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Lee Brobst
lee.eagleeye.brobst@gmail.com
March 15, 2009
FUNDAMENTALS OF LEGAL RESEARCH
By
ERVIN H. POLLACK
Professor of Law and Law Librarian
The Ohio State University
" Knowledge of the law is like a deep well, out of which each
man draweth according to the strength of his understanding."
-Sir Edward Coke
Brooklyn
THE FOUNDATION PRESS, INC. 1956
38 FEDERAL LEGISLATION CH. 4
Revised Statutes
In 1874, Congress authorized a compilation of the federal law designated as the
"Revised Statutes." This volume, known as the first edition, contained many
inaccuracies and unauthorized changes in the law; therefore, ~ second edition of
1878, covering the same period to December 1, 1873, was authorized and
published to correct those errors. All current citations to the Revised Statutes are to
the second edition. The laws in force were rewritten and classified under 74 titles. It
contains some annotations to court decisions with marginal notes to the original
acts. The Revised Statutes includes reference tables to the original statutes and
tables of repealed statutes. The Revised Statutes 2nd edition, is the latest
compilation which is evidence of the law, not merely prima facie evidence.
Thus, it is evidence of the law to December 1, 1873. It was not reenacted as a
unit but the specific inaccuracies of the first edition were separately amended. Two
supplements to the Revised Statutes of 1878 were subsequently published,
covering the periods of 1874 to 1891 and 1892 to 1901, respectively. These
supplements have not been reenacted into the law and have since been
superseded by the United States Code. The Statutes at Large is evidenced of the
law from December 1, 1873, to date, except for the codified and reenacted titles of
the United States Code. (64 Stat. 979, 980, 81st Cong., 2d Sess.) .
United States Code
The United States Code) 1952 edition, is the current official compilation of federal
laws. This is a combined editorial product of a Congressional Committee,
the West Publishing Co. and the Edward Thompson Company. The United
States Code was issued originally in 1926 and that edition has since been
superseded by later revisions. The United States Code is arranged in 50 titles and
is periodically supplemented. It contains a very complete index and many tables,
including statutes re- pealed, cross-references from the Revised Statutes) Statutes
at Large) etc., to the United States Code sections. It should be noted that this code
is not annotated. The United States Code is prima facie evidence of the law,
rebuttable by reference to the original law in the Statutes at Large or Revised
Statutes. Thus, the code is merely a recompilation of the law and not a revision.
Congress, however, has revised and reenacted some of the individual titles of the
laws. Such revisions include the following titles: Copyrights, Internal Revenue,
Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, and Aliens and
Nationality. These revisions are evidence of the law, having been reenacted into
positive law. END
COMMENTS: “Persons” have been and continue to be put in prison and have their
property stolen from them based upon a committee and a corporation. But then that
is the way it is when you are a “person subject to” the 14th amendment, i.e., the
social security trust.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 10:49
