The Shadow Code: Statutory Notes in the United States Code

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-4-2024

Abstract

The United States Code is a complex source of law. An underappreciated source of this complexity is the structure and authority of the Code itself. From valid law found in footnotes to titles that are only prima facie evidence of the law, the United States Code is not as straightforward as it may seem.

Prof. Shawn Nevers examines several issues with the Code that often perplex lawyers, including statutory notes, temporary laws, and positive law codification. His work traces the history of the United States Code to help shed light into why these problems exist and offer suggestions for how we might resolve them as we approach the hundredth anniversary of the United States Code.

Shawn Nevers is the Deputy Director of the Howard W. Hunter Law Library at BYU Law School. He teaches Introduction to Legal Research & Writing, Introduction to Advocacy, and Advanced Legal Research. His article with Julie Graves Krishnaswami, The Shadow Code: Statutory Notes in the United States Code, won the Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award in 2020.

https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/news/15202-speaker-event-the-shadow-code

Keywords

legal research, U.S. Code, United States Code, statutory notes, statutes, legislation

Publication Title

Law Library Journal

Publication Citation

112 Law Library Journal 213 (2020)

Full text not available in Penn Law Legal Scholarship Repository.

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