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Legal Research for UNT Students

Resources for students new to legal research

What are Agency Rules and Regulations?

Federal Administrative Law

When Congress decides to regulate in a certain area, it will enact a statute which delegates the power to issue specific rules and regulations to an administrative agency that specializes in that area. In other words, when a law is passed by Congress, the law authorizes executive agencies to promulgate rules that interpret and fill in the administrative details of that law. These regulations have the force and effect of law.

Administrative law is a complicated category of law. Administrative law encompasses a wide assortment of materials, including the following:

  • Executive orders, proclamations, and reorganization plans issued by the president.
  • Rules and regulations issued by executive and independent agencies that have the force of statutory law.
  • Administrative decisions made by administrative agencies. 

The two main sources of administrative law are the Federal Register—a daily journal that records government agency regulations, proposed regulations, and public notices; and the Code of Federal Regulations—an annual compilation of regulations currently in force, arranged by subject matter. These sources also publish executive orders, proclamations, and reorganization plans issued by the president. Administrative decisions are typically published by the administrative agencies themselves in paper and/or on their websites.

Legal databases such as LexisNexis or Westlaw (or their student versions, Nexis Uni and Westlaw Campus Research) provide unofficial versions of administrative laws that are often more up to date, provide convenient, one-stop searching, and often include annotations and links to related materials.

The Federal Register: What It Is, and How to Use It is a tutorial sponsored by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to explain such topics as the historical background and legal basis of the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations, how the regulatory process works, and how to find information in print and online.

The Federal Rulemaking Process

The Federal Rulemaking Process

 

Simplified summary of the legislative process: An initiating event impels Congress to pass a statute requiring and/or authorizing a federal agency to issue a rule; agency develops draft proposed rule; review/approval of draft proposal rule within agency/department; Office of Management and Budget's Office of Regulatory Affairs review of draft proposed rule; publication of notice of proposed rulemaking; public comments; response to comments/development of draft final rule; review/approval of draft final rule within agency/department; OMB/OIRA review of draft final rule; publication of final rule; after Congressional review, the rule takes effect or Congress votes on disapproval resolution; if rule is legally challenged, a court determines legality of rule
Source: The Federal Rulemaking Process: An Overview (CRS Report RL32240)

Finding a Federal Regulation

Citation to the Federal Register

A citation to the Federal Register contains four elements:

  1. A volume number
  2. The abbreviated title of the Federal Register (Fed. Reg.)
  3. The page number on which the cited regulation begins
  4. The date of the Federal Register issue in which the regulation appears.

Example citation to the Federal Register: 74 Fed. Reg. 56,374 (Oct. 20, 2009). 74 is the volume number, Fed. Reg. is an abbreviation for the Federal Register, 56,374 is the page number where the regulation begins, and (Oct. 30, 2009) is the date that the regulation was published.

"Federal Register Citation Example" by Westminster Law Library is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution—Non Commercial 4.0 International License.

Citation to the Code of Federal Regulations

A citation to the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) contains four elements:

  1. The Title number
  2. C.F.R.— the abbreviation for Code of Federal Regulations
  3. The section number of the regulation
  4. The date of the edition of the C.F.R. that is being cited.

Example of a citation to the Code of Federal Regulations: 40 C.F.R. § 98 (2012) is a citation to Title 40, Code of Regulations, section 98, published in 2012.

"Code of Federal Regulations Citation Example" by Westminster Law Library is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution—Non Commercial 4.0 International License.

Internet Resources and Databases

The main difference between the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is that the Code is a compilation of regulations that have been promulgated and have the force of law. The Register is a daily report of regulations that are working their way through the process of becoming finalized. For current regulations, search the Code of Federal Regulations. For proposed and pending regulations, search the Federal Register.

Federal Register—Online Editions

All proposed and final regulations are first published by the Government Printing Office (GPO) in chronological order in the Federal Register. 

Free Websites

These government websites provide free access to the Federal Register.

Subscription Databases

Code of Federal Regulations—Online Editions

Next, regulations are then codified by subject in the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). The C.F.R. is organized in to 50 broad subject titles, and is revised annually.

Free Websites

These government websites provide free access to the <i>Code of Federal Regulations</i>. They vary in years covered and how up to date they are.

Subscription Databases

These databases are available to the UNT community and to visitors at the UNT campus.