EDITORIAL RECLASSIFICATION

BACKGROUND

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel is responsible for maintaining and publishing the United States Code. An integral part of producing the Code is determining where new laws should be placed. This is a challenging task because new law must be placed not only to fit logically within existing Code categories, but also to allow room for future development. Over time, some areas of law outgrow their original boundaries due to the enactment of new laws and amendments. Some parts of the Code become less efficient as organizational units due to repeals, transfers, or obsolescence of a significant portion of the laws that are collected there. As a result, the Code becomes less organized, harder to navigate, and less reflective of the underlying structure of the statutes.

In order to maintain and improve the United States Code, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel must occasionally undertake editorial reclassification projects to reorganize areas of law that have outgrown their original boundaries, or to eliminate organizational units that are no longer efficient. No statutory text is altered by such editorial reclassification projects. Relevant provisions are merely transferred from one place to another in the Code. In Code section text, a limited number of editorial updates are made to reflect the reorganization of provisions in the Code.

LINKS TO INFORMATION ABOUT RECENT EDITORIAL RECLASSIFICATION PROJECTS

Title 2

Title 7

Title 19

Title 20

Title 25

Title 34

Title 43

Title 50

Title 50 Appendix

Title 52

BILLS TO UPDATE STATUTORY REFERENCES

Based on the editorial reclassification of certain provisions in the United States Code, a number of Code citations found in statutory references need to be updated. To update the Code citations, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel prepares draft bills, which are submitted to the House Committee on the Judiciary. For more information and links to the draft bills go to BILLS TO UPDATE STATUTORY REFERENCES.

Questions and comments may be directed to:

     Office of the Law Revision Counsel

     U.S. House of Representatives

     Washington, D.C. 20515

     Email: uscode@mail.house.gov