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National Resources Committee 



proceedings not involving debates, or some incident 

 of a novel or important character, is given. 



In 183:3 was begun the publication of another record 

 of Congressional proceedings known as the Congres- 

 sional Globe which continued to be published by var- 

 ious publishing houses until 1873. It will be noted 

 that this series overlaps the Register of Debates during 

 its early years. As first issued, this publication bore 

 the heading "Sketches of Debates and Proceedings." 

 Later, the words "Sketches of" were omitted, implying 

 a fuller report of debates. 



The publication of the Congressional Record was 

 begun in 1873 and has been continued to date. It con- 

 stitutes the first record of congressional proceedings to 

 be officially reported, printed, and jiublished by the 

 Government. It gives a complete report of proceedings 

 of all kinds in the two Houses, except those of the 

 Senate while sitting in secret executive session, taken 

 from stenographic reports by the official reporters of 

 the two houses. It appears in two editions : (1) a daily 

 issue in panii:)hlet form giving a report of the proceed- 

 ings of the previous day; and (2) a final definitive edi- 

 tion in bound volumes. The daily edition enables the 

 Members and others to secure currently detailed infor- 

 mation regarding congressional proceedings. It is of 

 a prelimhiary character since, under the rules. Mem- 

 bers are given a period of days in which to correct, and 

 within i-easonable limits, to revise and extend their 

 remarks for the definitive edition. The latter thus coii- 

 tams a certain amount of matter that does not repre- 

 sent words actually sjioken on the floor, and it may omit 

 matters actually siDoken but subsequently, by action of 

 the chambers, stricken from the record. Both the daily 

 and definitive edition also contain a large amount of 

 matter representing speeches of Members and others 

 made outside the chambers, periodical articles, edi- 

 torials, and the like which have been presented for in- 

 cor^Joration in the Record by Members under the rule 

 regarding "leave to print" which may be secured by 

 unanimous consent. 



The bound volumes of the Record for each session are 

 accompanied by a detailed index to which is appended 

 the legislative history of each bill and resolution. 



With the single exception of Pennsylvania, no State 

 legislature attempts a verbatim report of its proceed- 

 ings. That State has for a long period of time pub- 

 lished a Legislative Journal, giving proceedings of its 

 legislative chambers, including debates, comparable in 

 comprehensiveness to the Federal Congressional Record. 



Laws 



The final product of legislative activity is the body 

 of enactments known as acts, statutes, or laws. In the 

 case of the National Government, acts of Congi-ess, as 



soon as passed, are separately printed m pamplilet form 

 and issued as "slip laws." In tliis form individual laws 

 may usually be secured from the Senate and House doc- 

 ument rooms. For $1, a subscription for all the laws of 

 a session in this form may be entered with the Superin- 

 tendent of Dociunents of the Government Printing 

 Office. At the end of each session the enactments of the 

 session were formerly published in a single unbound 

 volume Imown as "session laws." " At the end of each 

 Congress, the laws enacted during it are published in 

 definite bound form known as "statutes at large." This 

 designation derives from the fact that the laws of a 

 session were technically known as "statutes." 



The set of statutes at large, running from the begin- 

 ning of the Government, gives the historical record of 

 the legislative action of Congress; and to them refer- 

 ence must be made in tracing the history of legislation 

 by Congress upon a particular subject. The fact that 

 the laws appearing in these volumes are arranged 

 chronologically, and not classified topically by subject 

 matter, and embrace many acts that no longer have 

 any legal significance, such as the annual api^ropriation 

 acts of the past, the acts providing for the erection 

 of particular public buildings, etc., or which have 

 been subsequently amended or repealed, makes it diffi- 

 cult for the legislator, the courts, and the student to 

 determine from them the law actually in force at the 

 time regarding a particular matter. Congress, accord- 

 ingly, has, from time to time, given attention to the 

 preparation of compilations or codes in which the at- 

 tempt is made to eliminate all obsolete laws or parts of 

 laws, to effect the changes in original enactments called 

 for by subsequent amendatory acts, and to present the 

 laws still in foi'ce classified according to subject mat- 

 ters. The first general compilation of this character 

 listed the laws in force on December 1, 1873 and was 

 known as the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

 A second edition of this compilation, with slight cor- 

 rections, was issued in 1878; and two Supplements of 

 the Revised Statutes bringing the compilation to a later 

 date were issued: Vol. I, 1874-1891 and Vol. II, 1892- 

 1901. In 1925, the Committee on the Revision of the 

 Laws of the House of Representatives, acting under 

 authority granted by Congress, contracted with the two 

 law-book publishing houses, Edward Thompson Co. 

 and the West Publishing Co., to prepare a new com- 

 pilation of the Federal laws of a general and per- 

 manent character then in force. This compilation was 

 approved by Congress, though the laws contained in 

 it were not reenacted as was done in the case of the 

 Revised Statutes of 1873 and 1878. Congress directed 

 that the compilation should be known as the United 



" Beginning with the 7th Cong., 1st sess., the publication ot these 

 session laws was discontinued. 



