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U.S. Statutes at Large

This database offers comprehensive coverage of the United States Statutes at Large, featuring every law (both public and private) ever enacted by Congress, as well as early federal codes and compilations of statutes.

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Main Search Bar Tips

  • The main search bar is stationary throughout HeinOnline
  • Once inside the U.S. Statutes at Large database, the search bar will search only within this database, unless the Search All Databases box is ticked
  • Need something more robust? Click Advanced Search to perform a search using custom drop-downs
  • Need a refresher on how to construct a perfect search? Click Search Help for a quick reference guide to commonly used search syntax

Using the Main Search Bar

  • For example, enter the phrase "human rights" inside quotation marks into the search bar
    • Select where you want to search for this phrase: as an Author, appearing in the Title of any document or article, as a Citation, or in our Catalog as a title. Want to see your search in any of these fields, or appearing in the full text of a document? Select Just search for

  • Use the facets on the left side of the page to narrow your results by Date, Document Type, Section Type, Location, Title, Organization, or Person
  • Terms matching the search query appear in bold text within the matching text page snippets
  • Sort search results by relevance, volume date, or title
  • Save to your MyHein account, email a result, display download options, or download a PDF using the icons on the right side of each search result
  • Use the icons next to the sort-by bar to modify your current search, to search within results, to toggle all matching text pages, or to turn OFF infinite scroll

screenshot of search results in U.S. Statutes at Large

Using Advanced Search

  • Click Advanced Search to be taken to a page with custom facets to help maximize your research within this collection
  • Use the drop-downs to choose a variety of ways to search: 
    • Text
    • Public Law Number
    • Public Resolution Number
    • Tribe, Nation
    • Title
    • Creator/Author
    • Date 
      • Add another search field if three isn't enough
  • Select a Document Type to search within, Ctrl + click to select multiple subcollections, or search in all
  • Pick a title by citation to search within
  • Restrict results within a date range and change how results are sorted

For example, to find the Affordable Care Act, you could submit an Advanced Search like the following:

  • Text: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
  • Public Law Number: 111-148
  • Date: 2010

You would then yield your desired search result:

 

Using the Citation Navigator

You can select the Citation Navigator either from below the main search bar, or from the Advanced Search page. Once in the navigator, you can create a citation by filling in the volume and page and selecting either Stat. or P.L. United States from the Abbreviation dropdown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For statutes created from the 57th Congress to present, you can search by Public Law Number. For statutes created from the 1st through 56th Congress, you can search by Chapter and Year of Enactment.

 

 

 

 

 

Venn Diagram Search

  • Venn Diagram Search offers a visual representation of how search terms interact with each other
  • Helps users both refine their current search terms and become better researchers going forward
  • Find the link to Venn Diagram Search on the Advanced Search page
  • Searches are constructed by stringing together multiple terms separated by the Boolean operator "AND," with phrases grouped together in quotation marks

 

 

 

  • Results on the right side of the page pertain to the search as we originally constructed it (represented by the red slice in the center of the intersecting circles)
  • Select Clear for the ability to hover over the different segments of the diagram and see all possible search term combinations from our original query.
  • In our example, we can see results for:
    • "human rights" AND environment
    • "human rights" AND "clean water"
    • environment AND "clean water"
    • the terms "human rights," environment, and "clean water" individually
  • Sort the results, save or export, turn to the specific page of a result, or start at the beginning of a given title