Bibliographies of Pre-Made Legislative Histories

Bibliographies of Pre-Made Legislative Histories

The Congressional Information Service (CIS) Legislative Histories volumes (discussed under Materials) consistently provides the most comprehensive listing of legislative history materials. Additionally, some legislative histories have been prepared and published by individuals or groups. To discover whether any completed legislative histories already exist regarding your particular statute, you may consult one of the following sources.

A. Nancy P. Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories

This source is located at the law library reference desk [Ref Desk KF 42.2 1993]. It covers selected materials from the 1st Congress to the 94th Congress, and contains a table of statutes, organized by public law number and Statutes at Large number. The table gives bibliographic information for publications of legislative histories. The table also notes the contents of each source, including whether the source actually contains the legislative history documents, or merely cites to them.

B. Bernard D. Reams, Jr., Federal Legislative Histories

This source also is located at the library reference desk [Ref Desk KF 42.2 1994]. It contains an annotated bibliography of 257 legislative histories of public laws beginning in 1796 and ending in 1990. It is not comprehensive. Information may be located by author, popular name of the public law, Congressional session law number (before 1901), public law number (after 1900), or bill number.

Finally, don't overlook the fact that many legislative histories are published as law review articles or monographs. Use the Library catalog and traditional periodical finding aids such as the Index to Legal Periodicals and LegalTrac to locate them.

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