This is a chronological, but still incomplete, list of United States federal legislation. Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 119 biennial terms so more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789. At the federal level in the United States,

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

(i.e., "

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

s" or "

statutory law A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wi ...

") consists exclusively of Acts passed by the

Congress of the United States The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

and its predecessor, the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

, that were either signed into law by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

and

judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

regulations must originate in a congressional grant of power. ''See also'':

Executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

s issued by the President; ''

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...

'' for rules issued by executive branch departments and administrative agencies; and the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. They are the companion to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rules promulgated by the ...

of the federal courts.

Publication of the law

Statutes at Large (Stat.)

Acts of Congress are published in the

United States Statutes at Large The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolu ...

. 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 Example may refer to: * ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, a ...

below.''

Sessions (Sess.) and Chapters (ch.)

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 A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

to disabled veterans.See, e.g., Act of Aug. 11, 1790, ch. 44,

Examples

* 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, , , 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 The Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States)107–252 (text) (PDF)), or HAVA, is a United States federal law, which was authored by Christopher Dodd, and passed in the House 357-48 and 92–2 in the Senate and was ...

of October 29, 2002, , , 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

* September 22, 1783:

Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 was a proclamation by the Congress of the Confederation dated September 22, 1783 prohibiting the extinguishment of aboriginal title in the United States without the consent of the federal government.2 ...

* April 23, 1784:

Land Ordinance of 1784 The Ordinance of 1784 (enacted April 23, 1784) called for the land in the recently created United States which was located west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate s ...

* May 21, 1785:

Land Ordinance of 1785 The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not hav ...

* July 13, 1787: Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government ("Northwest Ordinance")

United States Congress

1789 to 1901: 1st through 56th Congresses

1901 to 2001: 57th through 106th Congresses

2001 to present: 107th and subsequent Congresses

** Defense: United States Department of Defense#Related legislation ** Drugs: Office of National Drug Control Policy#Legislation and executive orders ** Energy: United States Department of Energy#Related legislation and Energy law#Federal laws **Environment: United States Environmental Protection Agency#Related legislation ** Health and Human Services: United States Department of Health and Human Services#Related legislation ** Judiciary: Judiciary Act (disambiguation) ** Labor: United States Department of Labor#Related legislation ** Slavery: Slave Trade Acts ** Social Security: List of Social Security legislation (United States) ** Taxation: List of tariffs, :Template:US tax acts, and :United States federal taxation legislation ** Transportation: United States Department of Transportation#Related legislation ** Veterans Affairs: United States Department of Veterans Affairs#Related legislation ** Water Resources, Navigation, Environmental Regulation: United States Army Corps of Engineers#Public Laws affecting the Corps of Engineers (partial)

Sources

Acts listed by popular name
via Cornell University * Statutes at Large *

via Library of Congress *
Volumes 19 through 64, 1875-1950
via Library of Congress *
Volumes 65 through 127, 1951-2013
via Government Publishing Office * Public laws *
93rd Congress through current Congress
via Congress.gov * 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 *

via FindLaw.com *Brian K. Landsberg (ed), ''Major Acts of Congress''. MacMillan Reference Books (December 2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States federal legislation

Legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

Federal

Federal legislation