126 



National Resources Committee 



enacted by it are assembled and published in a volume 

 bearing!; some such general title as ''Acts of the Legis- 

 lature," "Session Laws," etc. In all, or practically all, 

 cases the legislatures of the several States have, from 

 time to time, directed tlie preparation by s]:)ecial codi- 

 fying commissions of compilations of the laws in force 

 analogous to the United States Code. In many cases 

 these codes iiave been annotated by including notes giv- 

 ing references to the legislative history of the several 

 sections and to decisions of the courts where these sec- 

 tions have been construed.'^ Each volume of the Stafe 

 session laws and the codes is, of course, indexed. It 

 is possible that certain of the States have prepared 

 consolidated indexes to their statutes analogous to that 

 prepared for the Federal statutes. 



In the case of the States the special condition exists 

 that students often desire references, not only to the 

 laws of a particular State regarding the subjects in 

 which they are interested, but to the laws of all of the 

 States. Tile first effort to meet this need was made 

 by the New York State Library which, in 1901, began 

 the publication of a biennial Reviexo of Legislation. 

 Successive volumes covered the period 1901 to 1908. A 

 fire in the State Library at Albany, in 1911, destroyed 

 the manuscript for the years 1909-1910, and the issue 

 of the Review was discontinued. In 1927, Congress 

 by act a])proved February 10 of that year, directed the. 

 Library of Congress to undertake what, in effect, was a 

 renewal of this enterprise on an expanded scale. In 

 jiursuance of this direction, the Legislative Reference 

 Service of the Library of Congress now issues bien- 

 nially a volume entitled : State Law Index: An Index 

 and Digeiit to the Legulatio-n of the States of thr 

 United States Enacted during the Bienmimi. To date, 

 five volumes, covering the bienniums 1925-26. 1927 28. 

 1929-30. 1931-32, and 1933-34, have appeared. These 

 \ohm)es embrace two parts : The first gives an index 

 to tlie general permanent laws enacted by the States 

 during the biennium; the second embraces two section?, 

 the first giving a "digest of important statutory 

 changes" during the period and the second a "digest 

 of important changes in State laws relating to ad- 

 ministrative organization and personnel." It is hardly 

 necessary to say that these volumes are of great value 



" For a list of these codes down to 1912. see : Handbook of LeyislatUr 

 Sessions and Session Laws; Statutory Revisions, Compilations, Codes, 

 etc., anil Constitutional Conventions of the United States and Its Prw- 

 sessions and of the Several States to May, 1912. Massachusetts Stoti' 

 Library. 1012. 



Glace E. Wacdonald. Check. List of Statutes of States of the United 

 States (if .(iiifnVa; Including Revisions, Com/iihition-'i, Digests, Codes, ami 

 Indexes. Prepared for the Public Document Clearing House Commifte.' 

 of the National Association of State Libraries. Providence : Oxford 

 Press. 19.'?7. 



Grace E. Macdonald. Check-List of Session Laws. Prepared for the 

 Public Document Clearing House Committee of the National Association 

 of State Libraries. H. W. Wilson Co., 1936. 



to the student of comparative legislation and public 

 affairs. 



Legislative Manuals 



A final obligation resting upon legislative bodies, 

 fromthestandpoint of facilitating research in the polit- 

 ical field, is that of making known the character of 

 organization and the rules of procedure adopted by 

 them for the performance of their functions. The 

 freedom that is left to our legislative bodies in deter- 

 mining these things constitutes an outstanding feature 

 of the American political sj'stem. Not only may each 

 succeeding legislature elected by the people, with few 

 limitations, take such action in respect to its organiza- 

 tion and procedural practice as it sees fit, but each 

 branch of the legislature may act independently of 

 the other. The manner in which our legislative 

 chambers, and particularly those of Congress, have 

 exercised this freedom, not only furnishes one of the 

 most interesting chapters in the development of our 

 political system, but has determined in no small degree 

 the character of that system from the standpoint of 

 its practical workings. The documents setting forth 

 these provisions are thus of basic importance embrac- 

 ing as they do a part of the public law second in im- 

 portance only to the Federal and state constitutions 

 themselves. 



In the case of the National Government, Congress 

 has taken, and annually takes, exceptional pains to 

 pi'ovide full information regarding this matter. The 

 current rules of organization and procedure of the 

 House of Representatives are to be found in the HoMse 

 Manual and Digest, prepared and published for each 

 Congress. This compilation, in addition to giving the 

 rules of organization and procedure proper, reproduces 

 important documents such as the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, the Constitution of the United States, the 

 Ordinance for the Government of the Northwest 

 Territory, and Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary 

 Procedure. The last named is a document of great 

 historical interest. It was prepared by Thomas Jeffer- 

 son for his own guidance as President of the Senate 

 in the years of his vice-presidency, 1797-1801. In its 

 preparation he relied largely upon the procedure and 

 practices of the British House of Commons, and the 

 compilation, according to English parliamentarians, 

 represents the best statement available of the law of 

 the British parliament as it existed at the time of its 

 preparation. It is reproduced in the House Manual 

 since one of the House rules provides that its pro- 

 visions shall "govern the House in all cases to which 

 they are applicable and in which they are not in con- 

 flict with the standing rules and orders of the House.'* 



