GW Law Library: Library Guides: Animal Law: Laws & Legislative History

Finding Federal Laws

Public Laws
Public and private laws are also known as slip laws. A slip law is an official publication of the law and is competent evidence admissible in all state and Federal courts and tribunals of the United States.

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After the President signs a bill into law, it is delivered to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) where it is assigned a law number, legal statutory citation, and prepared for publication as a slip law.
U.S. Code (current version of the law)
The U.S.C. contains the general and permanent laws of the United States, organized into titles based on subject matter. The U.S.C. currently consists of 54 titles and five appendices. The U.S.C. is prepared and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (“OLRC”) of the U.S. House of Representatives pursuant to 2 U.S.C. § 285b.

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Because the United States Code contains only the general and permanent laws of the United States, not every provision contained in those public laws goes into the Code. The OLRC reviews every provision of every public law to determine whether it should go into the Code, and if so, where. This process is known as U.S. Code classification.

Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 2131-2156
The federal statute governing the humane care and handling of mammals and certain other animals. USDA Animal Care, a unit within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, administers the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

Animal Welfare Act Historical Digital Collection (AWAHDC)
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Contains publications related to the Animal Welfare Act which fall into three categories: legislative history, regulatory history, and USDA publications.

Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1906
Requires that slaughtering of livestock be humane.
Lacey Act, 16 U.S.C. § 701; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378
Title 16 provisions prohibit commerce in any fish or wildlife taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of U.S. or tribal law.
Lacey Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 41-42, 46-47
Title 18 provisions prohibit importing or shipping certain species determined to be “injurious to human beings, to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.”
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1361-1423h
Focuses on conservation and protection of marine mammal populations from extinction or depletion as a result of human activities. Three federal entities share responsibility for implementing the MMPA:

NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the protection of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the protection of walrus, manatees, sea otters, and polar bears.
Marine Mammal Commission provides independent, science-based oversight of domestic and international policies and actions of federal agencies addressing human impacts on marine mammals and their ecosystems.

Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, 18 U.S.C. § 48
Defines “animal crushing” as “actual conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.

ProQuest Legislative Insight
Provides full-text digital access to Congressional publications created during the legislative process leading up to the enactment of a U.S. Public Law.
USDA Office of the General Counsel Legislative Histories Collection
The USDA Office of General Counsel Legislative Histories Collection includes over 1500 key federal agricultural legislative histories from 1921-1971.

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This collection contains: public laws, bills, hearings, Congressional reports, digests, and excerpts from the Congressional Record; vetoed laws, and USDA notations, papers, and reports not found elsewhere.

CRS research attorneys write concise, objective reports on current legislative issues. Some reports are periodically updated.

To locate a CRS report or the most recent version of a CRS report, search:

Examples:

The Animal Welfare Act: Background and Selected Issues (February 2023)
Ejiao and the Donkey Hide Trade (March 2023)
Federal Statutes Protecting Domesticated and Captive Animals (February 2021)
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (P.L. 92-522): Primer and Issues for Congress (January 2024)

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