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Supplemental Resources

Information on finding US and Idaho regulatory sources and searching the US Patent literature.

What's here

The two boxes in the center highlight sources of legislative and regulatory information 

For the United States

  • US Code
  • Federal Register and the
  • Federal Code of Regulations

For Idaho

  • Idaho Code
  • Idaho Administrative Code and the 
  • Idaho Administrative Bulletin

Historical U.S. Legal Materials

Find historical content to US Federal documents through links on the Guide to Law Online from the Law Library of Congress: US Federal Law (US Code and Statutes at Large) and US Executive (CFR, Federal Register)

Find additional historical content on the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) govinfo site.

United States Government

For information on US laws and regulations, there are two online sources that provide full-text coverage of statutory law and regulations.  Below are those two indexes, with information about the sources available and the time coverage.

Descriptions:
United States Code is the codification of “general and permanent laws” currently in force (ie, not private laws or appropriations). With its subject (called “Title”) arrangement, the Code brings together initial laws and subsequent amendments. It is reissued every six years, with annual supplements in the intervening years. Citations to the United States Code are in the form of title number U.S.C. section number.subsection number (example 40 U.S.C. 210.1). Includes subject and popular name indexes.

Federal Register is a daily publication containing new and proposed federal agency rules and regulations. It should be used in conjunction with the Code of Federal Regulations to determine how a law is enforced.

Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent federal agency rules and regulations. Revised annually, the CFR is updated by the Federal Register. Consult the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) (issued monthly) or the Cumulative List of Parts Affected (part of the Federal Register) to determine if your regulation has been updated.

Idaho Government

For information on Idaho laws and regulations, see the sources listed below.