FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Administrative law deals with documents, rules, regulations and decisions from the executive office of the president, as well as 15 executive departments and 83 independent agencies. This guide will help you navigate agency materials, citators, presidential documents and rules and regulations. For a general overview of administrative law see Suffolk University Law Library's guide to Treatises and Looseleafs on Administrative Law or view a PowerPoint slide show on Federal & Massachusetts Administrative Law.

I. Agencies

Agency Decisions

Many federal agencies and major regulatory commisions publish official reports of their decisions. Most decisions are first released as slip decisions and advance pamphlets. Eventually these are cumulated into permanent bound volumes. In addition, a number of commercial publishers have created subject specific loose-leaf sets that contain primary and secondary sources including, administrative decisions, statutes, regulations, court cases, and news of proposed and pending legislation. Loose-leaf services are updated regularly, on a weekly or monthly basis and generally contain user-friendly indexes. For a complete list of official agency reports and commercial services, take a look at Appendix D in How to Find the Law or Finding the Law.

Below is a sample list of some of the more popular agency reports and loose-leaf titles:

Federal Trade Commission : Trade Regulation Reports , 7 v. (loose-leaf) KF1606.5 .C651, LAW TREATISES (FL 5)
Internal Revenue Service (Dept. of the Treasury): Standard Federal Tax Reporter , (loose-leaf), KF6285 .C67 LAW TREATISES (FL 5)
Department of Justice: Opinions of the Attorney General of the United States (Official) see Lexis or Westlaw for USAG opinions dating back to 1791. This government publication is also available at a number of government document depository libraries in the area. See a reference librarian for assistance.
National Labor Relations Board: Labor Law Reports , 4 v. (loose-leaf), KF3464.A6 C6, LAW TREATISES (FL 5); Decisions and orders of the National Labor Relations Board , (Official), KF3372 .A55, LAW TREATISES (FL 5); Labor Relations Reporter , (loose-leaf), KF3314 .B4, LAW TREATISES (FL 5);
Securities and Exchange Commission: Federal Securities Law Reporter (loose-leaf), KF1436.5 .C65, LAW TREATISES (FL 5)

General Information

U.S. Government Manual. JK421 .A3 (LAW REFERENCE 6th FL) or access it online via GPO Access ;
Federal Regulatory Directory. KF5406.A15 F4 (LAW REFERENCE 6th FL);
Federal Yellow Book. JK6 .F45 (LAW REFERENCE 6th FL)

Other Agency Publications

The Government Printing Office publishes numerous Federal agency publications such as annual reports, booklets, statistical summaries and newsletters. To locate these materials search the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. The Catalog provides an index to print and electronic publications created by Federal agencies. When available, links are provided to the full-text of these publications. Coverage begins with January 1994. New records are added daily. Many library's in the area collect government documents and Boston Public Library is the regional depository. If you don't find what you need online, stop by the reference desk on the 6th floor and speak with a reference librarian.

Websites

Official administrative agency websites contain a host of helpful materials including forms, newsletters, topical pamphlets, statistics, annual reports, briefs (Department of Justice), policy guidelines, etc.

II. Citators

Agency decisions, rules and regulations can be overturned or challenged in court. Use the following citators to review judicial treatment of regulations.

Shepard's Code of Federal Regulations Citations (LAW MAIN, FL 6)
Shepard's United States Administrative Citations (LAW MAIN, FL 6)

III. Presdiential Documents

The President has the power to issue executive orders, proclamations and other legal documents. Proclamations are general announcements to the nation and usually deal with ceremonical issues. From time to time Presidential Proclamations might deal with trade policy or tariff issues. Executive Orders are more serious in nature and are generally issued to government officials. The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is the most comprehensive source of presidential documents. It includes orders and proclamations as well as nominations, announcements, transcripts of speeches and press conferences, and other legal documents. Proclamations and Executive Orders are also published in the Federal Register . At the end of each year, they are published in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations .

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents or J80 .A284, LAW TREATISES (FL 5) These weekly reports are eventually published in a bound format entitled Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States J80 .A283, LAW TREATISES (FL 5); DRW 41, LAW MICROFORMS (FL 6); Lexis : Executive Orders (From July 1, 1980 through current) and Public Papers of the Presidents (March 24, 1979 through current) Westlaw : Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (begins with January 1995); Daily Presidential Documents (begins with January 1993); Executive Orders (begins with 1936)
• Federal Register or KF70 .A2, LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6), LATEST 5 YEARS IN PAPER; EARLIER YEARS AVAILABLE IN MICROFORM; Lexis or Westlaw (To learn more about using the Federal Register , see Suffolk University Law Library's Federal Register Research Guide )
• Code of Federal Regulations LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6); LAW MICROFORMS (FL 6)-- DRW 103-111 (1949- ); Lexis or Westlaw (To learn more about using the Code of Federal Regulations , see Suffolk University Law Library's Code of Federal Regulations Research Guide )

IV. Rules & Regulations

Each administrative agency specializes in a particular area of law and creates rules and regulations accordingly. The detailed rules or regulations created by these administrative agencies are published in the United States Code , Statutes at Large , the Code of Federal Regulations the Federal Register , and various commercial services. You will also want to review these resources if you're interested in researching the statutes that govern the powers of the president and the executive agencies. If you need to research the legislative history of a particular statute take a look at the following links to CIS Congressional Universe , GPO Access and Thomas . To learn more on researching legislative history, see Suffolk University Law Library's Guide to Federal Legislative History or talk with a reference librarian.

• Code of Federal Regulations or LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6); LAW MICROFORMS (FL 6)-- DRW 103-111 (1949- ); Lexis or Westlaw (To learn more about using the Code of Federal Regulations , see Suffolk University Law Library's Code of Federal Regulations Research Guide )
• Federal Register or KF70 .A2, LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6), LATEST 5 YEARS IN PAPER; EARLIER YEARS AVAILABLE IN MICROFORM; Lexis or Westlaw (To learn more about using the Federal Register , see Suffolk University Law Library's Federal Register Research Guide )
• United States Code or LAW MICROFORMS (FL 6) KF62 1994 .A2 United States Code Annotated indexes are published more frequently than the indexes for the United States Code . Also the annotated version provides legislative histories, relevant citations and other helpful information. You'll find the United States Annotated Code on Westlaw and The United States Code Service via Lexis or LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6) KF62 .A4
• United States Code, Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) KF48 .W45, LAW MAIN FLOOR (FL 6) or Westlaw
• Unofficial Commercial Services: A number of commercial publishers like BNA and CCH have created subject specific loose-leaf sets that contain primary and secondary sources including, administrative decisions, statutes, regulations, court cases, and news of proposed and pending legislation. Loose-leaf services are updated regularly, on a weekly or monthly basis and generally contain user-friendly indexes. To check to see if there is a loose-leaf service available for your area, check the library's online catalog or consult a reference librarian.
• CIS Congressional Universe (use of this database is restricted to the Suffolk University community)
• Thomas Database This site is supported by the Library of Congress and contains free legislative information.
• GPO Access GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office and provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products from all three branches of the Federal Government. The information provided at this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted.