United States Code Service (LexisNexis) is an unofficial publication. It provides the text of the law tables, and citations to secondary sources and case law. It is available electronically from Lexis.com and LexisAdvance. The U.S.C.S. follows the text of the Statutes at Large and not the language of the U.S. Code. If there is a discrepancy in the text between the U.S. Code and the Statutes at Large, check to see if the Title has been revised by the Office of the Counsel of Revision. If it has been revised, use the text from the U.S. Code, and if it has not been revised, use the text from the Statutes at Large. The U.S.C.S. is annually updated with a pocket part.
There are several commercial databases, all of which have their own unique features, that provide access to the United States Code. Some are listed below. To access these databases, please go to the Law Library's Databases page.
Commercial databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw take the researcher directly to a commercial publication of the U.S. Code (U.S.C.A. for Westlaw and U.S.C.S. for LexisNexis). These are unofficial versions of the code and should not be cited. Check the official version of the code for any changes to the text and always cite to the U.S.C., not the U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. When using LexisNexis or Westlaw to search for statutes, remember that you have several tools at your disposal. Depending on your search terms (citation, topic, or popular name), LexisNexis and Westlaw have tools such as the Statutes at Large Table, Revised Title Table (Lexis), Public Laws Table, Popular Names Table, and the topical index.
United States Code Annotated (West) is an unofficial publication. It provides the text of the act (language used in the U.S.C.), key numbers and topics, index, popular name table, and citations to secondary sources and case law. The U.S.C.A. is available electronically from Westlaw Next. It is updated annually with a pocket part.
