection of public laws printed in chronological order as passed.

U.S. Code
Docs. Ref., Legal section. Y 1.2/5:

Where passed laws are codified by subject.

Federal Register
Last 3 years in Perkins Ref. US   AE 2.106:

Location of proposals, discussion and establishment of rules and regulations. Also contains announcements of federal grants, Presidential orders, and others.

Code of Federal Regulations
Perkins Ref. US   AE 2.106/3

Location of codified rules and regulations as established by federal agencies.

General Statutes of North Carolina
Docs. Ref., Legal section.

Codified laws, with index.  Regulations are in the Duke Law Library.

See also these guides:

Researching US Congressional Legislation - a concise guide to the legislative process from UNC; see the left side links to find the relevant documents. If they lead to a subscription database, access it through the Duke Libraries home page.

North Carolina Legal Materials - where to find them at Duke University libraries.

Treaties

American Foreign Policy and Treaty Index
Congressional Information Service.  1993-1999.  Perkins Ref.

Indexed materials in the depository collection as well as unique materials available in the American Foreign Policy Index fiche collection in the Documents stacks. Excellent place to find full text of  treaties, press releases and daily briefings for the time period.

North American Free Trade Agreement

This site from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has other useful links about trade.

United Nations Treaty Series

Go to Articles and Databases and enter the database name in the box under Find Database.  Contains the detailed status of over 470 multilateral treaties.  Recently Deposited Multilateral Treaties provides the text of treaties not yet published.

United States Treaties

From GPO Access. Limit your search to Treaty Documents to find U.S. treaties since the 104th Congress (1995).

Treaties

Extensive guide with links, from Duke University Law Library