EDITORIAL RECLASSIFICATION
TITLE 7, UNITED STATES CODE

BRIEF SUMMARY OF CHANGES

In 2017, provisions from chapter 17 of title 7, United States Code, were reorganized. No statutory text was repealed or amended. The changes were made merely to improve the organizational structure of the Code and to conform existing provisions to established classification practices. For the online version of the Code, the changes occured on July 1, 2017, after which the new Code citations were effective. For the printed version of the Code, the changes occur in supplement V of the 2012 edition.

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR CHANGE

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel is responsible for maintaining and publishing the United States Code, which is a codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States, organized into titles based on subject matter. An integral part of producing the United States Code is determining whether new law should be included in the Code and if so, where it should be placed, a process known as classification.

Classification is a challenging task because new law must be classified not only to fit logically within existing Code categories, but also to allow room for future development. Over time, due to the enactment of new laws and amendments, some areas of the Code become less organized and harder to navigate.

The general and permanent provisions in chapter 17 of title 7, "Miscellaneous Matters", were reorganized and transferred primarily to other locations in title 7. A few provisions were transferred to titles 16 and 21. No statutory text was repealed or amended in the course of those transfers.

In addition, several provisions from chapters 17 of title 7 were omitted from the Code as obsolete. Editorial omission from the Code has no effect on the validity of a law and is not a statement on its value or importance. Because the changes are effective as of supplement V of the 2012 edition of the Code, sections can be seen on this website as they appeared just prior to omission by viewing them using the "2012 Ed. and Supplement IV" option in the version dropdown menu at the top of each section page.

RESOURCES FOR TRANSITION

Disposition table for provisions transferred or omitted from chapter 17 of title 7

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Questions and comments may be directed to:

     Office of the Law Revision Counsel

     U.S. House of Representatives

     Washington, D.C. 20515

     Email: uscode@mail.house.gov