Exactly, Ron! And they don't have any convenient way to read through them, either. They're been trying to order laws by USC for decades now. At the EARLIEST a new law is actually published for the public TWO YEARS after it is passed. To date, only 24 areas of the fifty they whittled it down to are actually published in any manner.
It simply boggles the mind!
United States Code
From earliest times, various attempts have been made to collect and publish the laws -- not chronologically as they were passed, but according to subject matter.
Revised Statutes
Some of these efforts were undertaken privately by commercial publishers, and others were authorized by Congress, including the Revised Statutes of 1878 (18 Stat. 1, et seq.) and the Revised Statutes of 1925 (44 Stat. 1, et seq.).
United States Code
The first edition of the United States Code (U.S.C.) was published in 1926. A new edition is now published every six years, arranged in fifty subject titles, with cumulative annual Supplements published during the intervening years. Publication of each edition and each annual Supplement routinely occurs some two years after its cover date.
The U.S.C. does not contain all laws, but is limited to "a consolidation and codification of all the general and permanent laws of the United States," (emphasis added) as determined by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. (U.S.C., 2000 ed., page vii.)
Revisions of the U.S.C.
Today, the Law Revision Counsel continues a tedious practice started in 1939 to revise the U.S.C., title by title, correcting errors and inconsistencies in preparation for "enactment into positive law," making such titles "legal evidence" of the laws. As of March 1, 2006, 24 of the 50 titles have been revised:
1. General Provisions
3. The President
4. Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States
5. Government Organization and Employees
9. Arbitration
10. Armed Forces
11. Bankruptcy
13. Census
14. Coast Guard
17. Copyrights
18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure
23. Highways
28. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
31. Money and Finance
32. National Guard
35. Patents
36. Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies and Organizations
37. Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services
38. Veterans' Benefits
39. Postal Service
40. Public Buildings, Property, and Works
44. Public Printing and Documents
46. Shipping
49. Transportation
Thus, there are 26 titles not yet revised, meaning that "the matter contained in the other titles of the Code is prima facie [not 'legal'] evidence of the laws." These other titles are:
2. The Congress
6. Domestic Security
7. Agriculture
8. Aliens and Nationality
12. Banks and Banking
15. Commerce and Trade
16. Conservation
19. Customs Duties
20. Education
21. Food and Drugs
22. Foreign Relations and Intercourse
24. Hospitals and Asylums
25. Indians
26. Internal Revenue Code
27. Intoxicating Liquors
29. Labor
30. Mineral Lands and Mining
33. Navigation and Navigable Waters
34. Navy. [Repealed]
41. Public Contracts
42. The Public Health and Welfare
43. Public Lands
45. Railroads
47. Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs
48. Territories and Insular Possessions
50. War and National Defense
The Law Revision Counsel requires several years of effort to revise each title, meaning that this project may not be completed until well into the 21st century. In the meantime, there is understandable interest in protecting the accuracy of the corrected titles that have been revised to date. This explains in part why certain Bills in Congress (later to become Acts) would amend the U.S.C., while others would amend an existing Act.
More here: http://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-code
Diana,
Thank you so much for the information. It is quite informative as well as vdry frightening.
The next time someone says that ignorance of the law is no excuse, I will point them to this.
BTW, just where is the law that says "ignorance of the law is no excuse?"