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Source Collecting

Collecting Constitutional Provisions

Generally, Constitutions (whether federal or state) are found at the beginning of the statutory codes, along with earlier constitutions and other organic laws (such as the Declaration of Independence and significant treaties).

The U.S. Constitution is found in the first volume of the U.S. Code in a section labeled "Organic Laws of the United States." In the most recent 2018 edition, the Constitution begins at page LXI and Constitutional amendments begin at page LXVI.   You can access the U.S. Code in PDF format on HeinOnline.  In print, the law library has the U.S. Code through the 2012 edition (stack 206) and the Steely Library has a current subscription in its Government Documents collection.

State Constitutions can be found in the first volume of the statutory code for each state.  For Kentucky, the law library has a current subscription to both Baldwin's Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated and Michie's Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated (stack 202).  For Ohio, the law library has a current subscription to Page's Ohio Revised Code Annotated and Baldwin's Ohio Revised Code Annotated (stack 204).

The law library does not have statutory codes for states other than Kentucky and Ohio. Check the state's legislative website to see if it provides an exact copy of the print version or an authenticated/official version, which can be cited pursuant to Bluebook R18.2.

Collecting Statutes

Federal statutes (laws passed by U.S. Congress) are first published by date in the U.S. Government Publishing Office's (GPO) Statutes at Large (Stat.), then organized by topic in the GPO's official United States Code (U.S.C.).  West's unofficial United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.), and Lexis' unofficial United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) also print the full-text of federal statutes.

If possible, Bluebook R12.2.1 tells you to cite to the official U.S. Code Sometimes, authors also cite to the official Statutes at Large, such as when they are discussing the history of a statute's enactment, amendment, or appeal, authorized by R12.2.2.

As discussed in the section above on collecting Constitutional provisions, the libraries on campus have print copies of the U.S. Code. The law library has the print volumes of the Statutes at Large through 2011 (stack 206).

HeinOnline provides complete PDF scans of every edition of the U.S. Code. and all volumes of the Statutes at Large.