The Executive Branch creates law in the form of regulations. Regulations may originate from Presidential Executive Orders or from rules published by Federal Agencies.
The Regulatory Process
In order to research federal regulations, it is important to understand the process of their creation.
Regulations are most commonly created by federal agencies. Agency regulations must be based in legislation, and generally have the purpose of implementing legislation in a specific way (whereas the original legislation may have been broader in scope).
(To learn about regulations which originate in Presidential documents, see the Presidential Documents tab).
Primary Sources for Regulations
In legal research, primary sources consist of "the official pronouncements of the governmental lawmakers."
Before 1936, there was no formal or official publication of regulations or other materials produced by the Executive Branch. These sources exist now in large part because the Executive has expanded over time!
You can generally find regulations in 3 formats:
'Slip' Regulations. These are the first version of a regulation that has been published. These versions are valuable because they become available fairly immediately. They are technically 'unofficial,' but generally match the official versions in all but one respect: 'slip' versions of regulations lack an effective date. Instead, slip versions of a regulation will include a more general note indicating that the regulation is effective "30 days after insertion in the Federal Register" (i.e., after its' official publication).
Slip versions of Presidential documents are typically published on Whitehouse.gov (or, if from a past administration, the archived version of that administration's website; see for example Barack Obama's Executive Orders).
Slip versions of agency regulations do not always exist, but when they do they are published on the individual agency's website.
Federal Register. This is the most official version of a regulation, equivalent to legislative session law. The Federal Register is the official publication for both agency regulations and regulations produced by the White House. It is published continuously, Monday through Friday, in no particular order.
The Federal Register is organized chronologically and is not updated. It does not (necessarily) represent the regulations currently in force, nor does it give you any way to locate regulations on a specific topic!
Citations from the Federal Register are cited by the volume of the Register, page number, and date published (ex - 76 Fed. Reg. 78798 (Dec 19, 2011), pg. 78798 of volume 76 of the Federal Register ). Access the Federal Register via...
The Federal Register, which publishes rules and regulations from the Executive Branch of the U.S. Federal Government beginning in 1936.
To find out which rules or proposed rules will soon be published in the Federal Register, visit or subscribe to the Federal Register's Public Inspection Desk.
Code of Federal Regulations. The Code of Federal Regulations compiles the regulations which are currently in force in a particular jurisdiction. It is updated and organized by subject. into Titles and subsections, and its citations reflect that organization (ex - 17 C.F.R §1.25, subsection 1.25 of Title 17). Note that these do not correlate to the Titles of the United States Code!
The Code of Federal Regulations is published annually by the Office of the Federal Register, on a staggered basis.
Titles 1-16: updated Jan 1
Titles 17-27: updated Apr 1
Titles 28-41: updated Jul 1
Titles 42-50: updated Oct 1
It is available on the web through the federal government (as eCFR), and in research databases like HeinOnline and WestLaw. Online versions are updated more frequently, so it is important to note the ‘last updated’/ ‘current as of’ date on that version. Access the Code of Federal Regulations via...
The Code of Federal Regulations, the current rules from the Executive Branch of the U.S. Federal Government.
If you want to find out where and by which regulations the Code of Federal Regulations was updated, the List of CFR Sections Affected tool is very helpful:
To cross-reference between the Code of Federal Regulations and related sections of the United States Code (or vice versa) use the Parallel Table of Authorities & Rules, published in...
Regulatory Histories
A regulatory history is the history of a particular regulation.
Regulatory histories are generally less straight-forward than legislative histories, because of the way regulations are published. Additionally, there are no published regulatory histories similar to those available for legislation.
Key Documents for Regulatory Histories
Compiling a Regulatory History (from the CFR)
When a new regulation is revising an existing section of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register will often reprint only selected sections, interspersed with the symbol * * indicating no change. Other times, however, that portion of the CFR will be reprinted in full, and when this happens, the regulatory "history," as far as these history notes are concerned, starts over!
For example, the oldest citation listed by 17 C.F.R. § 1.25 is 76 FR 78798 (2011); however, 76 FR 78798 (2011) clearly indicates that it is revising 17 C.F.R. § 1.25, meaning that that part of the C.F.R. existed before 2011!
Agencies & Enforcement
Each Federal agency will usually have its own rulemaking processes and means of enforcement for their rules. It's very important to understand the workings of a particular agency, in order to understand their regulatory processes.
Although they 'share' the Code of Federal Regulations, agencies all behave differently, especially in their internal actions!
An agency's website is usually the best place to begin learning about their rulemaking procedures, and may include information such as...
Ultimately, most important for the purposes of regulatory research are enforcement and compliance.
Enforcement:
Agencies can enforce their regulations in one of two ways:
The best way to learn about a particular agency's means of enforcement is to look for documents pertaining to enforcement on their website. You can also look in the Code of Federal Regulations for any mention of practices, procedure, adjudication, etc. in relation to the particular agency or regulation.
Enforcement actions will usually include information on the legal authority for the regulation/enforcement, e.g., in the form of citations to the C.F.R. or the U.S.C. These authorities may also address relevant penalties.
You can also find some actions / decisions issued by agencies in HeinOnline:
Legal decisions issued by important agencies within the U.S. Federal Government.
Presidential Documents
As the head of the Executive Branch, the President can also issue documents which have the force of law. The American Bar Association has published a useful explanation of the different types of Presidential documents and their formats.
Important Presidential documents may include:
'Slip' versions of Presidential documents are generally published on Whitehouse.gov (or, if from a past administration, the archived version of that administration's website; see for example Barack Obama's Executive Orders).
Official versions of Presidential documents are published chronologically in the Federal Register, just as for other other regulations.
Code versions of Presidential documents are published in Title III of the Code of Federal Regulations.