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Researching Virginia Law: StatutesSTATUTES Important Resources
How a law is published Statutes are laws passed by the legislature. After a statute has been passed, it is published in several different formats: 1. Chapter law The statute is first published as a chapter law. This is a pamphlet that contains only the text of that law. Paper slip laws are not available at the Law Library, but you can access recently-passed legislation online via the Commonwealth of Virginia's Legislative Information System (LIS) at http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm. Select "Bills and Resolutions" under Searchable Databases, and select "chapter" from the pull-down menu. 2. Session law service Next, newly-passed statutes are compiled in a session law service. This service compiles the slip laws in chronological order. There are two paper session law services for Virginia:
• The Acts of Assembly (Call # KFV2425 .A213 [Virginia Collection]) is the official service. It is slower than the Advance Legislative Service, and is not usually received until several months after the end of the session. Finally, the statutes are synthesized into a code. This organizes the laws by topic; each broad topic is called a title. A code is the best place to begin when searching for a statute. Two different publishers have a version of the code: Lexis Publishing makes the Code of Virginia 1950 (Call # KFV2430 1950 .A3 [Virginia Collection]), and West Group has West's Annotated Code of Virginia (Call # KFV2430 1950 .A4 [Virginia Collection]). The text of the statutes is the same in either version; the difference lies in the way the code is indexed, and in the extras each publisher adds on. Both versions have a two-volume paperback index at the end of the set, and the beginning of each volume has a list of all the titles in the code. The Code of Virginia is also available online at the Commonwealth's web site at http://leg1.state.va.us/000/src.htm. Updating Virginia Statutes It is important to remember to update the laws you have researched. UPDATING THE BOOK: 1. Check the pocket part in the back of the volume you are reading. This will contain changes to the code since the hardbound volume was printed. Sometimes, instead of a pocket part, supplementation will be in the form of a separate, paperback volume. 2. Since the pocket part is only published once a year, you need to supplement the pocket part using the Virginia Advance Legislative Service. The year listed on the pocket part will tell you which issues of the Advance Legislative Service you need to look at. For example, if a pocket part says it is the "2002 cumulative supplement", and the year is 2003, you need to look at the Advance Legislative Service for the 2003 sessions. 3. Take the latest volume of the Advance Legislative Service for the session you need to research, then look up the code section you are updating in the Table of Sections Affected. This table will tell if anything has happened to your section during that legislative session; if a newly-passed law affects your section, the table will give you the law's chapter number and tell you which pamphlet to find the law in. UPDATING THE COMMONWEALTH'S ONLINE CODE: 1. Go to the Search page for the Code of Virginia at http://leg1.state.va.us/000/src.htm. This page will tell you when the Code was last updated. Then, search the bills of each session held after this date. 2. Go to the Legislative Information System (LIS) at http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm. Check the top of the screen to ensure that you are searching in the right legislative session. Select "Bills and Resolutions" under "Searchable Databases". 3. Search for the code section you are updating – if you are updating Code Section 5.1-26, enter "5.1-26" in the search form. Select "chapter" from the pull-down menu. 4. If your search returns any results, scan the results (each hit is a chapter law) to see how your code section is affected. If you select "show hits", your search term will be highlighted in the text of the law. » Legislative History » Cases » Administrative Law » References
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