List of United States federal legislation
This is a short, chronological but incomplete list of United States federal laws.
Key points:
- Congress passes about 200–600 statutes every two years, so there have been more than 30,000 statutes since 1789.
- Federal legislation means Acts of Congress that become law either when the President signs them or when Congress passes them after a veto.
- Laws are not the only way rules are created. Many regulations come from executive or judicial power under congressional authority. Related sources include executive orders, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
- Acts are published in the United States Statutes at Large. Volumes 1–18 cover laws from 1789 to 1875 and are available online at the Library of Congress.
- In lists of statutes, each statute is shown as X Stat. Y, where X is the Statutes at Large volume and Y the page number, along with the chapter or Public Law number.
- Each Congress has two to four sessions.
- Before 1957, Acts in a session were numbered sequentially as Chapters, including both general laws and laws for individuals (such as pensions for disabled veterans).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:01 (CET).