Volume Numbering

The numbering of the Volumes of the Statutes at Large is consecutive but otherwise arbitrary and without any relationship to the number of the Congress(es) covered in a particular Volume or the year(s) in which the Acts were approved.

Beginning with Volume 18, certain large Volumes were divided into different books (e.g., Part 1, Part 2, etc.), giving rise to some confusion between references to a physical volume, or "book," and a "Volume" of the Statutes. For clarity, therefore, references should be, for example, to "Volume 32, Part 1."

Numbering of Laws

Early compilations of laws adopted the system of assigning a "chapter" number to each Act. Beginning in 1901, separate Public (or Private) Law numbers were added chronologically. In 1957 the modern system of numbering with a Congress-number prefix was adopted, and chapter numbering was discontinued.

Volumes 1-31, 1789-1901

These earliest volumes cover the 1st through the 56th Congresses. During this period, Acts were numbered as chapters often abbreviated as "chap." or "ch." Acts were numbered consecutively and in chronological order of approval -- whether Public or Private -- within each session of Congress. Thus, for example, chapters 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 might be Public Acts, while chapters 4, 5 and 6 were Private Acts.

Because the chapter numbering started anew with each session of Congress, there could be three or four different Acts numbered "ch. 1" in a Congress having three or four sessions, respectively. For a citation to be precise, therefore, a reference to an Act by its chapter number must be accompanied by its approval date.

Volumes 32-70, 1901-1956

In this "middle" period, Acts were also given a Public or Private Law number -- in addition to the chapter number. Thus, in Volume 32, Acts of the 57th Congress were numbered as follows:

Chapter 1    (also)  Public, No. 1
Chapter 2    (also)  Public, No. 2
Chapter 3    (also)  Public, No. 3
Chapter 4    (also)  Private, No. 1
Chapter 5    (also)  Public, No. 4
etc.

During this period, Resolutions were also numbered separately as in these examples from Volume 49:

Chapter 1    (also)  Pub. Res., No. 1
Chapter 2    (also)  Public, No. 1
Chapter 3    (also)  Public, No. 2
Chapter 4    (also)  Pub. Res., No. 2
...   ...
Chapter 25  (also)  Private, No. 1
...   ...
Chapter 880(also)  Priv. Res., No. 7

Volume 71 and Beyond

Beginning with Volume 71, covering the 85th Congress in 1957, the modern system of numbering was adopted. Chapter numbers were discontinued, and Public and Private Laws were numbered consecutively, but separately, and over a complete Congress, not a single session. Moreover, numbers now include a prefix indicating the number of the Congress that passed the law. Thus, Acts of the 85th Congress are numbered as:

Public Law 85-1
Public Law 85-2
Public Law 85-3
...   ...
Private Law 85-1
               

Insofar as a Public Law may originate in Congress as either a Bill or a Joint Resolution, the numbering system, above, makes no distinction between the two. "Public Law" is often abbreviated as "Pub. L."

Note: As chapter and law numbering systems have changed over the years, one has remained constant: the form of citation consisting of a Volume number, followed by "Stat." and a page number within that Volume (for example, 85 Stat. 334).