United States Code Annotated

United States Code Annotated is is a commercially produced subject index to the federal Acts of the United States of America, officialy called the General Index of the United States Code Annotated
(USCA). The USCA is an unofficial version of the code and is arranged in the same order (titles and sections) as the official version.

Interestingly, the government’s version of the United States Code does not sell well; its utility is somewhat limited by the fact that it is generally at least two years out of date when it is published. However, there are 13,000 subscribers to the unofficial United States Code Annotated.

It is, probably, Thomson West’s biggest selling printed product, even though all thomson West products are available online. The company’s research indicates that two thirds of the people who use the code still start with the printed version.

The USCA also includes a popular name index in a separate volume. The table itself spans 1,302 pages. The table affords “a practical, simple, and effective means of researching the federal laws and the Codification of the federal laws in the United States Code Annotated” . (1)

It lists Acts alphabetically by title. Under each Act title, the Popular Name Table specifies
where the Act is located within the wider code.

The general index is very detailed, comprising four volumes and a total of 5,868 double-columned pages. The index has three levels of subheadings, and gives cross-references to other headings, or locators to title and section numbers in the USCA.

The USCA and associated index are commercially produced and are unofficial. However, the general index is an extremely helpful navigation tool. The sheer length of, and amount of detail in, the USCA general index is most impressive.

1. United States Code Annotated: 2006 Popular Name Table (thomson West, Eagan Minnesota, 2006).

• Lawi Legal Index
• List of Indexes to Austalian Legislation
• Henry Smythies’ Analytical Digest
• Badger’s General index
• Curnin’s Index
• Index to the 1908 NZ Consolidated Statutes
• to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation
• Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint
• Subject Index to South Australian Legislation
• Iowa Subject Index
• United Kingdom Index to the Statutes
• Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada
• List of Australian Reports

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Badger’s General index, Codification, Curnin’s Index, Henry Smythies’ Analytical Digest, Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation, Index to the 1908 NZ Consolidated Statutes, Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada, Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint, Iowa Subject Index, Law Journals Abbreviations and Acronyms, Subject Index to South Australian Legislation, U.S. Constitution law resources, United Kingdom Index to the Statutes, United States Style Codes.