Statutory Research

Session laws are chronological compilations of the laws passed by a particular legislature within each session. All statutes passed by the U.S. Congress are published in chronological order in the Statutes at Large. All Massachusetts acts passed by the legislature are published in the Acts & Resolves of Massachusetts. 

Why cite to a session law and not a code? 

1. The act is very new and hasn't yet been codified;
2. The act has been repealed and is no longer in the code;
3. The act was never codified (only laws of a general and permanent nature are put into the code);
4. The act was broken up and placed in different parts of the subject-based code and you need to refer to the whole, intact law as originally passed rather than the scattered code provisions. 
5. The discussion is about the law as originally passed by the legislature (without subsequent amendments).  

Cite according to Bluebook Rule 12.4 and Table 1 for law review publications or consult court rules, as appropriate. 

Example (federal): Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241

• The citation tells us that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the act's popular name) was the 352nd law passed by the 88th Congress. It can be found in volume 78 of the Statutes at Large beginning on page 241. 

Example (state): An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind, 2022 Mass. Acts 1080 (Bluebook) or St. 2022, c. 179 (per the SJC Style Manual for court submissions). 

• This Massachusetts act was the 179th law passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 2022, as indicated by the SJC Style Manual's citation format. The Bluebook citation indicates that this act appears in the 2022 volume of the Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts beginning on page 1080.