Paralegal Certification PrepLegal Research and WritingMedium
A paralegal is conducting research for a federal criminal case and needs to find the specific statute that prohibits racketeering activities. Which of the following is the official, unannotated codification of federal statutory law?
- AUnited States Code Service (USCS).
- BUnited States Code Annotated (USCA).
- CFederal Register.
- DUnited States Code (U.S.C.).
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. United States Code (U.S.C.).
The United States Code (U.S.C.) is the official, unannotated codification of federal statutory law. USCA and USCS are commercial, annotated versions that include additional research aids, but the U.S.C. itself is the official government publication.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. USCS is another commercial, annotated version of the U.S. Code, not the official unannotated version.
- B. USCA is a commercial, annotated version of the U.S. Code, not the official unannotated version.
- C. The Federal Register publishes proposed and final federal regulations and notices, not the codified statutes themselves.
United States Code (U.S.C.)
The official codification of all general and permanent federal laws of the United States, organized by subject matter into titles.
- It is the official government publication of federal statutes.
- It is 'unannotated,' meaning it does not include case summaries or legislative history notes.
- Serves as the primary source for federal statutory law.
Memory trick: Official law: Just the Code, no added load.