How are federal statutes numbered?
Nowadays, federal statutes are designated first by the numberof the Congress that passed them, and then in order of theirapproval. For example Public Law No. 100-1 is the first publicstatute the 100th Congress enacted into law. Public and privatelaws are numbered in separate series (so that there is also aPrivate Law No. 100-1). Prior to 1957, chapter numbers were used to designate statutesin order of approval, public and private laws being in one chapterseries. For example: Pub. L. No. 101, ch. 682, 57th Cong., lstSess. (1902). Before 1937, measures were numbered in new series at the endof each year-long session of a two-year Congress, so that it wasnecessary (as in the example above) to designate both Congress andsession.
